Online Masters Degree and Certificate Programs

You must have at least a bachelor’s degree with a 3.0 cumulative GPA, and you must be in some way involved with medical education or educational research or be moving toward a role in medical education or educational research. “Medical education” can be interpreted broadly, but does not include K-12 health education.

Yes, the program is not only for physicians, but for anyone within healthcare who is involved in or interested in medical education and / or educational research. Our students have included physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, physical therapists, sports trainers, researchers, administrators, house staff personnel and others involved in a variety of positions with educational responsibilities within a healthcare environment.

K-12 teaching has licensure requirements that our program will not satisfy. Additionally, our program is focused more on adult education within a healthcare environment and may not provide you with the tools you need for a traditional K-12 classroom or student population.

We do cautiously admit residents on a limited basis. There are two important considerations: time and the ability to perform teaching and research activities. One of your recommendation letters MUST be from your residency director and it must address these two issues and state that participation in the master’s program will be supported while the student is in residency. Be aware that many students who have attempted a graduate degree while in residency have found it to be more difficult than they had anticipated and often take longer to graduate than they had hoped.

Most of our students are already involved in medical education and looking to enhance their skills to better perform their current job and progress in their career path. Very few of our students are seeking this degree to obtain a job, and the goal of the program is not to prepare students for a new job. It may, however, help you progress in your career and obtain an promotion.

If you are seeking the Certificate or MEd to teach nursing or allied health at the college level, we STRONGLY encourage you to first consult with the hiring staff and faculty in the program where you want to teach to ensure that this program meets their criteria. Many programs prioritize an advanced degree in the subject matter.

How this program will help your individual career will depend on your ambitions, goals, chosen career path and your institution’s policies. Due to the uniqueness of each student's situation, we are not able to predict with any certainty or provide specific guidance on how this program will benefit any specific applicant.

There is no travel required at all for our program. Everything from orientation through your final project defense is conducted using web-based technology. If you are ever in the Cincinnati area for any other reason, however, we would love the opportunity to meet you!

Our curriculum is arranged so that the program cannot be completed in less than two years. It is optimized for a student who begins in the fall term – if two courses are taken each term, all coursework other than the final project can be completed in 5 semesters. The actual term of graduation will depend on how long it takes to complete the final project.

Most of our students work full time. Those with busy clinic schedules and little or no protected time generally find it difficult to work two courses into their schedule each term. Because of this, the average time to complete the program is approximately 3½ years.

Yes. The University of Cincinnati is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools and the Higher Learning Commission.

Up to nine (9) credit hours may be transferred into the master’s program. This equates to 3 courses. Each course must be a master’s-level course taken within the past five years with at least a B grade, and it must closely match a course in our program. No more than three semester credit hours can be transferred in for any one course. If the course you took was more than three credit hours, only three credit hours will be applied. If the course you took was less than 3 credits, it cannot be accepted.

Please provide a course syllabus or detailed course description so we can evaluate the course.  If it is accepted, we will require an official transcript showing the term and year, course and grade (if the transcript was not already provided with your application).

No credits may be transferred into the certificate program.

Yes! If you are in the master’s program, you will have two advisers; if you are in the certificate program, you will have one:

Academic Advisor – The program coordinator provides advising assistance with applications, course selection, program progression, bill payment options, graduation, grades and all other administrative and academic needs.

Project mentor – Master’s students must have a project mentor who will provide guidance and assistance for their final project and head the student’s master’s committee.  The program office can assist with selection of a project mentor if needed.

No. There is no indication on the transcript, the diploma, or the actual certificate that the program or any coursework was completed via distance learning or online.