General Program Information
Yes, the online ME-EM program falls under the University of Colorado Boulder's overall accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) and was approved by the Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE).
No, the diploma that ME-EM on Coursera students earn is the same as the diploma for our on-campus program. There are no "online" or "Coursera" designations.
You can enroll into a series of 3, one-credit pathway courses with a focus on either finance or project management. No transcripts or applications are required. To get started, fill out our enrollment form to select and enroll in a pathway course and pay your tuition.
To enroll in the non-credit versions of the ME-EM curriculum, sign up for an account on Coursera, find the course you are interested in, and click the Enroll button to audit the course.
Enrollment and start dates can be found on the calendar listed under the ME-EM on Coursera.
No, the ME-EM is a non-thesis degree that requires 30 credit hours of coursework only.
The degree does not currently include a capstone project.
This degree is self-paced. Students who take 3 courses per 8-week session (equivalent to a full-time graduate-level course load) typically complete the degree in about 2 years. However, you can take more courses per session to complete the degree more quickly. Or you can take fewer courses per session if you prefer a slower pace. Please note that you must complete all courses within 8 years.
Degrees are conferred three times annually. Check the graduation calendar for semester-specific dates.
This program is designed for working professionals in the industry. It is not intended to train Ph.D. students or research students. Other institutions and universities may accept transfer credit from the online ME-EM program at their discretion.
Eligibility and Admissions
No. This program uses performance-based admissions, which means you must complete 3 pathway courses for credit with a 3.0 GPA average or better. This demonstrates your proficiency and allows you to be admitted to the program.
There are no formal prerequisites for the ME-EM on Coursera. Complete your pathway with a 3.0 GPA average or better to demonstrate your proficiency and be admitted to the program.
If you do not yet feel ready to complete your pathway courses, we suggest reviewing courses on the Coursera platform and/or enrolling in a pathway specialization as a non-credit learner, which gives you the option of previewing course content. Then, you can upgrade to the for-credit version and pay tuition when you are ready. Any assignments you complete in the non-credit experience will be automatically applied to your for-credit experience after you upgrade. Due to their interactive nature, discussion board posts and peer-graded assignments may not transfer from session to session when you upgrade. Be sure to save your work off-platform.
Yes. This program is delivered 100% online.
Due to current restrictions imposed by the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, Web course delivery cannot be provided to the following areas: Cuba, Iran, Sudan, North Korea, Syria, and the Crimea Region of Ukraine.
You do not need to submit anything. Because this program uses performance-based admissions, you do not need to submit transcripts, test scores (like GRE or TOEFL), essays, or an application fee. You must complete 3 pathway courses for credit with an average GPA of 3.0 or better to demonstrate proficiency and be admitted to the program.
Yes! The ME-EM on Coursera is open to students around the world. However, due to current restrictions imposed by U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, we cannot provide online courses to the following countries: Cuba, Iran, Sudan, North Korea, Syria, and the Crimea Region of Ukraine. See CU Online Course Delivery Restriction for details.
No. To be admitted to the ME-EM on Coursera as a degree-seeking student, you must enroll in and complete your pathway with a 3.0 GPA or better. Your pathway is a series of 3, one-credit courses with a focus on either finance or project management – you choose the pathway that is right for you. The courses in your pathway are part of the required curriculum, so you make direct progress toward your degree as you complete your pathway.
No. Because this program is entirely online, students are not eligible for a student visa (e.g., F-1 or J-1 visa) or Form I-20. Students who are already in the US on an H1-B visa need to work with their sponsor to determine if they are eligible to participate in this correspondence course.
You must reach out to the Registrar at reg-specialprograms@colorado.edu to request that you be changed to an ME-EM student. This is an important step to ensure you are able to enroll in classes, earn admission to the ME-EM degree program, and receive Engineering Management communications. However, the ME-EM allows up to 9 credits from the MS-EE and MS-DS on Coursera programs to count towards the ME-EM on Cousera degree.
Yes, you must maintain a 3.00 average throughout the program to remain in good academic standing. The ME-EM degree cannot be awarded until the minimum 3.00 cumulative GPA has been achieved. See the ME-EM Student Handbook for details, including what happens if your cumulative GPA falls below 3.00. The ME-EM degree only allows 3 credts of C+ grades to count, all other grades must be higher than a C+.
Selecting Courses
A specialization consists of three, 1-credit courses linked together to more fully cover a topic.
No, you may complete courses in any order. Please note that to be formally admitted to the program, you must complete a pathway specialization with a 3.0 GPA or better. If you have already completed coursework and have received academic credit for your work prior to completing a pathway, your completed credits will be applied to your degree progress and academic transcript once you are formally admitted.
