The School of Professional Studies at Columbia University has added a fully online option for its Master of Science in Bioethics program that features the same rigorous curriculum and courses as Columbia’s on-campus master’s program in Bioethics and builds upon its online Certification of Professional Achievement.
“We are proud to announce our online Master of Science in Bioethics program, the first such offering in the Ivy League,” says Dr. Robert Klitzman, Academic Director. “It is ideal for working professionals in healthcare, law, and other fields who want to address cutting-edge issues stemming from advances in biotechnology and biomedicine. Now you can receive a world-class Columbia education in bioethics from the comfort of your own home.”
Students in the program will study online with faculty from across Columbia and its top-ten schools, including the College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Mailman School of Public Health, as well as with other leaders in the field.
The program is offered through Columbia's distance-learning platform, which combines lectures, assignments, group projects and activities, and interactive features for a rigorous education. The “live classroom” component of the online coursework functions as an in-person classroom would.
Jennifer Gumer, formerly an attorney practicing in FDA regulatory law and healthcare litigation, completed her Certification in Bioethics online and has decided to pursue the master’s program at Columbia. Of the program’s online coursework, she says, “I was surprised at the degree of collaborative and social interaction in my courses. We had the opportunity to raise our hands in class, speak, and comment. We did projects where there’d be a prompt about a topic and the professor would have us break out into groups of three to four and discuss, then we’d all rejoin the class and share what we had talked about.”
To accommodate working professionals, most “live” online coursework in the Master of Science in Bioethics program is offered between 4:30 and 9:00 p.m. EDT, and students may complete the program at their preferred pace: full-time (in as little time as 12 months) or part-time (in as much time as 3 years). Courses in the program are eligible for Continuing Medical Education (CME) credit.
