something totally different
Dear Members: I dare to ask something on the margins of this list. We at our university have to invent Master Programs that are internationally comparable. That means here in Austria we are moving from national to international systems and naming. Due to a lack of tradition we struggle with the meaning of MA and MSc programs. We cannot distinguish precisely what makes up the one or the other. Our field is that of New Media, Telematics, Knowledge Management - thus more on the production and management side. We found several programs out there that cover more or less similar contents and courses but are named MA or MSc without any comprehensible reason. Some colleagues are opting for MSc as the default label for our programs but I'm not so sure about that. Thanks for listening Thomas N. Burg, ______________________________________ Center for New Media http://www.donau-uni.ac.at/newmedia Donau Universitaet Krems Dr. Karl Dorrek Strasse 30 A-3500 Krems, Austria Fon +43-2732-893-2520, Fax -4500 Mobile: +43-699-11656971
As I understand it, the tradition in the US is that it's a master of arts if it requires a foreign language competence, otherwise it's a master of science. That seems somewhat arbitrary, and I may be wrong. But that's the way the distinction has been described to me. ________________________ Sally J. McMillan University of Tennessee sjmcmill@utk.edu ----- Original Message ----- From: "Thomas Burg" <burg@donau-uni.ac.at> To: <air-l@aoir.org> Sent: Tuesday, March 05, 2002 2:29 AM Subject: [Air-l] something totally different Dear Members: I dare to ask something on the margins of this list. We at our university have to invent Master Programs that are internationally comparable. That means here in Austria we are moving from national to international systems and naming. Due to a lack of tradition we struggle with the meaning of MA and MSc programs. We cannot distinguish precisely what makes up the one or the other. Our field is that of New Media, Telematics, Knowledge Management - thus more on the production and management side. We found several programs out there that cover more or less similar contents and courses but are named MA or MSc without any comprehensible reason. Some colleagues are opting for MSc as the default label for our programs but I'm not so sure about that. Thanks for listening Thomas N. Burg, ______________________________________ Center for New Media http://www.donau-uni.ac.at/newmedia Donau Universitaet Krems Dr. Karl Dorrek Strasse 30 A-3500 Krems, Austria Fon +43-2732-893-2520, Fax -4500 Mobile: +43-699-11656971 _______________________________________________ Air-l mailing list Air-l@aoir.org http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l
it seems somewhat arbitrary here at vt where we have certain social science/hum programs that have msc. unrelated to language requirement. I think the difference should be based on the discipline or interdiscipline as it may be. a master of arts is from the liberal arts background, a master of science is from a scientific and applied science/engineering background. one can have a master of arts and a master of science in the same discipline, i frequently find this in economics, math, statistics, but occasionally also in sociology and psychology. the difference seems to focus on the difference between those who are researching in a scientized, experimentalist, modeling,... context and those who are perhaps doing a more scholarly liberal arts enquiry. The methods one learns and uses in each type of degree may differ also, one might learn advanced historical/comparative/analytic/etc. methods in a sociology m.a. versus advanced statistical methods and modelling in a sociology m.s. of course none of this really holds much at all across programs and systems, but it seems to hold alright in generality. Sally J. McMillan wrote:
As I understand it, the tradition in the US is that it's a master of arts if it requires a foreign language competence, otherwise it's a master of science. That seems somewhat arbitrary, and I may be wrong. But that's the way the distinction has been described to me.
-- jeremy hunsinger http://www.cddc.vt.edu/jeremy cddc/political science http://www.cddc.vt.edu 526 major williams hall 0130 http://www.dromocracy.com virginia tech -under construction blacksburg, va 24061 540-231-7614 this email was sent from my office
IMHO, it should be an MS when the field or work is scientific, and an MA when it isn't. I tried to get my department to offer an MS in Sociology, but it would have required an act of the state legislature.
-----Original Message----- From: air-l-admin@aoir.org [mailto:air-l-admin@aoir.org]On Behalf Of Thomas Burg Sent: Monday, March 04, 2002 11:29 PM To: air-l@aoir.org Subject: [Air-l] something totally different
Dear Members: I dare to ask something on the margins of this list. We at our university have to invent Master Programs that are internationally comparable. That means here in Austria we are moving from national to international systems and naming. Due to a lack of tradition we struggle with the meaning of MA and MSc programs. We cannot distinguish precisely what makes up the one or the other. Our field is that of New Media, Telematics, Knowledge Management - thus more on the production and management side. We found several programs out there that cover more or less similar contents and courses but are named MA or MSc without any comprehensible reason. Some colleagues are opting for MSc as the default label for our programs but I'm not so sure about that.
