The Computer Information Systems (CIS) program currently offers B.S. and M.S. degrees in the Department of Computing Sciences at the College of Science and Engineering (CSE) at University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL). The CIS undergraduate program is ABET-accredited. The dual degree CIS program is designed for high-performing CIS undergraduate students who would like to pursue an M.S. degree in CIS at UHCL. For students who are accepted into this program, up to six graduate credit hours can count toward both undergraduate and graduate degrees. The overall objective of this initiative is to provide the qualified CIS undergraduate students a fast track to an M.S. degree.
Number of credit hours for degree completion:
This dual degree program allows students to earn degrees at an accelerated pace by allowing up to 6 credit hours to count toward both undergraduate and graduate degrees. For CIS, a total of 152 credit hours is required by the program for both the extended coursework option and the thesis option.
In this program, undergraduates with 90 or more credit hours may take up to six graduate credit hours toward their Bachelor’s Degree. The same 6 graduate credit hours may also count towards a Master’s Degree.
Graduate courses utilized for a bachelor’s degree cannot be utilized for a graduate degree outside of the accelerated Bachelor’s to Master’s Degree program. No more than 6 graduate hours can be taken as an undergraduate.
Program participant performance monitoring: After a student is admitted to the program, his/her academic performance will be closely monitored. If a student’s cumulative UHCL GPA falls below 3.0/4.0, the student will be put on probation. The probation will be lifted if the student increases the GPA back to 3.0/4.0. If a student fails to reach the 3.0/4.0 GPA requirement for 2 consecutive semesters, he/she will be automatically transferred to the regular B.S. program. The general 3.0 GPA or higher requirement for all UHCL graduate students remains effective throughout the program.
A student who becomes ineligible to participate in or withdraws from the program cannot double count any courses for both Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees. However, courses successfully completed with a 3.0 or better may count toward the Bachelor’s Degree as appropriate substitutions.
Degree-granting process:
Students in dual-degree programs receive a Bachelor’s Degree upon completion of the Master’s Degree.
Students in dual-degree programs not completing the Master’s Degree may apply for graduation with the Bachelor’s Degree.
Dual-degree program students must complete the undergraduate residency requirements.
