Wednesday, February 4, 2009

BI Education - Master's Degree Business Intelligence

I was contacted by dozens of people about information’s on Master's Degree in Business Intelligence and for that reason I share with you a research in this area. The world is currently in recession and nothing is more important to be on the top and improve each day your skills and keep in touch with new technologies and new concepts.

In my case, the master degree on BI started on September/07 changed my life and created a rhythm of work that I was not prepared before it. I’m now prepared to attack on several fronts: on my daily work and several projects in my free time (experts-Exchange, MSDN, my blog, and 2 other projects that I will share with you later)

Many of us are tools oriented but there’s nothing more important than understanding the theory and the work which is already done by others (because we don’t want to invent the wheel again). Everything that arises, arises from something and is where I focus my goals.

Samuel Quintanilla Galvez is from Peru, and he did a research about masters in Business Intelligence and decided to share it with us. We hope this information could be usefully for all who loves BI like me and Samuel.

Samuel on first person: “I did a research about BI and DWH courses too (courses not related to any particular tool or provider), courses that I could take from here, Peru. Some of them are in-classroom, but others are online, and could be very useful for you or maybe your friends. Attach the result of my research. I'll probably take the "Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing Specialized Studies Program" in the University of California, Irvine

The program can be taken online or on campus, and cost $2,270. I think it's a very attractive program, but I might be wrong, that is why I'm looking for opinions from experts or from people with much more experience than me, before enroll to the program..."

Alex Whittles is currently attending the master BI degree at Sheffield Hallam University (UK), and I hope he could give us some feedback about. No Alex?! ehehe
For whom that wants to see the excel file (I don’t know how to attach here) please send me an email.
Regards,
Pedro

40 comments:

SamuelQG said...

Thanks Pedro for publish the research I did, I hope this information can help others and save them time when looking for information about master programs. As I told Pedro, besides the research about BI master programs, I did a research about BI and DWH courses too (courses not related to any particular tool or provider), mainly courses I could take from Peru, although found some interesting online courses in USA and Spain too, courses that anyone could take them from anywhere in the world. If anyone is interested on it I could send it to them. My mail is samuelqg84@hotmail.com

Greetings,

Samuel

Anonymous said...

Thanks Pedro - This is once again a great example of the depth of information you provide. With the economy shrinking - those in the field who find themselves in an "out of work" scenario can certainly look at these as a viable way to spend their nest-egg!
Thanks again

Anonymous said...

Hi Pedro - Another useful post, thanks!

I've just completed my first MSc Business Intelligence module at Sheffield Hallam.

I decided to embark on a Masters for pretty much the same reasons that you mentioned in your post; competitive advantage, better grounding of the theories and best practices etc. as well as a personal challenge: In my first BEng degree, my grade was too heavily influenced by my alcohol intake over three years. I thought I'd see what I could do without the assistance of a student union bar and the university sailing club!

My choice of Sheffield Hallam was solely that they are the only university in the UK offering a remote study MSc in BI. As my days are taken running my BI consultancy company, I can only work on the Masters in the evenings and weekends, so there really wasn't another option.

I've just finished my first module "Strategy Structures and Systems", with which I have to admit I was disappointed with. It was lifted straight from the MBA course and designed for a Management Consultant, not for a Business Intelligence Consultant. It focused primarily on corporate strategy with far too much ‘buzzword bingo’ and not enough actual substance in my opinion (that’s why I’m a BI consultant not a Management Consultant!!). Having said that, approaching business from a different perspective can never be a bad thing, as it opens one’s eyes to alternative points of view and goals. Whether it deserves to be a complete module in its own right on a BI degree provided a very enjoyable (but still unresolved) debate with my peers and the tutor.

The second module is “Information and Knowledge Dynamics in Organisations”, which promises to be a little more relevant to BI in a practical sense. Following that we start getting our hands a bit more dirty with “Statistical Modelling for Business Intelligence”. Bring it on!

