Students in the Software Engineering M.S. program complete 30 units of graduate work, including 6 units involving a thesis. The core of the program comprises advanced courses in software engineering processes, including requirements analysis, software design and implementation, verification and validation, quality assurance, software maintenance and software project management. The electives may be chosen to form a concentration in an area of specialization or to provide a broadly based program of study, whichever is more consistent with the selected thesis. The Master of Science in Software Engineering degree is open to students with undergraduate degrees in Computer Science, Software Engineering, and Computer Information Technology, as well as to students who complete the prerequisite courses. The objectives of the Software Engineering program are to develop students' expertise in the area, to enable students to learn emerging concepts in the field, to meet the software engineering needs of the working professional, to meet the software engineering needs of technological organizations and industry, and to prepare students for subsequent graduate work in Software Engineering. Potential employment opportunities that are open to graduates include software project management, software system design and development, and software quality assurance.