Business Analytics

The programme in a nutshell

The Master’s programme in Business Analytics is a two year programme consisting of 120 ECTS, divided into four semesters. The first semester is devoted to compulsory courses. During the second and third semester, you may focus on one of the three specializations. Finally, in the fourth semester, you spend six months on an internship at a business or research institute.

You will learn:

• The art of mathematical modelling and ways to apply it in practice
• To build a complete decision support system in a group project
• To analyze data and recognize data patterns and structures
• Mathematical methods used within financial institutions
• Scientific writing and presentation skills
• To work in an interdisciplinary team, to communicate and work together with experts in different areas 
• To combine and apply your knowledge in practice by means of a traineeship

Compulsory courses
The compulsory courses for the first semester are:

• Applied Stochastic Modelling (6 ECTS)
  This course provides you with an insight into mathematical modelling and the way it is used in practice. You will explore a number of stochastic solution methods.
• Data-Mining Techniques (6 ECTS)
  This course surveys basic data-mining techniques and their application in solving real-life problems in such areas as marketing, fraud detection, text and web mining, and bioinformatics.
• Applied Analysis: Financial Mathematics (6 ECTS)
  This course introduces you to the maths used within financial institutions. Topics covered include the theory of options, the binomial method, the Black-Scholes model and its application, the heat equation, and numerical methods.
• Business Process Optimization (group project, 6 ECTS)
  This course begins by teaching you how to use the Excel macro language (VBA). Then, in a group, you build a complete or partial decision-support system for use in, say, call-centre staffing or the pricing of airline tickets.
• ICT in a Social Context (4 ECTS)
  This course is in three parts. The first with commercial, social and moral aspects of the use of ICT in society, the second with ICT and the law and the third with ethics and professional codes.

The final compulsory course is in the second semester of the programme:

• Business Analyticspaper (6 ECTS)
  This course focuses on addressing a relevant problem statement. In many cases, the input for this research will be drawn from the existing literature, although it may also involve the use of computer-generated data. Its focus embraces aspects of business, mathematics and computer science.

During the second and third semester you may specialize in one direction of expertise. The three main specializations are: 

• Business process optimization 
• Computational intelligence 
• Financial risk management

Profiles
Students in the Master’s programme in BA can choose to follow the programme with an emphasis on application-oriented skills (society-oriented variant), on research skills (research variant), or on communication and education skills (communication variant).

Course descriptions

Further information about course module descriptions can be found online in the study guide.