Master's in Software Engineering approved by trustees | Press Releases

A master's degree in software engineering (MSSE) has been approved by the Board of Trustees and is under review for licensure by the State Board of Higher Education, it was announced by Dr. Evangelos Hadjimichael, dean of the School of Engineering.

"The master's in software engineering is designed to educate new professionals and re-educate established professionals in fundamental and applied principles of software development appropriate to current technologies and professional practices." said Dr. Hadjimichael. "The MSSE graduates will be in a position to serve the needs of corporations, organizations, government and private business in providing software solutions to complex problems."

Dr. Hadjimichael said he is hoping to admit the program's first class in January.

The minimum requirement for earning the master's degree is 12 courses, or 36 credit hours. Seven courses are required of all students, and five electives are from one or more of the program's five tracks.

The curriculum for the MSSE program includes concentrations in Software Engineering Management, Advanced Implementation Technologies, Application Design, Enterprise Systems and Network Technologies.

The required courses incorporate a combination of design, implementation, and engineering management objectives. "The purpose is to provide the professional in information technology with the knowledge that permits him or her to develop software systems that are based on distributed computer architecture," said Dr. Hadjimichael.

Included in the required courses is a capstone professional project. For this project, students will be organized in teams and will perform technical studies or design an information technology system which is based on the requirements of a local employer's need for software solutions to specific problems, or on an area that is of general interest. "It is anticipated that the results of these projects will provide a library of case studies, designs, and tools that will be of general interest to information technology professionals in the area," he said.

Concentration courses are offered to provide depth to the students' knowledge in a specialty area that is consistent with the individual's career goals. The concentrations include Software Engineering Management, Advanced Implementation Techniques, Applications Design, Enterprise Systems and Network Technology.

The MSSE degree requires students to have sufficient knowledge and/or experience in data structures, applications programming, systems analysis and design, and statistics.