Harness data and advance your career

Harness big data to deliver tangible results for your organisation

Our Business Analytics online MSc course offers individuals from business and non-business disciplines a comprehensive range of practical analytical skills to convert big data into knowledge.

Alongside hands-on data analysis preparation, data management and data mining with machine learning, this MSc course includes access to innovative computational data analysis methods, decision-making strategies and industry insights. You will learn how to utilise forecasting, neural networks, decision trees, deep learning, R programming, database management, predictive analytics and predictive models to help make important business decisions. You will also gain the essential management skills to advance your career as you lead change in today’s data-focused industries.

Quick course facts

Run by the AMBA- and EQUIS-accredited Bath School of Management, our Business Analytics online MSc is known for a hands-on approach. In the course, you will work on several case study projects and practical programming assignments with real-world data to solve various analytical challenges and provide actionable insights. This experience can be added to your CV or resume and used to market your skills to potential or current employers for advanced roles.

Our partnership with IBM and our focus on descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive modelling and machine learning over intuition and management principles further reinforce the course’s practice-based nature. You will learn to utilise the latest information technology to bridge the gap between business goals and data insights and propel yourself forward in the ever-evolving world of big data.

With your MSc in business analytics, you’ll have an advantage when competing for managerial or consultancy roles in business analysis. Potential career paths include sectors as diverse as government, finance, marketing, healthcare and sustainability. According to Burning Glass, over 73,000 new job postings were listed for business analysts in the past year within the UK, making it the top job title for those with business analytics skills.1

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Strategic Partnerships


Gain industry experience through our partnership with IBM

We've partnered with IBM to offer insight into how analytics is used in businesses. As a business analytics MSc student, you will have liberal access to IBM software and resources to support your learning, plus several other key benefits:

  • We collaborate with IBM to create a course unit called Analytics in Practice, which covers IBM's practice of descriptive, predictive and prescriptive analytics. The master's degree in business analytics also incorporates cutting-edge business intelligence products from IBM: Watson Studio, Cognos, Planning Analytics and more.
  • Because the course unit is co-designed by IBM, you will have the opportunity to earn official IBM Skill Badges as part of your online analytics MSc programme. The IBM Skill Badges recognise the completion of specific unit components and can be used as formal completion or certification evidence in the future.
  • You will interact with guest speakers from several divisions of IBM, who will share their practices, toolboxes and approaches to tackling specific analytics problems. Our online analytics Master's course also brings in guest speakers from Experian (credit scoring), King.com (mobile games), NHS Digital Health (health) and Ernst & Young (consulting/professional services) and more.

Find the business analytics course for your ambitions

In addition to the full MSc, we offer postgraduate certificate and diploma courses to professionals needing varying levels of business analytics competencies. These credentials impart fundamental qualifications, with options for students with strong quantitative backgrounds to upgrade their registration to the MSc course at a later date.

 

Business Analytics Postgraduate Diploma

Featuring 12 units (120 credits) from the MSc course, the PGDip imparts well-rounded data and decision-analysis competencies through deep dives into data mining, machine learning, and other advanced concepts.

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Business Analytics Postgraduate Certificate

Get introduced to core business analytics concepts and software through six units (60 credits) focusing on business intelligence, database management, spreadsheet modelling, and beyond.

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Business Analytics student

When I came across the programme being offered by none other than the University of Bath, I leaped at the opportunity and began building application right away. I really mean it when I say I have absolutely no regrets and have not looked back since.

Ross Gray

Career impact


Our fully online Master's in business analytics can help you advance in some of the fastest-growing global careers. Big data analytics is the second-most likely technology to be adopted by global companies through 2025, next to cloud computing.2 Demand is growing for data analysts and scientists, machine learning specialists, big data specialists, business analysts, development professionals and project managers who can interpret big data and help with decision analysis.2

As a graduate of the online MSc in Business Analytics course, you will gain strategic leadership skills and a business-oriented approach, allowing you to convert data into insights/decisions and become a leader in your field.

