University of California - Berkeley School of Information
The School of Information within UC Berkeley is the newest and smallest school within UCB. It is located perfectly within the center of the campus, and is a hub for graduate research and an educational community that is committed to broad access to information and dedicated to improving the usability, credibility, and reliability of information while preserving its security and privacy. It is vital to have the insights of scholars coming from a diverse set of fields including design, information and computer science, management, law, social sciences, and policy. On campus, there are about 120 graduate students along with about 2 dozen members of faculty, and another 350 students completing their degrees online. Gathering in UC Berkeley's South Hall, great minds come together to form a multidisciplinary aggregate of professionals and scholars.
The School of Information offers 2 professional master's degrees and one academic doctoral degree. The MIMS program will train students for their careers as information professionals, and puts emphasis on small classes as well as project-based learning. The MIDS program will train data scientists in managing and analyzing the impending barrage of big data in a uniquely structured online degree. The PhD program helps scholars in developing solutions and making policies that will influence how people find, use, and distribute information. Students will work together in the most up to date research in all areas relating to information based on their conceptual understanding and ability to apply the knowledge and skills within the real world context and problems.
PhD and Master of Information Management and Systems
The Master of Information and Systems (MIMS) program is made up of 48 units, taking 2 years if attending full time. It is designed to train students with the skills that they need in order to succeed in the information professional world. They must be familiar with the practice and theory of storing, retrieving, organizing, and analyzing information in various ways within the public sector, business, and academic world. Along with the core studies, students will partake in a paid internship, and will be responsible for submitting a final, research-based project based on the two years education.
The PhD of Information Management and Systems is specifically a research-oriented program where the student will choose the particular field of specialization, will prepare sufficiently with the literature and research the field(s) to pass an exam, and will complete their own original research to be used in a final written dissertation. This PhD program is given in acknowledgement of a candidate's grasp of the wide field of learning with distinguished accomplishment within the field via the contribution of a piece of original research that will reveal the ability of the student to use their critical thinking ability and the power of their imagination and synthesis to contribute to solving the world's problems. Only 3 to 5 qualified candidates are accepted into the PhD program each year, and are judged on a number of factors including GPA and their own personal research record and agenda, which should fit well with the program and faculty.
Master of Information and Data Science
The Master of Information and Data Science (MIDS) is delivered to students online and prepares these professionals in data science to be leaders in their field. The program blends a multidisciplinary curriculum, flexible online learning, experienced faculty, and an accomplished group of peers. The MIDS program is made up of 27 units, drawing from computer science, social sciences, management, statistics, and law while using the newest tools and analytical methods. Students will learn how to solve real problems by extracting insights from complex and ambiguous data. The core curriculum is focused on these key skills: cleansing, research design, mining and exploring, ethics and privacy, data visualization, storage and retrieval, communicating results, statistical analysis.
The MIDS program is made up of 27 units, and allows students to complete it either accelerated, full time, or part time. Those who are aimed for the accelerated or part time path must have approval from UCB. The full time path is structured for working professionals and may be completed within 20 minutes when taking 2 courses each semester. The accelerated path allows students to take 3 courses each semester to complete the program in as little as 12 months. Those who take the program on a part time basis will be completing the program in about 32 months, taking one course per semester. 32 months is the maximum time that is allowed. All courses are delivered online, but all students are required to attend at least one face to face 3 or 4 day immersion on campus.
