Customizable Master's Degree For a New Era
In an era where change is constant and rapid, achieving your goals depends on an ability to anticipate and adapt to evolving situations.
As we all know, the world of work has changed drastically in the last fifteen years. We live in a new era. New technologies and accelerating change have impacted the workplace and whole new employment sectors have emerged. Input from our program advisory boards, faculty, and community leaders, as well as our research confirm that this type of change will be a permanent part of professional life in the future. To be effective today, professionals need to understand the trends impacting the broad career field and “industry” sector where they work. They also need specialized skills—sometimes unusual combinations of special skills—to add value to the organizations where they work.
To better prepare our students to thrive in this environment,University College has developed a new vision for what it means to deliver the most effective professional education to working adults - the Professional Options Curriculum.
This powerful curriculum puts you in control and provides you with the components necessary for: sustained professional success, a strategic in-depth understanding of the broad economic sector in which you work (Professional Foundations courses), specialized skills (Professional Specialty courses), and techniques and methods that can be immediately applied. Additionally, because not all professionals are the same, with their own particular employment settings, unique roles within these settings, and personal interests and aspirations for advancement, we give you the opportunity to customize your degree by choosing the skills you need to develop to meet your goals (Further Studies Options).
By providing you with these options now, you’ll develop the agility to handle changing responsibilities and new demands, and navigate and move forward professionally in this new era.
Graduate Research and Writing
The Graduate Research and Writing course prepares students for graduate level writing and provides the tools to facilitate effective research throughout their program.
Professional Foundation courses
Professional Foundations courses help students to understand the scope of activity, historical development, future direction and trends, and typical types and roles of organizations that operate within a career field.
Professional Specialty courses
Professional Specialty courses allow students to focus on a specific professional area within the larger industry sector in which they are working or wish to work, and master the skills needed to excel in that area.
Further Studies Options
The Further Study Options allow students to customize their degrees to match their career needs by choosing one of the three course options.
The Internal Option allows students to build on to their degree specialty area by taking an additional three courses within the subject area of their specialty, or to develop a broader perspective within their industry sector by selecting three courses usually from another specialty within their major area.
The Related Option provides students whose current or future career path requires a skill set not typically associated with a certain job or major area of study the opportunity to develop that skill set. Students can choose from a predetermined group of subject areas from other majors that have been identified as most likely relating to their major area.
The Flexible Option allows students to acquire introductory skills by choosing from a pool of courses that have been designated for this option. These courses may be from three different specialty areas, but the student must provide a rationale for the selection of courses and obtain approval by the program director of his or her degree (major) area.
Capstone Project
The Capstone Project is the culminating academic endeavor of degree programs at University College. Students explore a problem or issue through a focused study and applied research under the direction of a faculty member