Rockhurst adds master’s degree in business intelligence and analytics

A master’s degree to meet businesses’ big-data needs has been added at Rockhurst University.

Cheryl McConnell, dean of the Helzberg School of Management at the Kansas City university, said Tuesday in a news release that the master of science in business intelligence and analytics “builds upon our already strong data science certificate programs.”

The degree program is designed for working professionals to complete in two years, part time, with 30 credit hours.

Rockhurst offered some data on why it’s adding the degree:

▪ Data analytics is the third-highest job function for recent business school graduates in the U.S., Europe and Latin America, according to a recent survey by the Graduate Management Admission Council.

▪ Half of companies surveyed by the council plan to hire business graduates for data analytics work this year.

▪ The McKinsey Institute estimates that an additional 1.5 million data-savvy managers and analysts will be needed by 2018 just in U.S. manufacturing.

“A skill set in data analytics is an important asset to companies locally and nationwide,” McConnell said. “We are becoming more and more of a data-driven economy, with Kansas City serving as a hub for many of these types of jobs.”

The university also said the Helzberg School’s new data analytics lab has equipment that eases collaboration and offers the latest data analytics software, unique data sets, tutorials and course recordings.

More information is at rockhurst.edu/msbia.

This story was originally published September 29, 2015 at 12:34 PM with the headline "Rockhurst adds master’s degree in business intelligence and analytics."