ISE After Hours Corporate Recruiting Fair After Hours Participating Companies The MS Industrial Engineering degree is offered on-campus and online. Student may choose to pursue the thesis or non-thesis option in the program. As a general guideline, students who do not wish to pursue a PhD program should enroll in the non-thesis option; students who plan to pursue a PhD must complete the thesis option. Degree requirements are the same for online and on-campus students. Students pursuing the thesis option will complete 24 hours of coursework and 8 hours of thesis research, for a total of 32 hours. Students pursuing the non-thesis option will complete 32 hours of coursework and 4 hours of independent study, for a total of 36 hours. For the most up to date degree requirements, please visit the University of Illinois Academic Catalog .