Masters for money?

[pjf]

It appears that the requirements for a Masters degree must vary between Universities. At the very fine University where I studied and worked for a number of years, having an honours degree in computer science was a must for anyone wishing to enter a masters degree in that field. If you didn't spend at least four hard years learning not only the practical but also the theoretical aspects of the field, as well as experience in writing a thesis and preferably other academic papers, then a masters degree was simply not for you.

Starting a masters degree was the first petrol station on the road to a life as an academic, and by that stage one had been repeatedly assured that such a life did not include a high income. As such, if you see someone with a masters degree from The University of Melbourne, then you could be quite assured that they were in it for love, and not for money. Those in it for the money left at the end of their bachelor degrees, or took the advice given in first-year and went into even more profitable careers such as bricklaying where there exists a greater skills shortage than IT.

Clearly the commercial value of a masters degree, and the willingness to accept applicants, must show some variation in the international markets. At least with my social circle of academics, studying for one's masters "for the money" would be considered quite a humourous remark with not a hint of seriousness at all.

All the best,

Paul Fenwick
Perl Training Australia