UALR’s online master of science in information quality has been judged a “best buy” out of 67 competing options for students seeking distance learning in computer science and information technology.

A Best Buy designation indicates that the UALR program has been reviewed and judged to offer a high quality distance master’s to a national audience at tuition rates well below the national average.

“The average cost of a distance master’s in the computer science and information technology area, according to our national survey, which included 67 schools, is $23,620,” said Melissa Eubank, director of information services for GetEducated.com, the ranking organization that rates the cost of online computer education programs.

“At $8,438 for the UALR program and $16,985 for others, UALR’s program ranked No. 8 in our 2008 survey.”

A full list of GetEducated.com’s Top 29 Ranked Best Buys in Online Computer Science and Information Technology is available available on-line.

UALR’s Master of Science degree in Information Quality (MSIQ) was established in 2006 by the UALR Donaghey College of Engineering and Information Technology (EIT) in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology information quality program.

“As the first of its kind in the world, our MSIQ program has been a trend-setter from the start,” said Dr. John Talburt, head of the program. “We have recently added a doctoral program in information quality, and it is also beginning to attract significant international attention.”

The UALR program is dedicated to promoting state of the art curriculum in information quality education, contributing new ideas to the information quality knowledge base, and establishing information quality partnerships with the community, government, and industry.

The MSIQ degree, offered through the UALR Department of Information Science, is designed to meet the growing demands by government, industry, and non-profit organizations for qualified professionals. The program is designed to prepare students to pursue careers such as data quality manager, data quality analyst, data quality consultant, and data quality system developer, or to pursue doctoral-level graduate studies in preparation for information quality research and instructional roles.