Title

Benchmarking Academic Programs in Business Analytics

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-2014

Publication Source

Interfaces

Abstract

Interest in business analytics (BA) is currently popular. Professional consultancies and software houses are both touting it as the next wave in business, claiming that the need for BA skills is large and growing. Universities are beginning to respond by offering undergraduate majors and minors, Master of Science degrees, certificates, and concentrations within their Master of Business Administration programs. But what subjects are being covered in these programs? We surveyed some of the largest, most established, and best-known programs (predominantly in the United States, but some international) and interviewed representatives of these programs to better understand the requirements for students entering, the required and elective course topics covered, and job opportunities for graduates. In this article, we summarize our findings and provide some conclusions about analytics programs, including the current landscape, suggestions for development, and our vision for the future. We believe this report is useful to institutions that offer analytics programs, to those considering such offerings, and to the employers who are hiring analytics professionals.

These employers need to better understand the skills that professionals are acquiring. Finally, it should help prospective students who seek to understand the analytics programs being offered to find the best match for their skills and interests.

Inclusive pages

329-341

ISBN/ISSN

0092-2102

Comments

Permission documentation is on file.

Publisher

INFORMS

Volume

44

Issue

3

Peer Reviewed

yes

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