New MS Program in Software Engineering (MSSE)

Why Software Engineering?

The Commissioner of Bureau of Labor Statistics in a testimony before a sub-committee in U.S. House of Representatives on March 25, 2009, reported that in his assessment on long-term employment trends through *2016 and in spite of the current economic climate, the occupation Computer Software Engineers, Applications Software,is expected to have the 2nd highest growth (45% with 2006 median annual wage of $79,780) out of the 30 occupations with the fastest growth. Combined with the data for Computer Software Engineers, Systems Software (28% growth with 2006 median annual wage of $85,370), Computer Software Engineering overall is expected to have the largest opportunity for employment in US among the 30 high-growth occupations.

However, there are only about 50 institutes and universities in US that have such MSSE degree programs.It is also widely known that there is a large migration of some sectors of software industry from developed nations (US) to developing nations (such as India, Phillipines.) Some of this migration is due to the lack of domestic talent to meet the industry needs.

*http://www.bls.gov/bls/testimony_march_25_2009_hearing.pdf

The primary goal of the MS program in Software Engineering at NJIT is to teach and equip students with advanced knowledge of the concepts, techniques, skills and tools for developing modern large-scale software systems. Students with an MS in Software Engineering (MSSE) will be prepared for professional careers in the software industry, an economic sector that is experiencing high rates of growth and is increasingly critical to the technological advancement and the competitiveness of the state and the nation (see sidebar.)
Software engineering encompasses a wide range of topics including software requirements, specification, analysis, design, implementation, verification, deployment, reuse, project management and evolution of software products.An orthogonal perspective of the discipline includes engineering Software Systems for performance, reliability, security, scalability, maintainability, etc. It also encompasses the economic and organizational aspects.
MSSE students at NJIT will be required to take courses on Software Architecture (CS 685), Software Testing and Quality Assurance (CS 684), Software Project Management (CS 683), Requirements Engineering (IS 676), Design and Production Methodologies (CS 673), and a semester-long project. There will be several additional elective courses including Agile Software development processes, Software Reliability, etc.For complete details, download the brochure below (MS in Software Engineering).

The College of Computing Sciences will endeavor to offer these courses on the schedule below.

Course	Title	Semester	Prerequisites
CS 673	Software Production and Methodology	Fall, Spring (DL)	None
CS 683	Software Project Management	Fall	None
CS 684	Software Testing and Quality	Fall, Spring	None
CS 685	Software Architecture	Spring	CS 673, CS683
CS 686	Software Project - Practice and Experience	Spring, Fall 2011	CS 683
IS 676	Requirements Engineering	Spring Summer (DL)	CS 673, can be concurrent

DL = Distance Learning, an on-line presentation

For further information, please send an e-mail to:

George Olsen

Software Engineering Contact
Computer Science Department, NJIT