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USF Offers Online Degree For Working Professionals in India
TAMPA (December 3, 2020) -- Working professionals in South Asia have a new opportunity to earn an American business degree in business analytics and information systems – in one year and without leaving their jobs or the region. The University of South Florida Muma College of Business will launch a new STEM-certified Global Master of Science in Business Analytics and Information Systems in May. Applications are now being accepted for the new program.
Designed for working adults in India, the cohort-based graduate program is similar to the Florida-based Weekend Executive Master of Science in Business Analytics and Information Systems program. It includes online coursework in data mining, database management, data science programming, big data and distributed information systems.
Kaushik Dutta, director of the USF Muma College of Business School of Information Systems and Management, said the new option will be offered fully online, over three semesters, in real time, on weekends during evening hours in Indian Standard Time.
“Faculty in Florida will conduct online classes live for students in India, using state-of-the-art video conferencing technology. This means that working professionals throughout India will be able to be part of live virtual classrooms where they can interact with the faculty real-time.”
The admission requirements, curriculum, faculty, course delivery and degree awarded will be identical to those of the accredited on-campus program, said USF Muma College of Business Dean Moez Limayem.
“USF is an AACSB-accredited research university and our faculty are known experts in business analytics, artificial intelligence, decision sciences and many of the key business areas that this program emphasizes,” said Limayem. The result, he said, is that graduates with this degree will be in demand.
“Students not only master important material they need for jobs now, but they also master concepts and learning how to prepare themselves for the jobs of tomorrow,” said Limayem.
Thomas Stablein, director of the Weekend Executive Master of Science in Business Analytics program, will serve as the academic director for the global program. He said feedback from Florida-based students helped shape the new global program.
“Students in our weekend program say they have seen job opportunities multiply as a result of acquiring advanced data analytics competencies that come with completing this STEM-certified program,” Stablein said. “Our global program is built based on their feedback and insight and we are confident that students in India will also end up crediting the program with accelerating their career growth.”
Lajpat Roy, a senior manager with Microsoft, is a USF graduate who earned a master’s degree in business analytics and information systems in 2003. He will work with Stablein to lead the program in India. Roy says that without his USF degree, he would not have had the global opportunities and success at Microsoft he has enjoyed.
“The business analytics hard skills I gained through the USF program have been the key differentiator between me and my peers that has seen my career trajectory eclipse over their career path.”
To learn more, contact Roy at lajpat@usf.edu, +91 8686666668, or Srikanth Akkapeddi, sakkapeddi@usf.edu +91 9491105569.