One huge side effect of taking on the course has been the disruption to other aspects of my normal life. My involvement in Experts-Exchange.com has pretty much vanished, and I’m not able to take on as much work as I’d like to with Purple Frog Systems, purely because I don’t have the time. You may have noticed that I also haven’t written on my blog since September. The course spans 3 years, which is a daunting prospect, but I’m taking each module in turn, and will hopefully be able to give it the time and attention it deserves.

Summary so far: daunting, time consuming, expensive. But I’m up for a challenge and hope to gain a lot from it, technically and personally.

Alex

Pedro said...

hey Alex,
what a great report about your master experience! Thanks a lot to share it with us. Maybe I'll join you next year... :-)

Thanks a lot dear friend Alex!

I'm not be in Manchester on 28 March for SQLBits because I have my master dissertation to present...:-( But In September I'll be there!!! Do you go?

Cheers!
Pedro

Pedro said...

Samuel,
What you think about Alex feedback?
Interesting?
Regards,
pedro

Dileep said...

Hi Samuel,Alex and Pedro
The information in the blog has been superb. I was following your posts related to BI Masters for some weeks now.
I am looking for a full time OnCampus BI/DWH course in UK. Could you guys just see if you can provide me any info on these lines.
Thanks,
Dileep

Unknown said...

Alex,
Thanx a lot for u r info...I searched the official site for hallam University (http://www.shu.ac.uk/university)...but did no get the course name...can u pls let us know the course name...u can mail me at sourav.ghosh99@yahoo.com. Also can u let us know what is the professional benifit u r looking for after u finish it, what is the corse fee, and whether I can take it from India as online..etc..

Unknown said...

Samuel, I mailed u as I need the details badly...I am searching for Master's in BI as distance learning from India....Could u pls answer my mails with the details...

Unknown said...

Pedro,
I can't read the xl spreadsheet u showing on u r post, can u pls mail that to my mail id sourav.gho99@yahoo.com. I really found u r analysis too good....

Anonymous said...

hi Dileep,

can you please contact me at rohitvijayan@rediffmail.com. Even i am planning to do my Masters in BI o DWH.Would want to know more about unis in case you have already applied.
regards,
Rohit Vijayan.

Pedro said...

Hey guys,
Post here your improvements on selecting the BI Master!
Cheers!
Pedro

Pedro said...

Hi guys!
Give feedback about your researches!
Cheers!
Pedro

Unknown said...

Hi,

I am interested in Online MSBI can you give me more information about it.

Unknown said...

Hi,

I am interested in Online MSBI can you give me more information about it.

Pedro said...

Thanks Anup for your visit.
The post from Alex is very usefull for your... He's currently in london attending a degree!
Cheers!
Pedro!

srujan said...

Hi dileep,

i am also looking for a Business Intellegence Masters course in UK.
I have around 3 years of work experience in BI DW tools like Business objects & BODI and Data Stage in an MNC...Can u please help me to find out a good university in UK for studying MS in BI.

Thanks and Regards,
srujan kumar

Pedro said...

hi srujan kumar!
Welcome to the blog.
Follow alex post and contact him...
his attending a master BI degree in UK...
If it was in portugal I suggested you UPT or ISCTE, but you probably don't understand portuguese!! :-)
regards,
Pedro

Unknown said...

Nice and interesting topic. I have been struggling with this question from last 5 years now! What’s the right course for a BI consultant to hone the skills and also stay a master in BI and DW without being tool/technology dependant?

I can share my view/experience of at least one institute listed in this blog. SJU in Philadelphia USA. The program is run by The Haub School of Business at Saint Joseph's University. Small correction to Pedro’s s BLOG is that this program didn’t start in Apr 2008; it used to be there but the degree name was different (don’t remember the exact name at that time, Data Management or something). I moved to Philly in 2006 and visited them in early 2007. Met the program director to share and discuss the suitability of that course for me. He told me that they were working on getting the degree’s name changed to MS in BI. With my profile (around 8 years of consultancy experience in BI/DW at that point) he was very clear that this was not the appropriate course for me. My conclusion of 1 hr meeting with him was
a) the courses included in this degree are not for experienced professional in field of BI/DW.
b) It’s a course for someone who’s looking for a switch to BI/DW and need a stepping stone for getting work opportunities based on that.
c) Business folks who have to deal with BI in day to day work can also take this course to improve their know how of what’s what in BI/DW.
d) Also folks who start their career in BI with working on just single tool or technology and don’t have the end to end know how of BI / DW can use this course to join the dots.
I will be interested to read more experiences from people who have experienced these courses first hand or done some groundwork on it.

