I've just spent three years doing an online masters from the University of Liverpool. Trust me it's a real place !
And yes they do make you work. Try several hours a day, 7 days a week for best part of 3 years. This was much harder than my undergraduate degree in Mathematics, as you would expect from a Masters course.
See http://www.liv.ac.uk/ for info, click the 'Online Masters Course' box if you're interested.
It is becoming more common for red brick universities with excellent reputations to offer online study equivalents for some of their degrees, particularly the Masters level degrees.
I've recently finished an online MBA with the University of Liverpool, England (they also offer a online MSc in IT) and in my opinion this is THE way to study when you have a full time job already. Taking 3 years off to study while paying a mortgage and building my career was just not an option.
I am much the richer for taking this course, in many ways. You need more discipline to study online as you have to manage your time yourself, but this is quite liberating compared to a traditional course. Don't expect an online course to be less work than a traditional course. My MBA took me 3 years (including my dissertation) and I had to put in several hours work each evening after work, 7 days a week for most of that period.
My advice for choosing an online course would be:
Choose one offered by an established University with a good reputation.
Make sure the degree you will be awarded is identical to those issued to traditional students.
This ensures the University has a good incentive to keep the online course up to the same level as the traditional courses.
I would still recommend traditional study for your first degree (BSc, BA, etc), the experience of meeting other students while living away from home is an essential part of growing up in my opinion.
Then, when you are in a job and have some experience under your belt consider taking an online masters course in something you find interesting and relevant to where you want to go with your career. Heck, even ask your company if they'll pay for it !
Hope this helps. If anyone is interested in the University of Liverpool Masters courses take a look here http://www.liv.ac.uk/ and click the 'Online Masters Programmes' box
Slashdot Mirror
Just to add to the previous comments:
I've just spent three years doing an online masters from the University of Liverpool. Trust me it's a real place !
And yes they do make you work. Try several hours a day, 7 days a week for best part of 3 years. This was much harder than my undergraduate degree in Mathematics, as you would expect from a Masters course.
See http://www.liv.ac.uk/ for info, click the 'Online Masters Course' box if you're interested.
I've recently finished an online MBA with the University of Liverpool, England (they also offer a online MSc in IT) and in my opinion this is THE way to study when you have a full time job already. Taking 3 years off to study while paying a mortgage and building my career was just not an option.
I am much the richer for taking this course, in many ways. You need more discipline to study online as you have to manage your time yourself, but this is quite liberating compared to a traditional course. Don't expect an online course to be less work than a traditional course. My MBA took me 3 years (including my dissertation) and I had to put in several hours work each evening after work, 7 days a week for most of that period.
My advice for choosing an online course would be:
This ensures the University has a good incentive to keep the online course up to the same level as the traditional courses.
I would still recommend traditional study for your first degree (BSc, BA, etc), the experience of meeting other students while living away from home is an essential part of growing up in my opinion.
Then, when you are in a job and have some experience under your belt consider taking an online masters course in something you find interesting and relevant to where you want to go with your career. Heck, even ask your company if they'll pay for it !
Hope this helps. If anyone is interested in the University of Liverpool Masters courses take a look here http://www.liv.ac.uk/ and click the 'Online Masters Programmes' box