Achievements in Graduate Education

Graduate education has been a part of UCF since its early years. During its first two decades, the university developed over 30 master’s programs primarily in education and engineering, complemented by business, arts and humanities, and sciences master’s programs and one doctoral program, Education EdD.

A shift toward doctoral programs occurred in the 1980s with approval of 10 new PhD programs in Computer Science and Engineering, Business, Psychology, and Physics, plus the Educational Leadership EdD, along with expansion of master’s programs in sciences and in health and public affairs.

In the 1990s three more PhD programs in Mathematics, Optics, and Public Affairs and about a dozen master’s programs increased the graduate offerings at UCF. Since Fall 1998, the first semester that UCF offered graduate certificates, the number of graduate certificate programs has grown to 70 in 2013 and now spans eight colleges.

The years 2000-2009 saw incredible growth in graduate programs at UCF, including 11 new doctoral programs (Materials Sciences and Engineering, Modeling and Simulation, Education, Texts and Technology, Biomedical Sciences, Nursing PhD and DNP, Physical Therapy DPT, Sociology, Chemistry, and Conservation Biology), more than 20 new master’s programs, and MFA programs in Creative Writing, Emerging Media, Film, and Theatre.  Starting in 2008, UCF participated in the statewide Professional Science Master’s (PSM) initiative and now has five PSM programs (Biotechnology, Conservation Biology, Engineering Management, Health Care Informatics, and Modeling and Simulation) and plans for others in progress.

Since 2010, the number of graduate programs continues to grow, with two additional PhD programs (Hospitality Management and Security Studies) and about 10 new master’s programs. Today, UCF offers 183 graduate programs in a broad range of disciplines.