From Down Under, RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) is offering a complete Master of Enterprise Architecture, a high-level IT postgraduate by coursework program, specifically designed for ICT professionals who wish to advance their career to the role of Enterprise Architect within an organisation. That’s a great initiative!

Looking at the description, however, it occurs to me that there is very much technology and too little business in the curriculum.

My two EA Masters courses (at ITU and Copenhagen Business School) serve as individual “EA-infusions” in various masters programmes: Master in eBusiness, Master in Software Development, and Master in Business Administration and Computer Science. A number of students choose to continue after the course to create their own “Master of Enterprise Architecture” within one of the major programmes, by making individual projects under my supervision.

One of the discussions I often get into is about whether you can train an enterprise architect, or whether it’s a discipline of practicians. My view on this is simple: Of course you can train people in enterprise architecture, and even young (and bright) students can learn a lot. That doesn’t necessarily make them practising enterprise architects, however. You can also take a master in rocket-science, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you get to build NASAs new rockets right away. I think there is a need for EA training at all levels, from students to CEOs and politicians.

The professionals can choose the Open Group IT Architect Certification Program or some of the other Enterprise Architecture Certification schemes, if certification is what’s needed.