Thanks for listening
Thomas N. Burg,
______________________________________ Center for New Media http://www.donau-uni.ac.at/newmedia Donau Universitaet Krems Dr. Karl Dorrek Strasse 30 A-3500 Krems, Austria Fon +43-2732-893-2520, Fax -4500 Mobile: +43-699-11656971
_______________________________________________ Air-l mailing list Air-l@aoir.org http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l
Sociology is not scientific?! Perhaps you meant that MA's are for social *sciences* and humanities Joao Phd Student MIT / Sloan At 02:52 PM 3/6/2002 -0800, you wrote:
IMHO, it should be an MS when the field or work is scientific, and an MA when it isn't. I tried to get my department to offer an MS in Sociology, but it would have required an act of the state legislature.
-----Original Message----- From: air-l-admin@aoir.org [mailto:air-l-admin@aoir.org]On Behalf Of Thomas Burg Sent: Monday, March 04, 2002 11:29 PM To: air-l@aoir.org Subject: [Air-l] something totally different
Dear Members: I dare to ask something on the margins of this list. We at our university have to invent Master Programs that are internationally comparable. That means here in Austria we are moving from national to international systems and naming. Due to a lack of tradition we struggle with the meaning of MA and MSc programs. We cannot distinguish precisely what makes up the one or the other. Our field is that of New Media, Telematics, Knowledge Management - thus more on the production and management side. We found several programs out there that cover more or less similar contents and courses but are named MA or MSc without any comprehensible reason. Some colleagues are opting for MSc as the default label for our programs but I'm not so sure about that.
Thanks for listening
Thomas N. Burg,
______________________________________ Center for New Media http://www.donau-uni.ac.at/newmedia Donau Universitaet Krems Dr. Karl Dorrek Strasse 30 A-3500 Krems, Austria Fon +43-2732-893-2520, Fax -4500 Mobile: +43-699-11656971
_______________________________________________ Air-l mailing list Air-l@aoir.org http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l
_______________________________________________ Air-l mailing list Air-l@aoir.org http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l
Sociology as I do it is certainly scientific, yes. Not all of those who call themselves sociologists, consider themselves scientists. Some consider themselves non- and even anti-scientific - even some of are so in a scientific manner. No, I did not mean that MA's should be for social sciences and humanities. IMHO, MA vs MS should convey mastery of an approach (such as humanistic vs scientific) not a disciplinary grouping by historical accident. Perhaps you meant your reply to address Thomas' original post?
-----Original Message----- From: air-l-admin@aoir.org [mailto:air-l-admin@aoir.org]On Behalf Of Joao Vieira da Cunha Sent: Wednesday, March 06, 2002 4:00 PM To: air-l@aoir.org Subject: RE: [Air-l] sociology is not scientific
Sociology is not scientific?!
Perhaps you meant that MA's are for social *sciences* and humanities
Joao
Phd Student
MIT / Sloan
At 02:52 PM 3/6/2002 -0800, you wrote:
IMHO, it should be an MS when the field or work is scientific, and an MA when it isn't. I tried to get my department to offer an MS in Sociology, but it would have required an act of the state legislature.
-----Original Message----- From: air-l-admin@aoir.org [mailto:air-l-admin@aoir.org]On Behalf Of Thomas Burg Sent: Monday, March 04, 2002 11:29 PM To: air-l@aoir.org Subject: [Air-l] something totally different
Dear Members: I dare to ask something on the margins of this list. We at our university have to invent Master Programs that are internationally comparable. That means here in Austria we are moving from national to international systems and naming. Due to a lack of tradition we struggle with the meaning of MA and MSc programs. We cannot distinguish precisely what makes up the one or the other. Our field is that of New Media, Telematics, Knowledge Management - thus more on the production and management side. We found several programs out there that cover more or less similar contents and courses but are named MA or MSc without any comprehensible reason. Some colleagues are opting for MSc as the default label for our programs but I'm not so sure about that.
Thanks for listening
Thomas N. Burg,
participants (5)
-
Ellis Godard -
jeremy hunsinger -
Joao Vieira da Cunha -
Sally J. McMillan -
Thomas Burg