Beginning this spring, the University's Commerce School will expand its Management of Information Technology master's degree program by offering classes in Northern Virginia.
While the University has had a presence in Northern Virginia for many years with its center in Falls Church, the upcoming launch of the Northern Virginia-based IT degree represents the first attempt of this kind by the Commerce School.
The degree, which is now offered only in Charlottesville, is intended for professionals with at least two years of work experience and both managerial and technological expertise. With classes starting June 1, 2002, it is designed to offer the same information and quality of instruction as the on-campus degree and will improve the accessibility of classes to executives who do not live near Charlottesville.
The branch degree takes 16 months to complete with classes held every other Saturday for eight hours in the Bechtel Conference Center in Reston. The present on-campus program consists of 12 months of Friday and Saturday meetings that alternate every other week and last six hours.
Interest in the new branch of the Commerce School has been high. According to Commerce Professor Peter Todd, director of the Northern Virginia program, informational sessions have attracted 150-200 interested alumni and up to 80 senior executives who want to enroll their employees in the program.
At the same time, enrollment in the management of information technology master's degree in Charlottesville is not expected to drop. The school simply looks upon the Northern Virginia branch as a way of extending its market, said Cyndy Huddleston, director of graduate marketing and admissions for the University.
According to program coordinators, the new location is convenient to business professionals because of its proximity both to Dulles International Airport and Washington, D.C.
The University's original master of science degree was started over 12 years ago. Eight years later a program to support executives interested in further education was developed.
According to program coordinators, the result was a unique program incorporating the technology and business sides of the curriculum known as the Commerce School's Management of Information Technology degree. According to Huddleston, the difference between many prominent business schools is that they combine classes from "their engineering and business schools but McIntire tries to integrate IT skills with business process knowledge."
The tuition for the Northern Virginia program is $18,000 plus $10,000 in fees, which cover a notebook computer, books and meals-the same price as the Charlottesville program, Todd said. In fact, he emphasized the similarities between the two sites.
"What we want to stress with this expansion is that we're offering the same quality with the same faculty that you get in Charlottesville," Todd added.
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