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I looked at that link and am interested.

8 hours lecture online per week + whatever offline work, for 4 semesters. That format, at minimum passes the "sniff test". I think four semesters at that rate is long enough to legitimately teach the content.

My only question now is how well received is it by the world at large? Has anyone hands on experience with ITB?

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From what I understand, the degree is more or less a structured way to become really versatile in RapidMiner. The relationship between the software development team and those teaching the degree is very close ( http://rapidminerresources.com/index.php?page=training / http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RapidMiner ). Therefore I suspect the core motivation for those choosing this degree is to reach a high level of proficiency in that particular software by studying with one of its developers, and earning on the way an MSc from a state university. It is a legitimate university, but don't expect any employer going wild about it.

Just as a disclaimer: I have not relationship with ITB or RapidMiner. A while ago I played around with the software because some of the tutorials are really interesting and very accessible for someone like me who lacks a deep statistical understanding(i.e. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXIKydgGbYk).

This prospect makes me more interested. Learning theory is nice, but I'm interested in these topics primarily because I'm interested in the data and that requires proficiency in a good tool.

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