Volume 1

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IS Programs become Accredited: COBOL in Crisis Robert F. Roggio University of North Florida Jacksonville, FL 32224 James R. Comer Texas Christian University Fort Worth, TX 36129 Pamela Brauda University of North Florida Jacksonville, FL 32224

Abstract: The crisis in college and university COBOL education is becoming more acute as time passes. The reduction and total elimination of COBOL courses, declining interest by both faculty and students, and low visibility of new commercial applications being developed using COBOL are commonplace. Yet many practitioners are well aware of the billions of lines of existing, operational, revenue-producing lines of COBOL code that continue to provide the mainstay of many commercial enterprises. This paper presents the case for arresting the decay of COBOL expertise by citing current and future needs, while providing alarming new evidence of the continuing downward spiral in COBOL instruction as evidenced by the seven newly accredited information systems programs in the first full information systems accreditation cycle undertaken by the Computing Accreditation Commission of ABET.

Keywords: COBOL, IS accreditation, ABET, Computing Accreditation Commission, CAC

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Recommended Citation: Roggio, Comer, and Brauda (2003). IS Programs become Accredited: COBOL in Crisis. Information Systems Education Journal, 1 (15). http://isedj.org/1/15/. ISSN: 1545-679X. (A preliminary version appears in The Proceedings of ISECON 2003: §2513. ISSN: 1542-7382.)