Master of Arts in Higher Education

Elevate your career with an online master's degree in higher education

The Master of Arts (M.A.) in Higher Education is a 30-credit degree program designed to enhance students' and professionals' contributions to higher education, preparing them for a broad range of administrative roles in this growth area as well as to conduct research related to their work. Many of our students are working professionals in higher education, faculty in community colleges looking for advancement, and others are exploring student success. This program is flexible, offering part-time study in five semesters. This program provides contemporary perspectives on careers, policies, administration, history, organization, social justice and educational equality, data-based decision making and teaching in post-secondary education. The final project is an opportunity for either a practicum or a professional project directly related to participant's area of interest. The program allows for the transfer of up to 12 credits of graduate level courses or prior learning assessment.

Program Design

This 30-credit hour program is taught through online instruction. Students customize their degree plan with a focus approved by program faculty to ensure relevance and alignment with a final project.

Required Courses and Final Project

  • Economics and Finance of Higher Education (3)
  • Administration and Leadership in Higher Education (3)
  • History and Philosophy of Higher Education (3)
  • Fostering Student Success in Higher Education (3)
  • Approaches to Critical Inquiry and Research (or another research course approved by advisor) (3)
  • Higher Education Elective (6)
  • Two of the following:  
    • Rethinking Experience and Learning in Adulthood (3)
    • Learning and Development in Contemporary Adulthood (3)
    • Strategies for Effective Adult Learning (3)
  • Final Project (3) 

Prior Learning Assessment (PLA)

The M.A. in Higher Education provides graduate-level assessment of prior learning that can be evaluated by faculty experts and incorporated into the degree.  The total number of transfer credit and graduate-level assessment combined cannot exceed 12 credits.  There is no additional fee for PLA and credits can be used for requirements or electives.

Program Learning Outcomes

  • Engage in the public discourse of adult and higher education as writers, speakers, and producers of digital information, the ability to explore higher education through multiple conceptual lenses, the ability to define problems, ask questions, and find appropriate methods of problem-solving and research in their scholarly inquiry and professional practice.
  • Demonstrate the skills of critical analysis, synthesis and evaluation and of informed and effective communication.
  • Enhance practices as critically reflective practitioners, developing habits of reflective practice and recursive learning, habits of intentional and ethical practice, awareness of themselves as social actors in their capacities of learners and educators.
  • Describe skills in designing, developing, and deploying effective and innovative learning environments and learner supports for higher education audiences with attention to learner needs, respect for the diversity of social and personal experience, and effective program administration.
  • Recognize and address the ways in which disparate knowledge claims and discourses intersect with power relationships, including building an awareness of multiple paradigms concerning participation, leadership, service, advocacy, and social and intellectual critique.
  • Demonstrate abilities to work collaboratively with others with differing perspectives and ways of knowing, will gain an appreciation for multiple sources of learning and develop critical perspectives on adult education, including both academic and field-based practices.