Master of Science (MS)

Information Systems

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Program
Information Systems

Admissions criteria for Master of Science in Information Systems (MS)

Graduate Admissions - Masters level

Prospective students are required to submit the following: 

  • Completion of application for admission
  • Official transcripts for bachelor or graduate degree within 5 weeks of the class start date (refer to Conditional Acceptance).  (All credentials earned outside the United States must be evaluated by a NACES or AICE-member credential evaluation service).  Please speak with an admissions representative for more information.

Note: See program notes and specific requirements below for each graduate - masters level degree program

Specific requirements for admission to classified graduate status are: 

  • A bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university.
  • Completion of application for admission.

  • A 2.7 overall grade point average or higher on completed requirements for the baccalaureate degree, or an earned graduate degree from an accredited institution with a CGPA of 3.0 or higher.

Master of Science in Information Systems Program

As determined by the Program Director or Chair, students with a non-technical degree or lacking IT-related experience are required to successfully complete MIS5010 Information Technology Infrastructure, with a "C" or better. Students must enroll in the course within the first two quarters of their admission to the University. The course is designed to provide students with a required knowledge base of emerging trends in information systems, how information systems work, and how to manage IT infrastructures.  

Required knowledge base or foundational undergraduate course credits do not count towards the total number of credits for graduation nor do they count in the Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA); however, they do count in determining the maximum time frame (MTF) and the Incremental Completion Rate (ICR). Student must achieve a "C" or better within three attempts or will be academically dismissed from the University. 

Provisional Admission:
Applicants with an undergraduate degree CGPA of less than a 2.7, but not lower than a 2.3, or a graduate degree CGPA of less than 3.0, but not lower than a 2.7, will be considered for provisional admission. Students who do not attain a 3.0 GPA in the first quarter will be dismissed. Students cannot appeal the dismissal from the university as a result of failure to meet the conditions of provisional admission.

For additional admissions information please see the admissions section here. 

Offered at Austin, Online Programs, Orlando, Richmond, Tampa, and Virginia Beach.

Note: Not all Online Program offerings are available to residents of all U.S. states. Please contact an admissions representative for further information.

The Master of Science in Information Systems (MSIS) program prepares students for a career or advancement within the Information Systems (IS) profession, or related fields. The program is designed for professionals and continuing students with diverse backgrounds. The MSIS program curriculum focuses on merging business and IS theories while emphasizing practical applications.

The core competencies of the MSIS program covers a wide range of topics, including business intelligence, data management, knowledge acquisition, information technology (IT) governance, service management, IS development and auditing, systems analysis and design, object-oriented enterprise modeling, information security, and risk management.  

The program aims to equip students with analytical and critical-thinking skills to identify and solve problems within an interrelated systems context. Students learn to define problems and communicate solutions effectively by using oral, visual, and analytical means, as well as utilizing frameworks such as business cases, service level agreements, use cases, and corporate dashboards.

The MSIS program draws on recognized industry frameworks, best practices, and standards through alignment with certifications established by the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA®), the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL®), and the Project Management Institute (PMI®). To aid the academic and professional advancement of students through hands-on experience, the MSIS program incorporates technology resources via the IBM Academic Initiative.

The program emphasizes project-based learning and students perform an IT/IS industry analysis of skills, certifications, technologies, and methodologies required in their targeted careers. This leads to the development of a portfolio of projects, which is vetted by industry experts. This approach is also supported by an elective internship course.

Program Student Learning Outcomes

After completion of the Master of Science in Information Systems, graduates will be able to: 

  1. Articulate the utilization of Information Systems (IS) resources (people, processes, technology, and data) to support enterprise strategy.
  2. Utilize industry standards and guidelines in the analysis and development of IS resources.
  3. Analyze the strategic use of IS resources for a project or organizational goal.
  4. Practice the use of an Enterprise Architecture methodology through the domains of Business Intelligence, IT Governance, and Systems Development.

