Information Technology is centered on computing systems used to gather, record, categorize, and access data. While studying to get a PhD in Information Technology program, you’ll get to explore the impact of information and digital technologies on economic, business, and organizational environments. You will also dig into the underlying information theory principals and technologies and their organizational and economic effects.
Doctorate-level research on IT typically focuses on the evolving nature of the digital economy; how IT has transformed markets and organizations; and the emerging business models. Information technology is a multidisciplinary subject that encompasses computer science, economics, management science, organizational behavior, and psychology.
| Rank | School | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Georgia Tech | Atlanta, Georgia |
| 2 | University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO) | Omaha, Nebraska |
| 3 | The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTCA) | San Antonio, Texas |
| 4 | Rutgers University | Brunswick, New Jersey |
| 5 | Massachuetts Institute of Technology | Cambridge, Massachusetts |
IT concentrations include software engineering, information science information systems, information security, digital forensics, and more. As part of your PhD in IT studies you’ll perform original research; receive mentorship and work with faculty; work on unresolved and complex problems. Through the program, you’ll also cultivate your investigative and quantitative skills.
By the time you graduate, you’ll have bolstered your critical thinking skills, and you’ll be able to create applications and formulate theories that advance the field.
PhDs in IT programs prepare graduates for careers in research and learning institutions. Besides working in academia, graduates can become system administrators, senior IT consultants, senior executives in IT departments, lead systems analysts, chief information officers, and more. Additionally, other than taking positions in academic institutions, IT PhD graduates can work in corporations, IT consulting firms, technology firms, government agencies, and hearth care organizations.
The Job prospects in the IT field are particularly sunny. From 2019 to 2029, the need for IT experts is expected to grow by 11 percent, leading to over 531,200 new jobs. Besides, IT professionals typically earn above average median salaries.
Top PhD Programs in Information Technology
Georgia Tech
Georgia Tech offers an exceptional IT Management doctorate program that is centered on the behavioral and economic impact of information technology on society, governments, businesses, and consumers.
In the program, students learn about the latest findings in IT management, and they’re trained through numerous methods. Doctoral students also get mentored and supervised by the world-class ITM faculty. The program is geared toward producing leading instructors and researchers in the top academic institutions as well as leading firms across the world.
Georgia Tech has a reputation for top-of-class education and research. This can lead to the misconception that the institution charges high and out of reach tuition. In reality, Georgia tech offers quite reasonably priced programs. Students who are accepted into the doctoral program get a GRA (graduate research assistantship) which includes a $30,000 stipend an out-of-state tuition waiver, and a significant cutback of in-state tuition.
The roles of graduate students vary but they usually include tutoring students, administrative tasks, and research. Financial aid rewards are hinged on students’ academic performance.
The areas of research currently being explored include business analytics; data visualization and warehousing; database design and distributed network; the behavioral and economic impact of e-commerce; outsourcing and off-shoring of IT function; open innovation; social media; technologies undergirding e-commerce, and more.
School Overview
University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO)
The University of Nebraska Omaha through its College of Information Science and Technology offers a competitive, multidisciplinary, and research-intensive PhD program in IT. The program is centered on management information systems, interdisciplinary informatics, and computer science.
The program’s objective is to equip students with theoretical and practical knowledge of IT in the areas of management information systems, interdisciplinary informatics, and computer science.
Additionally, students learn how to analyze, design, develop, and deploy current and prospective information technologies. The doctoral students also learn the core elements of academic teaching; how to conduct high-quality research; and the basics of the multidisciplinary developing aspects of information technology.
Graduates of this program can understand and integrate research literature from various fields in IT, recognize open research questions as well as craft appropriate investigative approaches, contribute to the body of knowledge in IT, and pass on IT knowledge to learners.
The faculty of the program is made of productive researchers that contend for funding from outstanding sources like the Department of Defense and the National Science Foundation.
Thanks to the immense teaching experience gained during the doctorate program, recent graduates have gotten faculty positions in academic institutions like the University of North Florida, Ball State University, Appalachian State University, and St. Ambrose University. Graduates have also been recruited by top firms like LG, Intel, Argonne National Labs, NIST, and Union Pacific.
