CS Master's Degrees - US vs. EU Programs?

Monty asks: "I'm currently exploring my options and I've been wondering, is it worthwhile to seek education overseas--specifically the EU? Edsgar Dijkstra was of the opinion, though controversial, that American and European CS programs were fundamentally different (see his later writings in the E.W. Dijkstra Archives). What makes the EU interesting, in that light, is that it seems to have more openly embraced things like functional programming. So, if I want to focus my study on something of a more functional nature, are schools in the EU a better choice? What are the implications of returning to North America for employment with a foreign degree? Do they have to be accredited as proof of validity or are they usually recognized by themselves here in the US?"

Comments

It is all name recognition after all

[MerlynEmrys67]

US/EU/India/AU... all of these degrees come down to, what is my impression of their program. If I had to choose someone from MIT/Stanford/UCB vs. someone from noname tech.germany of course I'd pick someone from MIT, however if the choice was from a top graduate program in Finland vs. someone from a no name school in Iowa... Well Finland wins that one.

Of course it never comes down to someone from one school, vs someone from another, there is history, communications ability, interviewing skills etc.

so in that sense it doesn't matter where you get your degree, it is what you learn, and what you can show to an interviewer

if you have a choice

[Ender Ryan]

If you have the option, study overseas, then work overseas. Just take a look at the industry in the States, we're fucked. The U.S. is going to potentially fuck open source, and on the other end of the spectrum Microsoft and other proprietary vendors are moving all their development overseas, to India, etc. That's what business is about in America these days, fucking ourselves...

If I didn't already have family, friends, and own a house here, I'd look into leaving. It just seems to me that the U.S. is on a slippery slope downhill. I think whatever your political viewpoint is, it's all downhill...

But that's just my opinion, and I could be wrong.

Don't choose based on continent!

[Tom7]

It's true that there is a lot more functional programming going on in Europe. But there is also plenty in the US. If you have an interest in a particular subject, find faculty who have published good, readable papers in the area, and then apply to the schools where those faculty work. I can tell you that CMU and Cornell have great typed functional programming groups (very European style, in fact), although CMU at least does not have a general CS masters program; you'd have to do a PhD. Several other schools like UPenn, Berkeley, and Harvey-Mudd are building strong programs in the same vein as well.

Qualifications Assessor POV

[sbszine]

I assess international qualifications for an Australian university, and we consider US qualifications to be about a year behind Aussie and western European quals (UK etc). The US education system is about on par with Hungary and Pakistan in the view of our assessors, but we consider UK and many Indian quals to be on par with our own.

The main factor in deciding the quality of a particular country's qualifications is not the curriculum, facilities, or anything along those lines. It's the quality of the students, determined mostly by whether students gain their place at university through academic merit, or by buying a place. In the US you mostly buy a place, so consequently the value of degrees from the US suffers.

I would advise anyone trying to choose between the US and Europe for a degree of any kind to go to an English university. They don't hand out testamurs from Oxford to any sub-literate with a fat wallet.

Canadian Quals

[sbszine]

Quick question: how are Canadian universities seen? Canadian education system is sometimes similar but, at the same time, remarkably different from the American counterpart...

[Gets big 'C' book from shelf...]

Canada is seen as high quality, on par with UK / Australia, and ahead of the US by a year or so. The high school diplomas / matriculation certificates are highly regarded also. Further, the French and English institutions are considered on par with each other. Canada would be a good choice for postgraduate study.