MET Online Programs Shine in U.S. News & World Report Rankings
Two master’s programs cited as among best in the country
Students enrolled in a MET online program work on their final projects. Photo by Vernon Doucette
Two Metropolitan College online graduate programs, the master’s program in computer information systems and the master’s programs in management, ranked in the top 10 in their categories in U.S. News & World Report’s 2014 Best Online Programs. The new ratings, released in January, considered nearly 1,000 programs nationwide.
MET’s computer information systems program came in 2nd out of 34 schools, topped only by the University of Southern California and tying with Virginia Tech. The program is geared toward professionals looking to advance their IT careers and is currently one of MET’s most popular.
MET’s management programs, which allow students to choose one of six areas of specialization and prepare them to be industry-specific business leaders, was rated 8th among 239 schools.
“The rankings of MET’s online programs place Boston University at the very top in the highly competitive field of professional graduate online education, and reflect and affirm the excellence and dedication of MET students, alumni, faculty, facilitators, and staff,” says Tanya Zlateva, MET dean ad interim and an associate professor of computer science. “Rankings have their faults and limitations, but they have an impact. Students do consider them when choosing a school and U.S. News & World Report rankings are on everybody’s checklist.”
MET introduced its first online program over a decade ago and now offers more than 20 online degree and certificate programs. Roughly 40 percent of the college’s enrollment is in online programs.
U.S. News, which started rating online programs three years ago, considers such factors as student engagement, faculty credentials and training, peer reputation, student services and technology, and admissions selectivity.
“BU’s online degrees are a significant part of a continuum of innovative teaching and learning methods that ranges from flipping the classroom in residential courses and hybrid offerings with reduced face-to-face time to fully online degrees with extensive interaction capabilities,” Zlateva says. “Online and hybrid programs are the primary venues for reaching new students beyond the campus and graduate professional education is one of the few areas in higher education that is expected to grow.”
“We take a tremendous amount of pride in our work to create outstanding experiences for online students that are built on a quality, pedagogically sound foundation,” says Nancy Coleman, director of Distance Education. In addition to MET, Distance Education works closely with faculty from other BU schools and colleges on 35 online programs.
Kira Jastive can be reached at kjastive@bu.edu.
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