No. The degree is designed to be flexible. You must complete 12 credits of core coursework in finance, project management, authentic leadership, and communication and 18 credits of elective coursework across a variety of topic areas, including technology entrepreneurship, product development, ethical decision making, and more.
For every one credit hour you take, you may spend 4–6 hours per week depending on your knowledge and skill. This includes videos, discussions, readings, and assignments.
This degree is self-paced, and there is no minimum or maximum number of courses required per session. We recommend new students take one class in their first session as they adjust to the demands of this graduate-level program. In subsequent terms, we recommend students take 3 or fewer courses per session, which is equivalent to a full-time graduate-level course load. Students who take 3 courses per session complete the degree in about 2 years. You must complete all courses within 8 years.
Look for the graduation cap icon and “Part of the Master of Engineering in Engineering Management degree” on Coursera’s course description pages.
See Curriculum to find ME-EM courses and view course details.
Pathway Courses
Pathways are a series of three, 1-credit courses with a focus on either finance or project management. Complete your pathway with a 3.0 GPA or better to be admitted to the program.
Choose one of the following pathways:
Finance for Technical Managers
Project Management
Yes, all students must complete the courses in both the Finance for Technical Managers pathway and the Project Management pathway to complete the degree. To gain admission, you only need to complete one pathway, and you can choose the pathway that is right for you.
Please note that you cannot "mix and match" pathways to earn program admission. You must complete all 3 courses within one pathway to gain admission. You cannot, for example, complete 2 courses in the Finance for Technical Managers pathway and 1 course in the Project Management pathway to earn admission.
If you do not complete each pathway course with at least a C grade or do not earn at least a 3.0 GPA average for the pathway, you can pursue another pathway. If you successfully complete this second pathway, you will be admitted to the degree program. However, the ME-EM degree only allows 3 credts of C+ grades to count, all other grades must be higher than a C+.
To successfully complete a pathway and earn admission to the program, you must:
You can also preview the second pathway option as a non-credit learner, and then upgrade to for-credit when you are ready to pay tuition and complete the final exam.
After admission to the degree, your cumulative GPA will include all attempted for-credit coursework. This includes any courses you failed before gaining admission to the degree. However, you are allowed to retake your original pathway courses and try to improve your grade. See the ME-EM Student Handbook for details about course repetition and grade replacement.
After you pass 3 courses in one of the pathway specializations with a 3.0 GPA or higher, you will automatically be admitted to the program. All admitted students receive an official offer letter via email.
Course Details
Courses are open for 8 weeks. There are 6 enrollment sessions per year. Each enrollment window starts 2 weeks before the first day of class and ends 2 weeks before all coursework is due. All for-credit coursework is due by the last day of the 8-week session.
Courses are self-paced; however, all for-credit coursework must be submitted by the last day of the 8-week session.
Non-credit courses
Non-credit courses have no time limit.
For-credit courses
If you have accessed restricted content (usually the final exam), you will receive a letter grade for the course based on the work you completed before the end of the term. This includes an exam grade—even if you did not finish the exam.
If you have not accessed restricted content nor received a course grade, you can drop or withdraw from a course depending on your timeline. See the Registrar's Special Programs page for information and forms related to drops, refunds, and withdrawals.
Tuition payments cannot be rolled over to future sessions.
Courses may include project-based assessments and/or online exams.
Students who are worried about succeeding in a particular class have multiple options to consider depending on the exact circumstances. Options include:
Yes, lectures are recorded on video and available on-demand. You do not need to worry about attending a live lecture in a different time zone.
No, instructors create videos specifically for Coursera. These lectures are designed with online learners in mind.
There may be group work. Assignments vary by course and may include individual and group work assignments.
Non-Credit and For-Credit Options
Non-credit
For-credit
No. The Coursera degree and the on-campus degree are not interchangeable. If you start the Coursera degree, you cannot later switch to the on-campus program and vice versa.
Enrolled CU Students (On-campus & Coursera)
Non-CU Students
To enroll in the non-credit versions of courses, sign up for a Coursera account, find the courses you are interested in enrolling in, and click the Enroll button. Once you enroll, you will be able to either audit the course for free or pay a certificate fee to earn a Course or Specialization Certificate. Some courses offer a free trial during which you can try out the course for free before committing to paying the certificate fee.
You may upgrade from non-credit to for-credit at any time during the enrollment window. Each enrollment period starts 2 weeks before the first day of class and ends 2 weeks before all coursework is due.
Please note that if you start a non-credit course within the same month that you upgrade to the for-credit version, you will not receive a refund for the monthly subscription associated with the non-credit course. The monthly subscription fee is paid to Coursera, not to the University of Colorado Boulder.
