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NAVADMIN 190/20

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SUBJ/MASTER OF SYSTEMS ANALYSIS DISTANCE LEARNING DEGREE PROGRAM ENROLLMENT 
FOR SEPTEMBER 2020//

REF/A/DOC/OPNAVINST 1520.23C w/CH-3/2015JAN07//
NARR/ REF A IS NAVY GRADUATE EDUCATION POLICY//

RMKS/1. This NAVADMIN announces application procedures for the September 2020 
distance learning Master of Systems Analysis (MSA) degree program (curriculum 
363).

2. Background:
a.  Operations research, systems analysis, and decision science are 
increasingly crucial to the current operating environment characterized by 
distributed maritime operations and a return to great power competition. 
Officers with these essential skills are needed throughout the Navy and as a 
result, the Navy prioritizes this expertise for selection and assignment.
b.  The program targets Navy unrestricted line officers who might not 
otherwise be able to attend Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) inresident. It is 
open to other uniformed officers, federal civilians, and defense contractor 
civilians on a space-available basis. This program  focuses on the practice 
of the Operations Research/Systems Analysis profession. It prepares students 
to apply critical thinking and analytical skills to support key decisions in 
both operational and staff assignments. Coursework focuses on data analysis, 
modeling and simulation, optimization, risk-benefit analysis, and cost 
analysis as they apply to real-world military situations and cases. Navy 
officer graduates receive a 3210P subspecialty code, Operations Research 
Analysis, and are eligible to be detailed to 3211-coded Operations Analysis 
billets. MSA is also a designated degree program available for assignment to 
OPNAV 6511P-coded Requirements Officer billets.
c.  The program is a 24-month part-time program delivered using a mix of 
distance learning methods. Students take two courses per quarter for eight 
consecutive quarters. One course each quarter requires weekly, 3-hour 
sessions using video tele-education or web-based conferencing. The other 
course each quarter is delivered asynchronously using web-based (online) 
instruction.
Web-based courses are paced week-to-week, but students have the flexibility 
to do coursework at times of their choosing during a particular week. The 
programs can be delivered virtually anywhere.
d.  An online four-course subset of the MSA degree program may be taken as a 
stand-alone Systems Analysis (SA) certificate (curriculum 281). A student who 
completes the SA certificate may apply for enrollment in the MSA degree 
program and receive one-for-one course credit towards the MSA degree 
requirements.
Navy officer graduates of the certificate program receive a 3210L 
subspecialty code.
e.  New MSA and SA cohorts are scheduled to begin each fall and spring 
quarter. For the fall quarter academic year 2021 (AY21), classes start the 
week of 28 September 2020.

3.  Sponsor-reimbursed tuition:
Seats not filled by active-duty Navy and Marine Corps officers will be made 
available for open enrollment to other uniformed officers, Department of the 
Navy and other federal government civilians, and defense contractor civilians 
under tuition sponsorship by their organization or agency. The open 
enrollment tuition for other-service military, government civilians, and 
defense contractors are $2,500 per course. Students are required to purchase 
their textbooks. NPS is required to have a support agreement (DON form 7600A 
or DD1144) in place with each government funding sponsor before acceptance of 
funding documents.

4. Application Process:
Officers interested in the degree or certificate program may visit the NPS 
web pages for detailed eligibility and application process. The deadline for 
online applications for AY21 quarter 1 is 31 July 2020. MSA webpage: 
https://my.nps.edu/web/dl/degprogs_msa.
SA Cert webpage: https://my.nps.edu/web/dl/cert_sa.

5.  Post Graduation:
Per reference (a), officers participating in this program must agree to 
remain on active duty for three years following completion of the degree 
program (or one year following completion of the certificate program). This 
obligation is discharged concurrently with any other service obligation 
already incurred. This agreement does not obligate the Navy to retain the 
officer on active duty. NPS is mission-funded to provide tuition-free 
graduate education to active duty Navy and Marine Corps officers.

6.  Point of Contact:
NPS MSA program office, via email at MSADEGPROG(AT)NPS.EDU.

7. This message will remain in effect until superseded or 30 September 2020, 
whichever occurs first.

8. Released by Vice Admiral S. B. Munsch, Deputy Chief on Naval Operations 
for Warfighting Development (N7)//

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