Georgia Tech, Udacity.com and AT&T are teaming up to offer what they call the first accredited online master of science degree in computer science.
The program, which will be offered beginning fall 2014, will be taught via Udacity.com, a higher education instruction website that offers free classes in computer science, mathematics, programming, general sciences and entrepreneurship.
Georgia Tech’s master’s program, however, comes with a pricetag, which organizers say will be below $7,000, a fraction of the cost of Tech’s on-campus programs.
Degree-seeking Tech students will pay tuition based either on individual courses or the entire computer science master’s program. A separate credential will be developed for students who complete courses but don’t qualify for full graduate standing.
AT&T will fund the 2014 pilot program. Initial enrollment is expected to be a few hundred students recruited from AT&T and Tech corporate affiliates.
In announcing the program this week, Zvi Galil, dean of computing at Georgia Tech, said it could potentially double the number of trained computing professionals worldwide in as little as a decade.
“The OMS CS will set a new agenda for higher education,” Galil said in a statement. “Real, rigorous and marketable graduate education in computer science will now be available to tens, even hundreds of thousands of additional students around the world.”
The tech industry continues to grapplel with a shortage of workers skilled in science and technology. Organizers hope the Tech computer science program will widen the pipeline for talent needed in computer science fields but also serve as a blueprint for attracting more STEM students.
