CEU Business School to Launch an MSc Program in Analytics with IBM

Budapest's CEU Business School, in cooperation with IBM, will launch a master's program in business analytics.

The one-year MSc in Business Analytics aims to provide students with an overview of business analytics and big data:

" By understanding the pressing questions posed by managers, the methodological challenges of statistics, as well as the power and limitation of technologies, our graduates will assume key positions within their organizations. We expect that some students will become entrepreneurs, starting new firms serving the growing demand for Business Analytics," according to a statement issued by the school.

With the new program, CEU is hoping to tap into a growing demand for managers with analytics skills.  A report from Gartner last year predicted that over four million technology jobs would be created to in the field by 2015.

The CEU program is set to begin next year.

The program announcement reflects a continued commitment by IBM to help business schools develop analytics-based curriculum.

Last year, the Connecticut-based Lally School of Management and Technology at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) launched a similar one-year Master of Science program in Business Analytics, which promises to "provide students and career professionals with the hands-on experience and knowledge required to succeed in analytics jobs spanning a range of industries, from the data scientist who helps chief residents make sense of millions of medical records, to the marketing analytics specialist who helps chief marketing officers personalize consumer brand campaigns," according to a news release by the school.

Similarly, last August, George Washington announced a partnership with IBM to offer a 10-month Master of Science degree in business analytics, which began last year.

And last October, HEC Paris announced that it will be adding a number of new Business Analytics offerings to its MBA specialization in Strategy, through a similar partnership with IBM. Students in these programs will generally see guest lecturers from IBM in some courses, and in some cases, technology support is provided by the computer company: it even donated a Watson supercomputer to RPI.