Learning outcomes


  • Understand analytical techniques and their application in international contexts
  • Explore the latest topics of interest in the business analytics field
  • Evaluate current research: in particular, how data are collected and analysed
  • Analyse, interpret and present multidimensional and complex data
  • Identify operational, tactical and strategic resource management issues
  • Model and problem-solve managerial problems mathematically
  • Develop lateral-thinking techniques to solve problems and derive insights
  • Recognise and address ethical dilemmas from data mining and management
  • Use state-of-the-art analytics software and business models from current literature
  • Build interactive dashboards, exploratory data pipelines, and implement text mining and data scraping techniques with real-world unstructured datasets 
  • Become self-motivated to analyse, interpret and present data in new ways
  • Build predictive models in variety data settings using supervised and unsupervised machine learning methods
  • Improve time management skills
  • Apply problem-solving skills to diverse areas
  • Sustain engagement with businesses or academics using analytical techniques

Data analytics changes every day, you have to keep up with it every day, but this course has given me the tools and the ability to make sure I can keep up with it.

Manon

Explore the curriculum


Centred on the generation and application of data insights in distinct business contexts, the curriculum is designed to equip you with the tools to become a manager.

Our online MSc Business Analytics course is taught over 13 units, delivered in phases. Exploring topics such as business intelligence and forecasting, phase one develops your understanding of the core principles of business analysis. In phase two, through units such as heuristics and machine learning, you will apply these principles to analyse business situations, helping you optimise your own business decisions.

In the third and final phase you will complete a research-based dissertation, which is an opportunity to apply the principles and knowledge acquired during your studies.

Entry requirements


Qualifications

  • Typically, you should have a first or second class bachelor’s honours degree or international equivalent
  • To apply for this course, you must have an undergraduate degree in a subject with high quantitative content such as mathematics/statistics, computer science, engineering, physics, chemistry, biology, economics, or a quantitative social science. We may consider other subjects if they have enough quantitative content
  • Previous experience of computer programming is an advantage. You should include information about your quantitative and programming experience in your personal statement

International students

  • If your first language is not English you will need IELTS with a grade of at least 7.0 overall and no less than 6.5 in any of the four parts (listening, reading, writing and speaking). If you completed your degree in the UK within the last 2 years prior to the start of the course, you may be exempt from our English language requirements.

Why it matters who you learn with.


As you narrow down the possibilities of where to pursue your degree, consider who you'll learn with. Your cohort can be a strong benefit to the course you select.  When your peers come from around the world and share similar professional roles, their experiences enhance your learning and worldview. By learning alongside a diverse cohort, you'll strengthen your professional skills, cultural knowledge, professional network and can contribute to more areas of business. See just who you'll learn with in the University of Bath's online MSc in Business Analytics.

Business Analytics online M S c Infographic

Why choose online?


Our active learning environment will keep you connected to the curriculum all the way through to graduation.

  • Engaging video content and real-life case studies
  • Interaction and networking with students and lecturers
  • Digital resources to support your studies and develop your career

University of Bath
Online learning

Interactive.
Immersive.
Supportive.

Designed exclusively for online study,
the University of Bath’s Virtual Learning Environment…
takes the learning experience further.

1: Find everything you need quickly and easily

2: Prep your workload and set your weekly agenda
Unit calendar
Upcoming events
Calendar of deadlines

3: Study in bite-sized blocks at a time and place that suits you

4: Tap into a wealth of all-inclusive e-resources

5: Experience academic content in a variety of engaging ways

6: Connect with specialist support when you need it

7: Bring learning to life with video and real-world case studies

8: Enhance your studies with hands-on interactive assignments

9: Collaborate and network with peers and tutors

10: Build your own portfolio and share your best work

Take what you’ve learned and apply it in the real world

Time to further your career? Request information and apply now.

Professor Gunes Erdogan

Prof. Gunes Erdogan

Prof Gunes is a Director of Studies MSc in Business Analytics, Information, Decisions & Operations, Bath Centre for Healthcare Innovation and Improvement. His area for research interest and expertise includes exact and heuristic algorithms for integer and mixed-integer optimisation problems and their applications to healthcare and logistics problems. His projects include the 'Vaccines4All' location, routing and allocation models to support large-scale vaccination and 'Newton RCUK - TUBITAK' innovating the Turkish Supply Chain for Services in Humanitarian Aid.

Explore your options with the University of Bath. If you are interested in studying the equivalent on-campus MSc, you can find out more by visiting our full-time Business Analytics MSc course page.

  1. Burning Glass Technologies, Filters, Timeframe: 12-month period ending on 11/2021; n = 73,021 Occupations: Business/Management Analyst OR Business Intelligence Analyst.
  2. The Future of Jobs Survey 2020 by the World Economic Forum.
  3. Rankings based on undergraduate data.