BUSINESS AGILITY

Universities Worldwide to Introduce Analytics Education

Rebecca Kutzer-Rice | Date: 12-27-11 | Comments

IBM recently announced an initiative to bring analytics-oriented curricula to universities in Ireland, Scotland, India and China. The program comes as a reaction to the massive need for analytics-trained personnel worldwide.

As more businesses seek to incorporate analytics, education on the subject is becoming an important part of any IT worker�s resume. In December, Northwestern University announced an initiative to offer more analytics-related courses, and now IBM is teaming with universities worldwide to improve analytics education.

Analytics are becoming a vital part of business technology because the amount of data is rapidly increasing. According to IBM, people create 2.5 quintillion bytes of new data each day, and 90 percent of the world�s data has been created in the past two years alone. This vast amount of information leaves businesses and other organizations desperate for better analysis.

The education initiative will focus first on new programs in China, India, Ireland and Scotland. Programs will provide students and faculty access to the latest analytics software and tools. They will also receive training on how advanced analytics can lead the way to business innovation and societal change.

In India, faculty members from 500 universities will help more than 30,000 students develop skills in predictive analytics. In 15 of India�s major cities, IBM will host training programs specifically focusing on business analytics. Faculty members of business schools will complete a certification program in analytics. The program will help them apply analytics to their specific fields of study.

Faculty members in India are trained in analytics. (Source: IBM)

�I have been using IBM predictive analytics technology in a number of programs at Indian Institute of Management Calcutta,� Sahadeb Sarkar, a professor in the operations management group at the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM), said in a statement. �I hope this initiative will help teachers in universities to learn and include analytics in existing courses and design new curriculum that will helps students gain a top-notch education to meet the demands of today�s businesses and government organizations.�

At the University of the West of Scotland (UWS), IBM will introduce several courses on topics like data mining, business intelligence and knowledge management. The program will extend analytics offerings to non-IT and non-finance students.

�Beyond teaching business and IT skills, we are preparing students for future job opportunities with new analytics courses,� Malcolm Crowe, a professor at the University of the West of Scotland, said in a statement.

Students at Xi'an Jiao Tong University in China and University of Ulster in Northern Ireland will have access to similar analytics-oriented courses. These universities join schools like Northwestern University, Yale School of Management, Fordham University and DePaul University in creating analytics-centric curricula.

�Through IBM�s Academic Initiative, universities are adding analytics to their course offerings, establishing new degree programs, and now we are seeing an acceleration in global demand for training in analytics,� Jim Corgel, general manager of IBM�s Academic Initiative, said in a statement.