CREDENTIALS: Technical master's

December 8, 2000 —

The basics

Who offers it: Many four-year colleges and universities offer a form of technical
master's degree.

Prerequisites: Admissions requirements vary by institution.

Requirements: A bachelor's degree, followed by two years of full-time study,
increased field specialization, and completion of thesis.

Cost

Cost per year for full-time students:

Average private college - $22,102

Average public university - $8,986

Percent of IT professionals whose companies offer tuition reimbursement - 76.7%

Typical areas of specialization

Hardware systems

Numerical analysis

Programming

Management systems

Artificial languages

Software systems

Databases

What people are saying

"If [IT professionals get a technical master's degree], many times it's in computer
science or an MBA with an emphasis in computer systems. A lot of your master's degrees
in Electrical Engineering are engineers. A lot of [Master of Science in Computer
Sciences degree-holders] are engineers, also. They might be software development
executives, not IT executives."

-- Linda Planting, executive recruiter, Planting & Associates, Los Altos,
Calif.

Vital statistics

Percent of IT professionals with a master's degree(*)

Senior management - 45.3%

Middle management - 36.2%

Staff - 24.7%

Percent with a master's degree in computer science(**)

Senior management - 7.1%

Middle management - 12.3%

Staff - 8.2%

Percent with a master's degree in another technical area(**)

Senior management - 9.0%

Middle management - 11.9%

Staff - 9.3%

Web resources

U.S. Department of Education - www.ed.gov

This site holds myriad research reports and facts concerning anything education-
related.

(*) Of the 93.5 percent of respondents who reported holding any degree. (**) Of
respondents who reported having a bachelor's degree or higher.

www.infoworld.com