Short Programs

Established 1949

A.K.A. Summer Session, Professional Institute

2 – 5 day, on-campus classes

Over 40 current offerings involving more than 70 MIT faculty members and lecturers

After World War II, with millions transitioning from military to industry, MIT formalized its summertime activities in response to strong demand for non-degree education in technology-oriented subjects: Spectroscopy, Food Technology, Digital Computing, and dozens of others.

Today, after teaching thousands of classes and hosting more than 85,000 students, the former Summer Session is known as Short Programs. As part of MIT Professional Education group, it continues its 65-year heritage of preparing engineers, scientists, and managers to lead their organizations in new directions, and offering MIT faculty the opportunity for active engagement with expert practitioners in their fields.

The same basic class model has endured since the earliest days. The focus is on intensive classroom work, lab exercises, and occasional field trips to relevant area facilities, plus time for discussion of the day-to-day challenges faced by the practitioners from industry and government who attend the classes along with academics from every part of the world.

In addition to helping the attendees, this intensive interaction has given faculty from across MIT valuable insights to share with undergraduate and graduate students, and in many cases sparked new research projects and collaborations.

Content areas have continually evolved, and now include topics from tribology to autonomous robotic systems, and from radical innovation to sustainable business practices, with new ideas constantly being introduced by faculty members.

Short Programs have been adopted for off-campus presentation across the US and in dozens of countries around the world; they serve as a foundation for MIT Professional Education’s rapidly growing International Programs.