Master of Professional Studies

Description and Outcomes

The Master of Professional Studies (MPS) is an excellent choice if you are a working professional looking to advance your career with a flexible, customizable, and innovative graduate degree program. The program is designed to provide you with advanced professional skills in research, data literacy, problem-solving, ethics, leadership, and communication that can apply to your current profession immediately. After completion of the primary core curriculum, the remainder of the degree plan is customizable. You select graduate courses that meet your career goals with the assistance of a graduate faculty advisor. After major coursework, you will create a career-focused portfolio in the final course that will highlight your knowledge and skills obtained throughout the program. 

Concentration

In addition to the program requirements, you may add a diversity, equity, and inclusivity concentration to your degree plan. This concentration will provide you with tools and skills to help identify, manage, and promote these attributes within the workplace community, and are applicable in various career fields.

Program Length

The Master of Professional Studies program consists of 50–52 quarter credit hours, depending on your plan of study. Upon successful completion of the program, you will be awarded a Master of Professional Studies degree.

Program Outcomes

  1. Communication: Communicate effectively in a diverse global environment.
  2. Research and Data Literacy: Apply data-driven approaches to making decisions that improve professional practice and implement innovative solutions.
  3. Ethical Leadership: Evaluate the ethical implications of organizational decisions in the broader global community. 
  4. Problem Solving: Analyze information from multiple sources and provide solutions to problems in a professional context that demonstrate strategic thinking.
  5. Develop: Develop an individualized program-specific outcome directly corresponding to the student's area of study and matching their professional area of interest.

Professional Competencies

In addition to the discipline-specific outcomes, professional competencies are integrated throughout your academic program. You can review the professional competencies associated with your academic program in the Professional Competencies section of this Catalog.

Program Availability

For program availability, please refer to the U.S. State and Other Approvals section and Program Availability Information.

Policies

Progression Requirements

  1. During the first term of study, you will develop an Individualized Learning Plan (ILP) under the guidance of a faculty advisor. The ILP contains a career goal statement and outlines the coursework you will complete as part of your degree plan. With the assistance of your faculty advisor, you will choose up to three focus areas that align with your professional and personal goals. ​
  2. You must follow the below sequence of courses for the first three terms.
    Code Title Credits
    PR500Professional Global Communication5
    PR501Professional Research Methods and Data Literacy5
    Select one of the following:5
    PR502
    		Professional and Organizational Ethics
    PR503
    		Visionary Leadership, Conflict, and Collaboration
    PR504
    		Competitive Positioning, Planning, and Decision Making
  3. You may not use credit for prior learning to fulfill core courses unless a waiver is granted by the Dean of the School of Multidisciplinary and Professional Studies. A waiver is issued based upon an evaluation of common learning outcomes. The following courses must be completed at Purdue Global: PR500 Professional Global Communication, PR501 Professional Research Methods and Data Literacy, and PR599 Graduate Capstone in Professional Studies. One of the following courses must be completed at Purdue Global: PR502 Professional and Organizational Ethics, PR503 Visionary Leadership, Conflict, and Collaboration, PR504 Competitive Positioning, Planning, and Decision Making.

Certification, State Board, and National Board Exams

Certain state certification and licensure boards have specific educational requirements for programs to lead to a license or certification that is a precondition for employment in a recognized occupation. Prospective and current students must review Purdue Global’s State Licensure and Certifications site to view program and state-specific licensure information.

Unless otherwise specified, Purdue Global's programs are not designed to meet any specific state’s licensure or certification requirements. Licensure-track programs may limit enrollment to students in certain states; please see Purdue Global’s Program Availability Information to determine enrollment eligibility.

You are responsible for understanding the requirements of optional certification exams. Such requirements may change during the course of your program. You are not automatically certified in any way upon program completion. Although certain programs are designed to prepare you to take various optional certification exams, Purdue Global cannot guarantee you will be eligible to take these exams or become certified. Your eligibility may depend on your work experience, completion of education and/or degree requirements, not having a criminal record, and meeting other certification requirements.