Master of Science in Information Systems: 48 Credits

Foundation of Business Courses (Choose 1): 4 Credits

Course Code
Title
Credits
This course compares and contrasts the disciplines of leadership and management with an emphasis on fostering organization culture and personal ethics. Topics include historical and contemporary leadership and management theories, current leadership research, and the practice of leadership and management across a wide variety of organizational contexts.

Credits : 4

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This course provides an overview of microeconomic concepts and applications to common business problems. Topics include supply and demand analysis, cost analysis, economics of scale, basic market types and their characteristics, pricing, risk analysis and the role of government in economic affairs.

Credits : 4

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This course provides a framework for managers to understand and assess the ethical and legal responsibilities of managers and the implications of their decisions. The course introduces an ethical framework for managers and explores the constitutional foundation for laws and regulations that affect businesses, employment and civil rights laws, contracts, intellectual property, corporate governance, securities and financial transactions and international law.

Credits : 4

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This course presents students with quantitative tools for effective business analysis and decision-making. In addition to a review of basic inferential statistics, the course includes tools such as chi-squared tests, nonparametric statistics, correlation and regression analysis, time-series analysis and forecasting, and decision analysis.

Credits : 4

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Sub-Total Credits
4

Foundation Information Systems and Technology: 8 Credits

Course Code
Title
Credits
Real-world projects dealing with issues related to development, management and maintenance of medium-size and large-scaled information systems with an emphasis on business information systems for a distributed environment. The identification of vulnerabilities and risks inherent in the operation of information systems are also explored.

Credits : 4

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This course will teach students how organizations can effectively and efficiently evaluate new trends and emerging technologies in areas related to Information Technology including data and knowledge management, information networks, applications, and hardware. Knowledge from this course should enable students to help their organizations in areas related to defining, selecting, adopting, and managing new and emerging information technologies.

Credits : 4

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Sub-Total Credits
8

Core: 28 Credits

Course Code
Title
Credits
System development and design and software engineering methodologies, with emphasis on object-oriented analysis, design and implementation of information systems, distributed information systems, information systems life cycle models, and platforms with discussions of requirements definition and management, modeling quality assurance and development environments.

Credits : 4

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System development and design and software engineering methodologies, with tools and techniques for the successful management of IT projects, project selection and approval, planning, estimation techniques, scheduling methods, budgeting, IT project organizations, and project control and assessment. Students explore each of the nine domains of project management including project planning, scheduling, risk management, cost management, and effective project control, as well as the associated pre-project and post-project activities that need to be performed for a project.

Credits : 4

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The course includes case studies to provide an overview of contemporary information systems management in a digital enterprise. It focuses on the relevant issues of effective management of information services activities and highlights the areas of greatest potential application of the technology. The course emphasizes the skills and knowledge to identify and communicate business system needs, select the right information systems and integrate these systems into organizations to improve business performance. The course covers areas needed to prepare for the CGEIT (Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT) certification exam from the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA).

Credits : 4

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This course provides an introduction to analysis, design, and implementation of decision support systems for engineering and business applications. Through an examination of the course concepts related to decision support systems, it will become apparent how decision support systems can assist and improve upon organizational decision-making measures. Operation research modeling techniques and software are integrated with databases systems and computer interfaces to create systems that aid managerial decision making. Structure, models, and modern corporate decision support applications are emphasized through the use of cases to provide a hands-on approach designed to enhance student model-building.

Credits : 4

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This course covers theories, practices and techniques applicable to modeling, designing, developing and managing data assets under varied production operations for large organizations. Database architectures for large-scale commercial products, or production-grade services will be explored, while exposing students to the use of data management systems to collect data, manage organizational data resources, and disseminate information, this course provides students with a comprehensive view of the business data life cycle, from system requirements to data preparation and warehousing.

Credits : 4

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This course critically examines Information Systems Audit, Control (governance), and Compliance concepts and management practices in the context of Information Systems Management. The course will introduce the fundamentals of information technology (IT) auditing and assurance methodologies, major rules of regulatory compliance (SOX, HIPAA, etc.) as well as IT governance frameworks such as COBIT. The course covers areas needed to prepare for the Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT (CGEIT) Certification from the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA).

