MSU Offers First-of-its-Kind Degree

An Ozarks university says it’s changing quickly to keep its graduates ahead of the curve.  As part of that, Missouri State announced a first of its kind degree program Wednesday.

It’s probably the quickest this university has ever developed a degree program.

Six months ago, IBM and MSU began collaborating on a new degree program.

For local businesses, graduates from this program can't come fast enough.

“Most of the focus is on technical skills only,” said Neal Anderson.

Anderson knows the need for graduates who are skilled in computer programming and systems. As a manager for American National Property and Casualty, he's constantly recruiting information technology grads from his alma mater.

That's because Anpac, like many other service-based industries, are increasingly marketing themselves in a global economy. It's a world where IT professionals are needed to help companies stay ahead of the curve when it comes to an online presence and technology.

Many of these graduates know the ins and outs of computers, but that’s not necessarily the case when it comes to managing people and entire departments.

“Most people aren’t prepared for that,” he says.

So this Springfield-based corporation, like many others in the service industry, must spend years training people to move beyond the keyboard. Yet that may all be changing soon.

Along with learning the technical side, graduates will now be schooled in tracking business trends and how to manage the growing IT presence in this global economy.

“It will be a model for other schools throughout the country,” said Ronal Bottin.  He’s the dean of the School of Business Administration.

School leaders say IBM decided to enter into a partnership with this university because of its strong commitment to computer-related degrees, and foresight into the future needs of the service industry. It's an industry that already makes up three quarters of the American economy - everything from insurance to hotels.

"The opportunities in the service industry are outstanding,” said Bottin.  “Therefore it will give us a competitive advantage over other institutions to have this type of degree available. And that's why we're here, for the students."

IBM is partnering with the university by offering course material and computer software.

To put this into perspective of how new this program is in the undergraduate world, IBM representatives compare this to when they helped start the first computer science degree at Columbia University back in the 1950s.

They say that within a few years, a lot of colleges will be teaching very similar programs based on this MSU degree.