SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 05, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Golden Gate University (GGU) is now accepting applications for a new master’s degree in Business Analytics (MSBA), which focuses on the application of data analytics to solve real-world business problems. The MSBA program enables students to seize on the lucrative and abundant opportunities presented by the rise of Big Data in the corporate sphere. Leveraging its position as the top-ranked adult education university in the US (Washington Monthly), GGU will provide students with online and night classes, instruction by faculty working with business analytics at major companies, and a relevant and business-focused curriculum.

“Data analytics is a strategic discipline that gives practitioners new opportunities to discover insights that can support strategic goals and decision making at an organization,” says Dr. Judith Lee, Associate Professor & Department Chair, and Operations & IT Management. “The MSBA degree provides a toolkit of statistical and analytic theory, processes, tools, and techniques, which can be integrated into the business depending on the discipline and needed outcomes.” 

Topics and skills of the GGU MSBA degree include:

• Big Data and its supporting technologies
• Business applications of structured and unstructured data
• Preparing data for analysis
• Data visualization for effective communication with colleagues
• Descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytic disciplines
• Machine learning and algorithms
• Natural Language Processing
• R and Python programming languages, SPSS Modeler Text Analytics, SAS EnterpriseMiner, Machine Learning, Tableau, SQL, NOSQL, OLAP, and Hadoop
• Solutions to challenges of data security, privacy, and ethics
• Corporate issues such as data policy governance, ownership, and strategies

Career Advancement Opportunity

GGU continues to develop innovative programs such as the MSBA that keep pace with the rapidly changing world of business. According to Forbes, demand for new Business Analytics competencies in San Francisco and the Bay Area is the highest in the nation. By providing insights from complex data that support company strategy and decision making, professionals with Data Analytics competencies typically earn over 100K per year, as indicated by Glassdoor. US News & World Report ranked Business Statistician – a role that rests on this skill set – first on its list of best business careers.

Webinar for Interested Students

Dr. Lee will lead a webinar about the MSBA program on January 11 at 12:30 pm for prospective students. Register online. Applications are being accepted for 2017 Summer and Fall Terms.

About Golden Gate University

Since 1901, non-profit Golden Gate University (GGU) has been helping adults achieve their professional goals by providing high quality, practice-based undergraduate and graduate educational programs in law, taxation, business and related professions in an innovative and challenging learning environment that embraces professional ethics and diversity.