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Doctor of Engineering (D.Engr.) with a Major in Software Engineering

USA

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What will I learn?

Students receiving a D.Engr. with a major in software engineering are expected to achieve and demonstrate a solid foundation and depth in software engineering practice, a breadth across the engineering discipline, and a significant and industrially relevant engineering innovative experience through the D.Engr. praxis.

The objective of a Doctor of Engineering degree is to provide students with adequate preparation to meet doctoral standards in an applied science or engineering practice. A D.E. degree is distinguished from a Ph.D. degree in that a Ph.D. is expected to make a significant advance to scientific knowledge, whereas a D.E. is expected to make a contribution to science by studying its implementation and participating in the transformation of knowledge into technology.

In addition to meeting the Lyle School of Engineering requirements for the D. Engr. degree, candidates are required to satisfy the following: The graduation requirements fall into the categories of completion of a specified number of graduate credit hours in appropriate subjects and completion of a praxis. Doctoral students must maintain at least a 3.000 GPA every term and at least a 3.300 overall (cumulative) GPA during their course of study.

  • Twenty-four credit hours of core software engineering courses. These credit hours must come from graduate-level courses in software engineering, as specified.
  • Twelve credit hours of core engineering management courses. These credit hours must come from graduate-level courses in engineering management, as specified
  • Fifteen credit hours in a technical specialty. These credit hours must be taken in software engineering, computer science, computer engineering, engineering management, systems engineering, or other technical areas consistent with anticipated doctoral work demands.
  • Fifteen credit hours of electives. All elective credit hours must come from graduate-level courses and must be approved by the advisory committee. These courses should, in some way, complement and strengthen the student's degree plan. They should broaden the student's understanding of the issues and problems relating to the application of software technologies to different engineering disciplines.
  • Twelve credit hours of praxis. These credit hours must be taken in residence. The student enrolls for these credit hours in the course of preparing the praxis project.

Any deviation from the stated requirements must be approved in writing from the student’s adviser and department chair.

Core Courses in Software Engineering

Required Courses
The following courses or their equivalents must be included in the degree plan:

CS 7314 - Software Testing and Quality Assurance
CS 7315 - Software Project Planning and Management
CS 7316 - Software Requirements
CS 7319 - Software Architecture and Design

Additional Courses
In addition, at least four of the following courses must be taken:

CS 8312 - Software Generation and Maintenance
CS 8313 - Object-Oriented Analysis and Design
CS 8314 - Software Metrics and Quality Engineering
CS 8315 - Software Acquisition, Legal, and Economic Issues
CS 8316 - User Interface Design
CS 8317 - Software Reliability and Safety
CS 8340 - Advanced Topics in Software Engineering

Recognition of Previous Postbaccalaureate Coursework:

Students with an M.S. in software engineering, engineering management or other related areas may apply up to 30 credit hours of their M.S. degree credits toward their D.Engr. with a major in software engineering, subject to approval of their supervisory committee.

The student must perform a suitable engineering praxis proposed by the student and approved by the praxis adviser and the supervisory committee.

Which department am I in?

Southern Methodist University - Lyle School of Engineering

Study options

Full Time (66 Hours)

Tuition fees
US$79,200.00 per year
USD $1,200 per credit hour plus general student fee USD $304 per term credit hour

*Price shown is for indicative purposes, please

Start date

September 2025

Venue

Southern Methodist University - Lyle School of Engineering

3101 Dyer Street,

Dallas,

Texas,

75205, United States

Entry requirements

For international students

Applicants are required to satisfy the following requirements:

  • A master’s degree in software engineering, computer science, computer engineering, engineering management, or a related discipline.
  • Submission of official test scores from the GRE graduate school admission test score and submission of TOEFL English language proficiency exam scores if English is not the applicant’s native language.
  • Approval of the director of the software engineering program.

All international students whose native language is not English and who have not graduated from an American university must submit a minimum TOEFL English language proficiency test score before being considered for admission, as follows:

  • 550 – paper-based examination.
  • 213 – computer-based examination.
  • 80– Internet-based examination overall score

A score of 6.5 on the IELTS English language proficiency examination is acceptable in place of the above scores for the TOEFL examination.

Duolingo - 110 out of 160

All international students use the following dates: May 15 for fall admission, and September 1 for spring admission.

*There may be different IELTS requirements depending on your chosen course.

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About Southern Methodist University

Based in Dallas on the Southern Methodist campus, The Lyle School of Engineering has an innovative and practical approach to teaching.

  • In the top 11 percent of U.S. universities (WSJ/THE 2021)
  • 11:1 student to teacher ratio
  • Located on a 234-acre campus in Dallas, Texas
  • State-of-the-art laboratories and facilities

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