Studies suggest that the business analytics market is expected to reach USD 103.65 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 7.3%, of which the US has the largest market. Given the huge market outreach, it also has some of the best education and training in advanced analytics, including business analytics. With the ever-increasing data, business analytics has become one of the critical facets and an essential function of the data science teams in organisations. It involves gathering, analysing and drawing valuable conclusions from the vast amount of data to find a utility in a variety of use cases.
Business analytics postgraduate programmes in the US focus on covering the various aspects mentioned above, from data modelling to programming and more. Not only do these programmes offer an opportunity to learn the latest skills and trends in the field in the most cohesive way but also provide an opportunity to interact with students from all over the world, and also work on a lot of different projects. They also have one of the best ROIs.
Internship Opportunity While Studying Business Analytics
Not just in program structure but the fact that the US provides one of the best internship opportunities in business analytics, makes it a favourable destination for pursuing a Master’s Degree in Business Analytics. A recent research paper also suggested that employers are more likely to respond to applicants with internship experience in their resume than those who don’t. Getting an internship helps to get hands-on exposure to the tools learnt during the program curriculum but also get relevant experience to deal with real world business problems.
The Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) program by the University of Louisville (UofL) is one such program that offers the opportunity to get paid through an internship while earning the degree in the US. The university provides competitive paid internship opportunities for qualified candidates thus making this program very unique.
The 13-month MSBA program, which is STEM-designated and is SAS-certified, lets the candidate earn analytical expertise and gain real-world business solutions, providing an excellent opportunity for candidates to tap into the rapidly growing need for analytics experts.
The program is designed to accelerate the learnings of a candidate so that they can build high-level expertise, to a level that it transforms them into an expert and go-to leader for strategic insights in the organisation. That is not all; the international students are eligible for up to three years of post-completion work authorisation in the USA.
“As I moved to the US after my marriage, I was looking to study further and add new skills into my resume. After some research, I found this course by UofL, which turned out to be exactly what I was looking for. One of the best features of the program is the internship opportunity, which the school goes above and beyond to help you secure one. I bagged an internship opportunity with Appriss in just three months after joining the program,” shared Shruti Bandewar, a student of the MSBA program at UofL.
She further added that this internship in the healthcare sector provided her with the much-needed exposure to the US work culture. It also helped widen the implementation of SQL and tools like Tableau, Power BI and SAS in her work.
Industry Partnership
The program has top companies as its industry partners to help fine-tune their curriculum as per the current industry standards and this helps the students of the MSBA program grab internships and job opportunities with them. As UofL notes, the industry partner supports them by:
- Hiring students for lengthy internships.
- Hiring graduates to fill permanent positions in the business analytics domain.
- Providing business-market insights to help us maintain a relevant curriculum that meets industry needs.
There are many Fortune 500 and 100 companies that have partnered with UofL to ensure that a healthy workforce in analytics is created. Some of these companies include Accentf(x) Marketing, Brown-Forman, ConDati, Edj Analytics, GE, KFC Yum!, among others.
Praveena Vutchula, an international student with the MSBA program, shared that this was her first international experience and had several questions at various stages of the application process. “The MSBA program’s team has been so patient and prompt in responding to all my questions,” said Praveena who had worked for a tech company in India before joining the MSBA program.
Talking about the internship, Praveena said that with a series of interviews for about four weeks, she ended up with four offers in-hand from both startups and multinational companies in various industries. She chose to work with El Toro, which is a fast-growing tech startup in the digital advertising industry. “This would not have been possible without the help and support from the Internship coordination team,” shared Praveena.
The internship opportunity as data analyst provided hands-on experience in technologies like Python, Power BI and SQL, which were taught in the program. “It gave me the potential to learn real business insights and understand how technology works for digital advertising. I also understood the working on MongoDB, Postgres DB, Power BI, Python coding, web scraping, Airflow, Kubernetes, and Docker during my internship,” shared Praveena.
UofL is also a proud member of the Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Consortium (ACCAC), a consortium that provides a vehicle for inter-institutional academic and administrative collaboration between 15 member universities.
Program Highlights
With expert faculty members and one of the best learning environments on campus, the University of Louisville has facilities such as technology-enhanced media and wireless access in classrooms, among others. The 13-month program is a team-based structure that creates a rich and diverse learning environment. It provides an opportunity for students to work both in teams and independently to complete the coursework.
The MSBA curriculum covers areas such as data modelling, analytics with business acumen and impactful communications to develop the skills necessary to become a successful business analyst. The program is designed and delivered in collaboration with local businesses to provide a practical business orientation, increasing the skill relevance in the professional marketplace.
Talking about the course structure, Praveena shared that the program is comprehensive yet intense. There is a lot of practical learning with coding and challenging tasks. It covers new technologies and real-life scenarios for handling data in business. She further added that while the program is competitive, it is not stressful. “All the professors who taught our program were very supportive. They are available on email most of the time and very prompt in responding to queries,” she said.
It is interesting to note that all the classes are taught by PhD level faculty who are extensively published and experienced in relevant areas.
Some of the features of the MSBA program are:
- No GMAT is required to enrol for the program
- It covers tools such as Python, R, SAS, SAS Enterprise Miner, Tableau
- A STEM-designated program that provides additional benefits for international students
- Covers skills and techniques such as data mining, data modelling, data visualisation, discrete choice modelling, machine learning, prediction algorithms, programming, statistical analysis, textual analysis, web scraping
- Covers tools such as Python, R, SAS, SAS Enterprise Miner, Tableau
- Provides competitive paid internship to those who qualify
- Work with real-world company data and projects to solve real business issues through a capstone consulting project
- Personalised communication coaching to support your success
- Interact with corporate speakers and network with influential employers and experts
- On-campus program in state-of-the-art facilities
- Professional career coaching with Lifetime Career Support Promise
As Shruti shares, some of the major takeaways from the MSBA program at UofL have been the internship opportunity from day one, industry alignment of the courses, industry-affiliated capstone project and the overall cohort structure. “SAS Certification and IBM Watson Certification are an added advantage,” she said on a concluding note.
Program Details
Program starts:
- Spring: 11th January 2021
- Fall: August 2021
- Deadline for international applicants: 1st April 2021
For more details, contact:
Sudhir Shirigiri, In-country coordinator
(+91) 86575 65733or Sudhir.Shirigiri@louisville.edu