Last; Sintra, Lisboa, Portugal is a wonderful place. I was there in Oct-09 and never imagined that there were jobs and companies in BI there!
Cheers,
-vaibhav Chourasia
vaich@yahoo.com

Pedro said...

Thanks for your visit to my blog! It's a pleasure read new experiencies in this field.

I agree with your points and also add an interesting (in my opinion) issue... For BI degrees, courses or something else, you have several different profiles from different areas... You can have IT consultants/analysts/developers and also decision makers that want to see frontend BI tools, maths and statistic guys for analytics... so... it's dificult to create some course, master or other graduation in this area... could be a problem if you dont be focused in the target audience...

Here in Portugal is some universities are being deep inside it.

Regards,
Pedro

Unknown said...

Hi Guys!!

I am working in the field of Business Intelligence from the last 5 years, especially on SAP BI. I wanted to know few things about the online master's degree in Business Intelligence:
1. Will the degree add a value to my profile in terms of knowledge ?
2. Will it act a tool to increase my pay package ?
3. Will it give me an advantage over other BI professionals ?

I am looking forward to St. Joesph University to persue my online Master in BI. But want to have your opinion before i make a decision. Can you guys help me out.

Thanks,

Kapil

Forever Abida ! said...

Greetings Mr.Pedro..
I have been doing some serious browsing to find out online Business Intelligence degree programs. I have over 6 years of experience in Marketing Research and I believe Business Intelligence degree could bring a great leap in my career.I have SJU in my mind. Should thank you for the wonderful research that you have done on this. Any BI career tips for me?

Pedro said...

Hi Sony,
Welcome to the blog and for the kindly comments.
I wish you the best luck on this BI world...
My tips is motivation, passion for this world and more important... dont be a TOOL oriented... try to select the tools more flexible and easy to apply the concepts.

Avoid tools like SAS integration (if you need to work in data integration) because you need to know a specific programmig language... (SAS)... follow the standards!

Regards,
Pedro

Unknown said...

A very useful posting! I was searching for this information for long time. I would like to MS in BI through online. Please someone provide me the relevant details. Thanks in advance!

Vishnu

Anonymous said...

Hi
just visited the SHU web site and they are not offering the BI master anymore. Does anybody have an idea about this decision?
thanks
Felipe

Unknown said...

Hi everyone,

You made my live so easy when I opened the link I found in Google and I was like "O My God, This is what I have been searching for the whole day." In just one click, I found all the universities that can provide MS in BI.

I start to take the BIDW courses from University of California, Irvine too :D :D. I just finished the first course last spring and will start to take the other two courses and I will decide to make MS in BI cause it will help me so much at my career that I just started a year ago.

Greetings from Egypt,

Nehal

Pedro said...

Dear visitors,
Thanks for you visit to thsi blog!
I'm teaching in portuguese in 2 universities... but you're outside Portugal...:-( Some time ago I start the idea of making remote sessions...I'll try to pick up the idea again and implement it!
I'll also try to update the BI degrees in worldwide.
Regards,
Pedro

Prafull said...

DEAR BRO PEDRO , HOPE YOUR ARE FINE .. THANKS FOR YOUR ALL THE ARTICLES , I NEED YOUR HELP , TO UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE & ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE , HOW THEY ARE RELATED TO EACH OTHER PLEASE INFORM, PLEASE KINDLY SEND ME MAIL prafull@posiroid.com

Pedro said...

