Course Work

The Master of Information Management and Systems (MIMS) program requires at least 48 semester units of study. The first year of the program consists mostly of a core curriculum; the second year involves further study in core areas along with additional electives, with the expectation that the student will specialize in particular aspects of information management and systems, as well as complete a final project requirement.

During the summer between the two years, students are strongly encouraged to participate in an internship program in order to use their newly acquired skills in real-world settings. Assistance in arranging internships will be provided whenever possible, but the ultimate responsibility of obtaining the internship will be that of the student. Past internships have been in corporate, academic, government and non-profit institutions.

First Year Required Courses

There are four required courses in the first year. During the first semester students take courses in Information Organization and Retrieval and Distributed Computing Applications and Infrastructure.

• 202. Information Organization and Retrieval
• 206. Distributed Computing Applications and infrastructure

During the second semester students take courses in Social and Organizational Issues of Information and Society and Information Law and Policy.

• 203. Social and Organizational Issues of Information and Society
• 205. Information Law and Policy

The remaining units for the first and second semesters are composed of electives.

Second Year, MIMS Program

The second year of the program will be devoted to electives both within the I School and in other units on campus. During the final semester of the second year students will undertake final projects. The interdisciplinary diversity of the I School program makes many kinds of projects suitable. Some projects involve the design of an information-intensive application and creation of a software artifact. Other projects include a significant research component, making a written report the most important artifact.  In conjunction with the final project, students should also take a professional skills workshop during the final semester of the second year.

• 209: Professional Skills Workshop

Summary of Course and Unit Requirements

Courses 202, 203, 205, and 206 are required of all students and must be taken on a letter grade basis. Students are also required to satisfy a two-course technology requirement consisting of 206 and an additional course taken from an approved list of technology courses. Students with substantial technical backgrounds can petition to replace 206 with a more advanced course. Students are also required to take 2 units of either a project management or a systems analysis course from an approved list of courses. During the second year of the program each student must complete 2 units of 298A with their advisor as part of the final project requirement, along with 209.

Further courses to satisfy the 48 unit requirement may be chosen from the School's 200 series course offerings or from courses in other departments. A maximum of 10 units from other departments will be accepted as counting toward the MIMS degree. Additional outside units may be accepted by special arrangement with a faculty advisor. Courses from other departments must be upper division or graduate courses numbered in the 100-299 range and must be approved by an I School faculty advisor before credit will be accepted toward the degree. A maximum of 4 units of Individual Study (IS 299) will count toward the degree and a maximum of 2 units of Field Study (297) will count toward the degree.

Work toward the degree must be completed with a grade point average of at least B (3.0 on a 4.0 scale). Students may elect to take courses on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis up to a limit of one third (i.e., 16 units) of the total units applied toward the degree.

Courses taken before admission to the School will normally not be accepted as fulfilling degree requirements. Under certain conditions as many as 4 semester units of work taken while enrolled in a similar graduate program might be applied toward degree units.

Length of the MIMS Program and Academic Residence

The MIMS program is considered a full time program. Students are expected to enroll in 12 units of graduate work each semester and complete the program within the two year time frame. The Graduate Division requires that Master's degree students complete a minimum of two semesters of academic residence. To meet the academic residence requirement for a single semester, a student must enroll in and complete a minimum of 4 units of upper division and/or graduate course work.