Yes, the work you complete in the non-credit version of a course transfers over to the for-credit version when you upgrade and pay tuition. Due to their interactive nature, discussion board posts and peer-graded assignments may not transfer from session to session if you drop/withdraw and later re-enroll in a particular class. Be sure to save your work outside of the Coursera platform.
After you upgrade, you will complete a final project or exam to earn credit for the course. You can upgrade from non-credit to for-credit at any time during your learning journey. You have up to 8 years to complete the full program.
If you are taking a non-credit class, you only pay the monthly Coursera subscription fee.
If you are taking a for-credit class, you only pay the $667 per credit hour tuition fee. Please note that if you started a non-credit course within the same month that you upgrade to the for-credit version, you will not receive a refund for the monthly subscription associated with the non-credit course. The monthly subscription fee is paid to Coursera, not to the University of Colorado Boulder.
Yes, students can earn a Course Certificate from Coursera for non-credit courses and specializations. This non-credit certificate of completion does not earn transcripted credit from the University of Colorado Boulder, nor can it be applied to the degree.
Yes, you can always start with a non-credit version of a course on Coursera and later upgrade to the for-credit version and pay CU Boulder tuition.
Finances
Engineering Management courses are $667 per credit hour.* The degree program requires 30 credit hours of coursework and the certificate requires 9 credit hours. Courses taken through other Coursera programs at CU Boulder may have different rates.
*Please note that course tuition may vary depending on the program.
You do not need a Coursera subscription to enroll in a for-credit course when you pay CU Boulder tuition.
Are you a current CU student, faculty, or staff member?
Non-CU Students
No. Because this program is 100% online, the tuition is the same for all students regardless of where they live.
We accept the following forms of payment:
This online program differs from our traditional on-campus programs as our Coursera programs are ‘pay as you go’ and require tuition payment at the time of enrollment, meaning that you will need to make a payment to complete the enrollment process. Once you’re registered, you can submit a voucher or letter of authorization from your company detailing the student information, the charges and courses covered, and the period of when it will be covered. You will then be refunded your pre-pay payment within about 1-2 weeks and we will submit an invoice to the sponsor. Additional information regarding the sponsorship process can be found here.
No, tuition payments cannot be rolled over to future sessions.
You pay per credit hour. You may drop a class if you are within 14 days from the class start date or enrollment date (whichever is later), and you must not have already accessed restricted content in the course. A refund will be returned to your credit card within 7-10 business days. When a course is dropped under these conditions, it will not appear on your student record. Visit the Office of the Registrar for more information.
No, exam proctoring costs are included in your CU Boulder tuition.
No, this program is not eligible for the employee tuition assistance benefit.
CU Boulder Resources
Course facilitators hold weekly office hours so you can connect with them and ask questions about the material being covered in the program.
Online ME-EM students do not have access to campus facilities but can access online resources including CU Boulder libraries, Career Services, and ForeverBuffs Alumni Services.
Tutors are not available at this time. We highly encourage you to work with your peers.
Yes, students taking for-credit classes receive an official @colorado.edu email address. It is required that you activate your CU student email account as all communications will be sent to this email address.
Yes, students taking for-credit classes receive an IdentiKey, which includes your CU Boulder login name and password. Students can also receive a physical Buff OneCard (student ID card) for $30 by emailing a headshot, photo ID, and mailing address to boc@colorado.edu from your colorado.edu student email address.
The Coursera program supports students through course facilitators, not professors. We occasionally hold networking events for Coursera students and professors to engage. Information about these events are sent via email.
Technical Requirements
Please see Coursera’s list of recommended browsers and devices and ProctorU's equipment requirements.
Careers in Engineering Management
No, there are currently no internships available.
Students who have been admitted into the degree program will have lifelong access to Handshake through CU Boulder Career Services. Handshake is an online employment platform where employers post jobs and hold virtual events. Alumni can also use Handshake as a networking tool to connect with other alumni.
Admitted students also get access to AI Resume Builder by Quinncia.
As a University of Colorado Boulder graduate, you will join the alumni association Forever Buffs.
ME-EM graduates are employed in a broad range of industries that include aerospace, software services, medical devices, management consulting, and civil/construction. Employing companies include such well-known organizations as Lockheed Martin, Apple, Deloitte, Medtronic, CH2M, and Tesla.
According to salary.com, "The average Engineering Manager salary in the United States is $147,521 as of September 25, 2023, but the range typically falls between $132,479 and $163,717. Salary ranges can vary widely depending on many important factors, including education, certifications, additional skillls, the number of years you have spent in your profession."
Get Help
If you are having difficulties with your final exams, please email us at emp-coursera@colorado.edu.