Design of a distributed, off-campus graduate program in systems engineering

Academic institutions currently face major pressures to change from the classic lecture style approach to delivering education. The pressure for change comes primarily from industry, which now demand more knowledge workers than ever before. The demand is particularly acute in systems engineering, where in one program at the University of Virginia, the number of jobs available to students far outpaces the number of students graduated. Additionally, industry needs education available near to their employees and at times that allow for normal work-week. To meet these various needs the University of Virginia has designed a graduate program in systems engineering that breaks the traditional mold of on-campus lecture-based instruction. This program is designed to provide the graduating systems engineer with the skills and knowledge required to thrive in the professional environment defined by a dynamic, multidiscipline, technically-oriented, and team-centered approach to problem solving