New Online Masters in Free Technologies

Discussion in 'IT and Computer-Related Degrees' started by Mitchell, Oct 29, 2010.

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  1. Mitchell

    Mitchell New Member

    FTA - Taskforce International Master Programme in Free Software | FTA - Free Technology Academy

    In 2010 the Free Technology Academy (FTA) set up a master-level programme, which is however not yet a full degree. Therefore, learners who would like to obtain a Masters degree can continue their studies at one of the partner universities.

    FTA - Recognition | FTA - Free Technology Academy

    The FTA is a consortium of various universities and other organisations that jointly organise a course programme about Free Technology through a distance learning methodology in the FTA online campus.

    * Free Knowledge Institute (FKI) - The Netherlands
    * Open Universiteit - The Netherlands
    * Universitat Oberta de Catalunya
    (UOC) - Spain
    * University of Agder (UiA) - Norway
     
  2. Thorvald

    Thorvald New Member

    Thanks for the post. Definable an interesting development.

    Each course is 380euros (no euro symbol on my keyboard) which is currently about $530 CAN/US. They offer 14 courses so far. So that's an investment of about $7400 CAN/US.

    At this time there is no information on the institution that will validate the degree or how many courses will be required.

    While I would consider taking this, it is a big investment and a big risk, especially considering AMU/APUS IT MS degree is about $10,000 US and is RA.

    In addition, where in our corporation dominated world is free (open) software widely deployed? (Apache and R-statistical not withstanding)

    Best wishes---Jim
     
  3. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Many large and small tech companies have an open source strategy at this point. Linux hasn't supplanted Windows on the desktop, but in just about every other area open source is important. You mention Apache, which means data center after data center full of servers running Linux. Oracle delivers its database on Linux. IBM has invested millions in Linux. Google does a lot of open source, for example Android, which is a Linux derivative that's coming soon to a tablet near you. IE's market share has been losing ground rapidly to Firefox and Chrome (also from Google), both of which are open source.

    A friend of mine is a programmer on the NPR web team. He got the job because he's good with PHP, which is also open source and works primarily through Apache. He got placed there by an agency that he said was crying out for more PHP developers -- couldn't find them fast enough to fill the demand. He said if I spent just six weeks studying it to get the basics down that they could get me a job working with it that starts at $65K.

    -=Steve=-
     
  4. emmzee

    emmzee New Member

    Sounds quite interesting, but I'd prefer a "New Free Online Masters in Technologies" instead :)
     
  5. William. V

    William. V New Member

    Sorry for asking this here but it would really help me a lot if you could tell me a bit more about what your friend meant by learning PHP in six weeks. Did he mention any college or something to take admission in and then get a job at NPR for 65 grand a year or its just that you could learn PHP from anywhere and then land on a job of 65 grand or so in states through some agency?

    I'm interested in quickly getting my hands on a certification or a skill that could help me in getting a decent job. That info might really help me out in this regard. Thanks.
     

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