BCoE Graduate Students Satisfied with Online Degree Programs
January 26, 2017
Starkville, Miss. – A recent survey of students participating in Mississippi State University (MSU) Bagley College of Engineering’s (BCoE) online graduate classes during the fall 2016 semester indicates that 93 percent of those students would recommend the online programs to a friend or a colleague.
The brief online survey was sent to the 275 students who completed at least one class during the fall semester. Over 30 percent of the students participated and provided feedback. Other areas in which the students provided exceptionally high marks included their satisfaction with the program, the quality of the program, and staff responsiveness with the BCoE gaining average marks of about 90 percent.
“We are genuinely pleased that our online students feel strongly enough about our programs that they would recommend them to a friend or colleague,” said Dr. Kari Babski-Reeves, Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies for the Bagley College of Engineering. “It’s one thing to appreciate a program which you are participating in yourself, but to feel strongly enough about the program to recommend it, is another.”
The BCoE offers both masters and PhD level accredited degree programs in Aerospace, Civil, Computational, Electrical and Computer, Industrial and Systems, and Mechanical Engineering as well as a uniquely online Master of Engineering degree program. Computer Science is also available to potential students at the United States Engineer Research and Development Center in Vicksburg. Over the past few years these ABET-accredited BCoE programs have been recognized by the U.S News and World Report as a Best Online Graduate Engineering Program (24th) and GetEducated.com’s Best Online Master’s Engineering (11th).
“Our goal every day is to help working professionals recognize their educational successes without the limitations of a traditional classroom or a set class time. I am delighted that our students recognize that we are working hard to make this goal more accessible for them. Online learning should be focused on growing as a professional in your field of interest and not on the processes, procedures, and technologies that make it happen,” said Tamra Swann, Coordinator of Distance Education, Bagley College of Engineering.
According to Stephen Wren, one of BCoE’s first Master of Mechanical Engineering online graduates (2016), “As a consulting engineer, I frequently spend time away from home and am forced to watch lecture videos from a hotel room and complete homework assignments in between client meetings at field offices. Without professors who understand these challenges, I would not have been successful in my MSME program. I love MSU, and as a (soon-to-be) two-time alumnus, I am sure I am biased, but I have never heard of a program as dedicated to their distance students as the faculty and staff in the ME department at Bagley.”
For more information about online learning through the MSU Bagley College of Engineering contact Tamra Swann at tswann@bagley.msstate.edu.