MIT’S GATEWAY TO NON-DEGREE PROGRAMS FOR working PROFESSIONALS
MIT Professional Education provides continuing education courses and lifelong learning opportunities for science, engineering, and technology professionals at all levels, from around the world. Worthy of note is that MIT professors and lecturers lead and teach all MIT Professional Education offerings. Some of our programs have a long history, others are relatively new.
The Advanced Study Program enrolls professionals who desire to take regular, credit-bearing MIT courses for one or more semesters on campus in Cambridge.
Short Programs, formerly called "Summer Sessions," draws more than 1500 global participants to campus each year to attend some 50 short courses, 2-5 days long, offered primarily in the summer.
Some of our short courses are offered in a growing number of international locations through International Programs.
Companies and organizations engage MIT Professional Education to develop tailor-made Corporate Programs that range from a day to a yearlong sequence of sessions, delivered on or off campus.
And our newest offering, Digital Plus Programs, blend cutting-edge content delivered using the best of online technology and traditional classroom instruction, to enable effective learning outcomes in a flexible, collaborative learning environment.
All MIT Professional Education courses offer certificates, and Continuing Education Units (CEUs); some offer MIT credit in addition.
Learn more about MIT degree programs through the MIT Admissions Office.
Our MISSION
The MIT Professional Education mission is to provide a gateway to renowned MIT research, knowledge and expertise for working professionals engaged in science and technology worldwide, through advanced education programs designed for them.
The programs are delivered by MIT faculty and promote technical excellence through ongoing educational engagement with communities of practice. MIT Professional Education fosters the development of innovative leaders equipped to address complex problems globally.
MIT Professional Education is central to MIT’s vision. It fulfills the mandate to connect practitioner-oriented education with industry, and to incorporate industry feedback and knowledge into MIT education and research.
The Institute is committed to generating, disseminating, and preserving knowledge, and to working with others to apply this knowledge for the benefit of humankind.
A LONG HISTORY AT MIT
The MIT Professional Education office, established under MIT’s largest school, the School of Engineering in 2002, builds on decades of MIT’s outreach to science and engineering professionals.
MIT first began offering summer study in 1898, primarily as an extension of regular courses and a preparation for incoming students. In 1949, MIT established a Summer Session Office to expand special summer offerings specifically for industries such as textiles, spectroscopy, and petroleum engineering. Over the years, MIT’s summer focus has turned toward professional education. Today’s Short Programs draws more than 1500 students a year to short courses spanning a wide array of topics from innovation and entrepreneurship to biotechnology, information technologies, data modeling and systems engineering.
The School for Advanced Study opened in 1956, "to give formal recognition to the importance of postdoctoral studies in advancing science and technology," according to a February 1957 Technology Review article. The appointment of the school’s first fellow, Edwin H. Land, president of Polaroid Corporation, clarified a second goal, "to provide a means for the informal association of visiting scholars from all over the world with the MIT faculty," the Institute Gazette reported in May 1956. The first class of certificate students entered the Center for Advanced Engineering Studies (CAES) in 1964-65. Today, the Advanced Study Program of MIT Professional Education draws over a hundred professionals to the MIT campus each year to study with MIT faculty and students