Thanks to a new agreement between the universities, NJIT will offer two graduate classes to NJCU undergraduates – one class a semester during their senior year. Through this accelerated BS/MS program, the classes will count as six undergraduate credits and six graduate credits. NJCU students can later apply the credits toward the NJIT master’s degree in computer science or information systems and earn a master’s degree in just five years of full-time study.

“This new agreement will allow NJCU students to begin pursuing their graduate education without leaving their campus,” said Gale Tenen Spak, associate vice president of Continuing and Distance Learning Education at NJIT. “Computer science and information systems are both areas in demand in the New Jersey economy and NJIT’s programs in both fields are nationally recognized.”

The NJIT classes not only save students time but also money. NJCU seniors accepted in the accelerated BS/MS program will be charged NJIT undergraduate rates for the graduate classes. That will save students about $837 for each graduate class they take.  And students who maintain grade-point averages of 3.0 or higher and enter a full-time NJIT master’s degree program will receive a $2,000 Provost Fellowship.

The new agreement also makes it easy for students to transfer to NJIT. Students who take the two NJIT classes and overall maintain a GPA of 2.8 or higher will be automatically accepted into a NJIT master’s degree program; they needn’t take the Graduate Record Examination.

As part of NJIT’s mission, the university establishes extension sites throughout New Jersey that make it easy for working professionals to take NJIT graduate courses at locations near to their homes or offices. Through this agreement, the Jersey City campus of NJCU joins the roster of NJIT extension sites. Extension site students can transfer the credits taken at the NJCU extension site toward either a 12-credit NJIT graduate certificate or an NJIT master’s degree. Examples of available graduate certificates include data mining and information systems implementation.

The NJIT class offered this fall at NJCU is Data Management Systems Design (CS 631), which will be conducted in the evening. Other options for completing required classes include face-to-face evening courses at NJIT’s Newark campus and fully online classes that can be accessed anytime. For more information, contact an NJIT Continuing Professional Education representative by phone: 800-624-9850, or email: cpe@njit.edu or visit http://cpe.njit.edu/wpunj.

NJIT and NJCU signed an agreement to offer the new degree program on Thursday, July 6, at 10:30 a.m. in NJCU’s Hepburn Hall. NJIT President Robert Altenkirch and NJCU President Carlos Hernandez, as well as academic officials from both colleges, attended the signing.

“Inter-institutional cooperation between NJCU and NJIT will have a positive impact on students interested in computer science and information systems, who in five years can have both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in these fields,” said Altenkirch. “The joint degree will be a great advantage to these students both intellectually as well as when they enter the job market.”