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The best online master’s in Management Information Systems are often designed for professionals and offer the convenience of studying when the time is best for you.
Originally published in August 2019 and revised to reflect the latest information in January 2024.
New technologies radically transform the way our organizations work. While much of the hype around new technology is often around the “building” and adoption stages, anyone who has worked for any amount of time knows that simply getting a new technology is only part of the battle.
There’s technology that works well, and then there’s technology that works well for you. And when the time of workers, outcomes of deals, or livelihood of corporations are on the line, you need to make sure your information systems work for you to the max.
That’s where the management of information systems comes in. While information technology and computer engineering focus on the building of better technologies, information systems focus on how to build better human/computer systems.
This means attaching new technologies to key organizational metrics, tracking the result of information system changes, and keeping an eye on the “big picture” of how information systems blend into an organizational landscape.
While management information systems is a relatively new academic discipline, it’s quickly jumped to the top of many organizations’ wish lists for new candidates. There may be a shortage of skilled tech workers. But there’s an even greater shortage of skilled tech workers who can also make key business and management decisions.
What’s more, as important applications of technology have multiplied, so too requires information systems professionals with knowledge of one sub-discipline within information systems. This has led to the proliferation of master-level academic programs that allow students to focus on one concentration area. Common concentrations within Master’s in Management Information Systems programs include:
- Management Information Systems (generalist track)
- Information Security and Management
- Business Intelligence and Data Analytics
- Software Development
- Project Management
- Logistics Information Systems
With degree concentrations such as those listed above, motivated management information systems professionals can work in a wide range of roles. Common careers for management information systems graduates include:
Chief Information Officer- Project Manager
- Product Owner
- Information Security Manager
- Systems Analyst
- Systems Specialist
- Logistics Manager
Chief Information OfficerFor this year, we were able to survey more online Master’s in Management Information Systems than any year prior. In narrowing down our selections, we employed a multivariate ranking system that can be broken down into the following categories.
Methodology for Ranking
- Program financial score (33.3%): the percentage of students whose financial need was met, the robustness of the financial aid department and offerings.
- Academic Support Measures (33.3%): including student-to-faculty ratios, average graduation rates, and time until graduation.
- Academic Quality (33.3%): the presence of high-profile research opportunities and designations such as the NSA Center of Academic Excellence designation for cybersecurity.
Costs for schools shown below are from the National Center for Education Statistics average Tuition and Fees, choosing in-state and graduate options when available. In some cases, tuition and fee information were researched from College Data with the same options chosen. No schools are ever given preference over any others in this or any other ranking by OnlineCollegePlan.
Students considering advanced opportunities in the field might also be interested in our ranking of the 10 Best Online PhD Programs in Management Information Systems.
Sources:
Florida State University offers a fully online Master of Science in Management Information Systems degree that places highly in our ranking due to the quality of instruction as well as adult-student-suited program design.
The highly-regarded College of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan Dearborn offers one of the more technical online master’s programs in this year’s ranking.
Concordia University-Wisconsin offers a unique online master’s program within our ranking, an MBA in management information systems. Among other choices in our ranking, students seeking additional coursework in the management and business sides of information systems should be particularly pleased with this program.
George Washington University offers a particularly unique online master’s degree in their Master of Professional Studies in Cybersecurity Strategy and Information Management degree.
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University – perhaps the most well-known university related to aviation and aerospace – provides its own unique take on the online master’s programs with its Master of Science in Management Information Systems degree.
Management information systems degrees are versatile, multidisciplinary degrees that blend business, management, and technical courses.
Information Technology Project Manager
An MS in Management Information Systems degree is a professional master of science degree. Professional master’s are different from research master’s in that they tend to focus on applied learning that students can immediately take into the workplace.
Cybersecurity
STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math. Generally speaking, many employers value STEM program graduates or simply graduates with STEM skills for their versatility and ability to problem solve.
Skilled management information systems workers including data analysts, project managers, cybersecurity analysts, and more, are tasked with not only knowing the technical underpinnings of a set of technology products but seeing how they fit into the broader equation of personal and organizational use.
The job of information systems professionals is to ensure that this myriad of systems performs as expected. Furthermore, the job of information systems professionals is to make sure that information systems are progressing to solve not only problems we know we have but those we haven’t even realized we have yet.
Information technology and management information systems are disciplines that may work on the same problems but from very different vantage points.
Business
