Do I need a Masters Degree to work in Higher Education?
I work as an adjunct instructor teaching photography, do I need my masters degree to continue doing this and to possibly work in professional development/instructional design/educational technology going forward? #higher education #technology #instructional-design
3 answers
Pam’s Answer
Shoaib’s Answer
By working in Higher Education if you mean like teaching at Bachelors level, then yes Masters &/or Ph.D in that field would be required / beneficial.
Sen’s Answer
Hello Samantha,
Great to know about your choice to be a Teacher and that too for higher education. The answer is YES for the following reasons:
- MS is part of the basic Qualifications Requirement for teaching in High School +2 grade or in college level across the world.
- You need to know much deeper into the subject to give your best to the students. If you choose to be teacher, more so in the higher education realm, you must acquire highest possible qualifications on the subject that are available, which is generally Ph.D of a reputed university. In your subject of Photography, so much is happening that your students would like to know and opening new avenues of capturing details of an event be it in this globe or across the universe!
Here I would like to mention that if you want to be a successful teacher you have to be hungry about learning new things everyday, keep yourself ahead with the times. So, even after your MS and Ph.D learning process doesn't end. Do you know that photography in the realm of space is a very advanced technology and requires very high degree of skills? Imagine the new techniques that have come with the IT based cameras (without reels) and there capabilities and these will continue to advance every now and then. So you need to keep abreast and thus higher degrees of education is a MUST!
I have been a teacher soon after my MS in Physics and I enrolled for Ph.D but changed career path, became a soldier but my hunger/appetite for learning has never stopped. So I did my Ph.D later. I am still continuing with my learning sessions in various subjects which is not limited to MS or Ph.D.
Please remember, Teaching is valued as one of the most noble professions across the world. In Sanskrit literature, there is a shloka ( couplet) that says: 'King will be worshiped in his kingdom only, but a learned man (read-teacher) will be worshiped everywhere'. This is true till date and will remain so in future too!
So, you have to make sure that you go for higher learning if you wish to be a lecturer or professor. All the very BEST!