New CIP Code for Our Master’s Program.
May 17, 2009
We are excited to hear that final approval was granted on May 14, 2009, by the Arizona Board of Regents' Executive Director to change the CIP Code for our Master's program in MIS effective summer 2009. The new CIP Code for the Master’s program in Management Information Systems will be 11.0103 (Information Technology). It will take several months for the appropriate changes to be made to systems, records and publications.
What is a CIP code? CIP stands for Classification of Instructional Programs. It's a coding scheme developed and maintained by the US Department of Education, National Center on Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Data System, to classify and code academic disciplines. The codes are then used to characterize data on student majors, degrees granted, courses taught, employees, etc.
Why did the CIP code change? The CIP Code was changed to better reflect a more accurate description of our major as it is today.
The MS MIS program was established in 1974 in the Department of Management Information Systems (MIS). In the last 35 years it has graduated over 1200 Master's students. For the last 21 years, this program has been ranked a top 5 program in the country by US News and World Report. The program was originally assigned the CIP code 52.1201.
While this code applied to the program as it started, it no longer accurately describes the nature of the program today. The code applies to a mainframe-based environment that was the norm in the 1970’s, in which MIS professionals were trained to “respond to external data requests”. It included training students in departmentalized information systems: “accounting information systems”, “management control systems”, “personnel information systems”. Consistent with the then widespread mainframe computing environment, it put a lot of emphasis on the operation and maintenance aspects of computing facilities and report preparation.
The world of MIS has changed in the last 30 years. Information Technology has brought about tremendous changes to society and businesses alike, through ubiquitous and disrupting waves of technology innovation: personal computing, local area networks, client-server computing, the Internet, the Web, web 2.0, mobile computing, and so on. IT today is an integral part of society, especially business. Our MIS program has changed and keeps changing accordingly. By reacting to changes and constantly updating our curriculum, we have been able to maintain a top 5 ranking among similar programs for the last 21 years.
Our current MS MIS program is about giving our students a deep understanding of technology and proficiency in business; equipping the students with the knowledge necessary to connect technology and business; and design technology-based systems to essentially solve business problems. The program is at the same time technology-focused and business solutions oriented. We have continuously updated and modified the program to achieve these objectives.
The current structure of the program requires a common set of four core courses, followed by the students opting for one of the three tracks: technical, managerial and entrepreneurial. It is important to point out that in all the three tracks, the coverage of technology is substantial. Because of the extensive technology coverage that the current program provides, our MS MIS program will be changed to CIP code 11.0103 – Information Technology.Have a news article you would like to share? Please contact us.