Credits : 4

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The use of pervasive technology means an overabundance of information sharing, including personally identifiable, confidential, and secret information. This course teaches students through examination of concepts related to information security methods of identifying and categorizing information risk that can be used to improve organizational effectiveness. By understanding aspects of information from technical, formal, and informal approaches, students will better understand the challenges modern organizations face securing data in order to design appropriate solutions unique to individual requirements for both small business and enterprise environments. Structure, models, and modern awareness campaigns are explored to provide a hands-on approach designed to enhance student learning. The course covers areas needed to prepare for the CISM (Certified Information Security Manager) certification exam from the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA).

Credits : 4

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Sub-Total Credits
28

Elective (Choose 1): 4 Credits

Course Code
Title
Credits
Design elements, methods, and software metrics for usability assessment and improvement of interface design and architecture. This course emphasizes the critical need for site design for efficient user navigation to needed materials from the information services of large organizations.

Credits : 4

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This course is a study of effective and productive interfaces. Topics may include design and evaluation of interactive computer systems, input and output devices, screen layouts, machine design, health issues and ergonomics, and organizational impacts.

Credits : 4

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This course is an introduction to computational theories of human cognition such as knowledge representation, problem solving, search, natural language processing, learning, etc. In addition to covering the fundamentals of Artificial Intelligence, the course also provides an opportunity to explore the contemporary cognitive computing topics such as data mining, machine learning, predictive analytics, big data and its applications. This is designed as a graduate seminar like course emphasizing study and discussion of a collection of contemporary technical papers. The students are expected to achieve an overview of recent research and application areas of cognitive computing.

Credits : 4

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This course covers the foundation of risk management in technology related areas. Students will be introduced to the concepts and framework of information risk management and fundamentals, information assurance, risk management requirements at an organizational level, risk assessment/mitigation strategies, and tools to monitor risk management solutions. The course covers areas needed to prepare for the CRISC (Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control) certification exam from the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA).

Credits : 4

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This course focuses on planning and designing a network infrastructure for an enterprise, including designing the domain architecture, while accounting for the evolution of inputs and outputs, to suitably satisfy customer needs. The course addresses the criteria and methods to be applied in evaluating and selecting optimum networking technologies and management tools for an enterprise, as well as planning and strategizing resources for a given network infrastructure (servers, network elements, storage). Some key networking technologies are based on the notion of virtualization. Virtualization relies on a technology platform for the creation of logical instances of IT resources. A transparency layer allows physical IT resources to map to multiple virtual images of themselves so that their underlying capabilities can be shared by multiple users. The course covers the different types of IT network resources that can be virtualized, including servers, storage, network and power. At the end of the course, the students will tackle the development of a business continuity plan, with emphasis on planning and delivering network services to support the business objectives of the organization, including monitoring, reporting, troubleshooting, and automating response capabilities.

Credits : 4

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The goal of this course is to provide an opportunity to the MSIS student to gain value-adding experience toward becoming a professional who is both highly self-directing and able to use consultative supervision. The internship is designed specifically to enable the MSIS student to apply classroom knowledge to the work environment, and to better prepare the student to enter the Information Systems industry. This course is a faculty supervised and evaluated field experience in the student's chosen domain of professional interest. Students will work with Career Services or the appropriate Department Chair, Program Director, or designee to identify a potential internship site location. Once an acceptable organization and site supervisor are found, South University must approve the organization to be utilized for this purpose. The Site Supervisor, student, and Faculty Coordinator, as defined in the College of Business Internship Courses Student Handbook, arrange for the student to have an opportunity to realize the goals and objectives and apply competencies of the MSIS program to real life situations. Please refer to the Internship Learning Agreement in the College of Business Internship Courses Student Handbook for further information regarding requirements prior to participating in an internship. This course is Pass/Fail.

Credits : 4

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Sub-Total Credits
4

Capstone: 4 Credits

Course Code
Title
Credits

The course provides students an opportunity to demonstrate professional competencies and capabilities covered in the MIS curriculum by conducting a study in an advanced IT or IS related topic or undertaking the analysis, design, and implementation of a real-world application.

Credits : 4

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Sub-Total Credits
4
Total Credits
48