Curricular emphasis in Industrial Distribution programs and programs of similar theme

Abstract

Thirteen state-sponsored colleges and universities within the United States offer a bachelor level degree in Industrial Distribution. The first of these emerged in the 1950s in response to industry demands for unique educational preparation of entry-level professionals. Since the 1980s, increased sophistication in the field has accelerated the demand for educational preparation of Industrial Distribution professionals. The problem facing educators is to determine the mix of courses that will provide the appropriate curricular focus when developing or refining the programs at their individual institutions. In the first phase of this study, the curricular focus of the current bachelor level programs in Industrial Distribution is identified in the form of eight curricular groupings representing the required courses in those programs. The second phase of this study investigates the curricula of programs that contain a similar theme of focus at state-sponsored colleges and universities. The purpose is to identify programs other than formal Industrial Distribution programs, which have similar curricular focus, and may therefore provide graduates of similar educational preparation. In addition to providing educators with insight into the relationship between formal Industrial Distribution programs and those of similar theme, this portion of the study provides managers in the field with information to consider when evaluating schools as potential sources of new hires. State-sponsored schools in the study were identified from the membership of the American Association of State-Sponsored Colleges and Universities (AASCU). Findings included ninety-six institutions from the six most populous and six least populous states, as of the 2000 U.S. Census. These institutions provided a representative sample of the 387 colleges and universities currently members of AASCU. The identified schools offer over four hundred programs of similar theme to the thirteen formal Industrial Distribution programs. The overwhelming majority of those programs are in colleges of Business and Technology, and are generally marketed as supporting general or governmental business, with no reference in catalogs, and departmental literature or Internet websites as supporting fields directly identifiable with Industrial Distribution.