School Overview
The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTCA)
UTCA’s PhD in Information Technology is characterized by a research-heavy focus on various aspects of information technology, including cybersecurity, information systems, artificial intelligence, and data analytics.
Graduates of the program can find careers in academia, industry, and government. Students cultivate tech, research, and presentation skills by working with faculty on departmental seminars, research colloquia, and research projects.
The program has both a full-time and part-time track. Professionals can therefore pursue both their academic and career aspirations by joining the part-time program. Full-time students are typically funded, while part-time students don’t get any funding
School Overview
Rutgers University
Rutgers University through its Department of Management Science and Information systems offers an exceptional doctorate program in IT, PhD in Management, Information Technology Concentration. The program is part of the Center for Information Management, Integration and Connectivity.
The doctorate program typically admits students with basic knowledge in computer science, linear algebra, statistics, calculus, and probability. Students from a non-tech background who want to join the PhD program can start with Rutgers’ Master of Information and Technology and Analytics, a program that accommodates both full-time and part-time students.
Doctorate students who have given research interests can get employment as research and teaching assistants, thanks to the faculty grants. Besides, students who have no experience defending a dissertation proposal get to attend a series of seminars – although they don’t pay tuition for this program, they get graded for it each semester.
Potential applicants and applicants, too, can attend these seminars.
The program encompasses electronic commerce, machine learning, advanced database systems, multimedia information systems, information security, data mining, information systems, and research, and desertion on given aspects of information systems. Each student will work with the doctoral director, advisor, and departmental coordinator in choosing particular majors and minors.
School Overview
Massachuetts Institute of Technology
MIT offers a PhD in Information Technology through the reputable and half-century-old MIT Sloan Information Technology Group. The IT group attracts the top talent in the field, and the IT doctoral program is one of the best in the US.
Doctoral students in the program gain a comprehensive understanding of the fundamentals of information theory, the underlying information technologies, and their economic and organizational impact.
The curriculum includes cybersecurity, applied network analysis, and theory, Economics of IT in organizations and markets, social media analytics, digital marketing, distributed leadership, strategic organizational design, and more.
Students collaborate with faculty in exploring various aspects of the evolving digital economy, the new business models, and the transformation of organizations.
IT encompasses various disciplines, so research in this area involves faculty from diverse areas of study including computer science, management science, economics, psychology, and organizational behavior. Students can conduct ground-breaking research by tapping into the MIT Center for Information Systems, the MIT Center for Digital Business, and the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence.
School Overview
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester Institute of Technology offers a PhD program in Computing and Information Sciences that’s geared to producing cutting-edge researchers and exceptional educators who can thrive in interdisciplinary environments.
The use-inspired degree brings to light the two distinguishing features of the Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences – its focus on both practical and theoretical components of Cyberinfrastructure as well as the wide range of its offerings.
The program combines these inter-and intra-disciplinary areas which include infrastructure, interaction, interaction, informatics.
Inter-disciplinary areas covered by the curriculum include astro-informatics, environmental informatics, biomedical informatics, computational science, computational biology, electronic commerce, and services sciences.
School Overview
George Mason University
George Mason University through the Volgenau School of Engineering offers a doctorate program in Information Technology. The program covers all components of IT as well as other aspects of engineering that are linked to information technology.
The program explores how the technology, science, and engineering of information processing combine with and bolster traditional engineering approaches that are based on material and physical sciences. The doctorate program is extensive and it encompasses several concentrations including information systems, software engineering, information science, digital forensics, and information security.
School Overview
Our Ranking Methodology
Our ranking is hinged on out-of-state annual tuition:
- Under 10K: 7 Points
- Under 15K: 5 Points
- Under 20K: 3 Points
- Under 30K: 1 Point
We also considered customization options:
- Content Customizations (concentrations, minors, etc): 1 Point
- Customizations (part-time/full-time, online/hybrid): 1 Point
- Wow factor (any standout feature like funding opportunities): 1 Point
Studying to get a PhD in information technology is undoubtedly an excellent way to improve yourself in this field and discover lots of new things as you research. We hope this list helps you find a learning institution that suits your needs and preferences. Found something that doesn’t seem right about a particular school? Please let us know and we’ll be glad to make any edits. We’re also open to invitations by various schools to review them!
For more programs, check out our master’s in information systems page.
