The Illinois Board of Higher Education approved a new Management Information Systems bachelor’s degree for the University of Illinois Springfield at its meeting in Chicago on Tuesday.
The undergraduate major is designed to provide students with a balance of technical skills and business knowledge. The program will prepare students for employment in private and public sectors in a changing global economy.
“College students today are interested in interactive learning. The blended delivery of this program facilitates and enhances interactivity,” said Rassule Hadidi, Ph.D., chair of the Management Information Systems Department.
Students will attend face-to-face classes every other week and instruction is done online during the weeks that classes do not meet in person.
“The blended nature of this program makes it suitable not only for local students, but also those in a reasonable driving distance, such as Bloomington, Danville, Edwardsville and Peoria,” said Hadidi.
UIS expects 25 students to major in MIS in the first year and up to 60 students to be enrolled over the next 5 years. UIS will start offering the degree in the fall of 2010, but students can start taking classes for the major now.
UIS has offered a successful Master of Science in Management Information Systems since 1985 with 42 degrees awarded in fiscal year 2008. The master’s program has a 100% in the field placement record for graduates.
“The prospect for graduates of this new BS in MIS program is very bright,” said Hadidi. “The 2009 federal stimulus includes about $20 billion for health care related information technology.”
According to government estimates about 200,000 new Healthcare Information Technology professionals are needed in areas such as design, development, implementation, and maintenance of electronic medical records.
The curriculum for the B.S. in MIS consists of at least 123 semester credit hours from six groups of courses: 37 hours of general education, 13 hours of Engaged Citizenship Common Experiences (required of all UIS undergraduates), 22 hours of foundation coursework, 21 hours of the College of Business and Management core course, 30 hours in Management Information Systems, and approved general electives.
The addition of the MIS degree means that UIS will offer a total of 23 undergraduate degrees effective the next academic year. The university offers 20 master’s programs and 1 doctoral program for a combined total of 44 available degrees.
Visit the MIS website: mis.uis.edu
For more information on the degree contact Rassule Hadidi, Ph.D. at 217/206-7294 or by e-mail at email@example.com.