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Business Analytics harnesses the power of data to develop insight into business decisions and organisational questions. What better place to gain these than at one of the top business schools in the US?
That’s exactly what University of New Hampshire’s Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics student Riley Burns did. He joined the Center for Business Analytics to gain the edge that companies were looking for.
“When I first started applying for jobs, I knew I wanted to go into financial analytics,” he says. “I was applying, but I didn’t have the background that companies were looking for. I needed more analytical experience, so I started an internship at the Center for Business Analytics. As soon as I started talking about my experience at the centre, companies wanted to hear it.”
Responding to a strong demand for people trained in business analytics, Paul College expanded its undergraduate and graduate programmes, course offerings, research and engagement opportunities that connect students with businesses to work on solutions to real-world problems.
Today, Paul College offers a suite of degree programmes that serve as the foundation of the Business Analytics Initiative: Information Systems and Business Analytics Option within the BS Business Administration Major; MBA Option and Graduate Certificate in Information Systems and Business Analytics; MS Business Analytics; BS Analytical Economics and MS Economics; and MS Finance, Financial Analytics and Fintech Track.
The MS in Business Analytics is comprehensive programme, covering the three main pillars of business analytics, including descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics. It develops skills in data analysis and visualisation, predicting/forecasting future probabilities and trends, and helping leaders make decisions in resource-constrained environments.
Focusing on theory and practical applications, and supported by the latest computer programming skills, the programme is taught by faculty immersed in big data research.
As it’s STEM-designated, you can apply for a 24-month OPT STEM Extension to your 12-month Optional Practical Training Program (OPT) period. This lets you work in the US for up to 36 months after graduation with no additional visa requirement.
Source: UNH
All of this prepares students to fill the demand for 190,000 data scientists and 1.5 million managers and data analysts who can interpret and implement data, according to a recent McKinsey Institute labor market needs report.
Upon completing the MS in Business Analytics programme, students are prepared for many new and exciting career opportunities. This includes job opportunities as a business intelligence analyst, data analyst, manager of modelling and analytics, market research analyst, pricing and revenue optimisation analyst, project manager and quantitative analyst/modeller.
“I believe I got my current job because of my experience in analytics attained while I was an undergraduate at Paul College. The marketing department at Bottomline is becoming more data-driven, so my skills align well. What I am learning now in the master’s programme can be immediately applied,” says Samantha Woodward, a Marketing Operations Specialist at Bottomline Technologies.
Such smooth transitions from uni to industry are thanks to the Center for Business Analytics. It was launched in 2021 to connect industry partners with the university’s talented pool of students and faculty.
The centre helps companies unlock the power of big data and employ analytics tools to create value for their business. For students, it builds their capacity to manage and analyse data through real-world projects.
“The field of business analytics is not entirely new, however, with the rapid growth in the amount of data produced by businesses and advances in computing technology, the field is rapidly changing, and it is also changing the manner in which many business decisions are made,” said Khole Gwebu, associate professor of decision sciences.
“There are many problems that students graduating with a degree concentration in business analytics can tackle. One example is in the area of fraud detection and prevention.”
The centre’s vision is to build “a comprehensive and integrated business analytics initiative that will drive the expansion of programmes, course offerings, enrolments, research and engagement to meet student and industry demand,” says former Dean Deborah Merrill-Sands.
“We are developing business analytics as a specific area of academic expertise that will further distinguish us among business schools.”
If you are looking to take your career to the next level, sign up at UNH Paul College here.
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