Hi Parfull,
Thanks for your visit!
I will reply you directly and maybe post about your issue!
Regards,
Pedro

Fangs said...

There is a Business Intelligence specialisation in the International Business program at Maastricht University.
I was thinking about it. It seems a bit softer than the programs discussed here.
Any comments?

Vaibhavi said...

Hi Pedro,

I really appreciate your efforts of putting this together. I found this blog on Google while I was looking for MS degree courses in BI in UK. I am currently working as a BI developer & I would like to opt for Masters in BI. Can you help me with the Universities in UK & the placement opportunities. I am impressed with course offered at Greenwich university. I am just worried about ranking & placement offered by the university.

Thanks & Regards,
Vaibhavi

Pedro said...

Dear friends,
I receive yesterday a report about a survey made to students and teachers on BI field. I'll try to share and write about it in a new post!
If someone has some news just let us know!
Regards,
Pedro

Vaibhavi said...

Oh that would be really great.. Thank u so much for putting this together.. Do share the link..

Regards,
Vaibhavi

HD said...

Hi Pedro,

Thanks for the wonderfull blog and providing an important platform to raise queries across the globe.

I am currently working on one of tool (Informatica) in BI since 2years and i wish to opt for a MS course in BI. Can you please suggest some good university and details and guide me through the end to end briefing on the same. As of now i am located in INDIA.

@Herin

Pedro said...

Hi Herin
Thanks for your visit!
And do you plan to leave India for study?
Regards,
Pedro

Ayyappa said...

Thanks Pedro...

This post is exactly what I am looking for. After hours and hours of browsing, I finally landed here.

Great work..keep going

paridhi said...

Hi Pedro,


I have 4 year of experience in data ware housing.I am working as an ETL Developer. I have exposure on Informatica and Teradata tools.

currently i am located in India.I want to do MS in BI,can you please guide me about some good universities and about their entrance exams? I would also like to know benefits of online MS degree.Can i go for online MS in BI?

Anonymous said...

Hi Pedro,


I have 4 year of experience in data ware housing.I am working as an ETL Developer. I have exposure on Informatica and Teradata tools.

currently i am located in India.I want to do MS in BI,can you please guide me about some good universities and about their entrance exams? I would also like to know benefits of online MS degree.Can i go for online MS in BI?

NAYAK said...

Hi Pedro,
Thanks for taking initiative to start this forum.
I was looking for a good University to complete BI/DW masters (fortunately foung ur blog).

I am having 5+ years exp in BI/DW industry (mostly with banks) , 2+ years overseas , denmark and UK.
Now working in UK.

I want go go for 1 years Masters (prefer on campus / online) , which university would be the best one considering 1) Fees 2) International/European Rapport 3) Boost in BI/DW career after the education

Thanks
Nayak

zecus said...

Hello All
Cant begin to express how this blog was incrediably useful for me its exactly what ive been lookin for =) im a computer science graduate with 2 yrs experience in programming and im really interested in a career path in business intelligence nd analytics im looking for an MSC Program either in USA or UK ? Ive been going through alott of programs but my issue is that im looking for a program with a more of a technical prospect in Business softwares & analytics than in managment ,,until now the program that i see as the closest to what im loookin for is the MSC program at the university of greenwich ! im pretty sure that someone once said here that he/she has started taken the course at the university of greenwich too and i would be really grateful if he/she would give me insight on what the course actually went or if someone would recommend some other course instead =)) I m planning for next year hopefully im currently residing in the gulf

Again cant stress how awesome this blog , thx all =)

From rite across the globe

(nazikhassan@gmail.com )

Anonymous said...

I've also found these programs:

MSc International Business-Business Intelligence at Maastricht University, School of Bus. & Econ. (triple accredited business school; program ranked #1 in its category from best-masters.com)

http://www.maastrichtuniversity.nl/web/Faculties/SBE/TargetGroup/ProspectiveStudents/Master/BusinessIntelligence.htm

http://www.best-masters.com/html2pdf/pdf/topics_classement.php?&spec=business-intelligence-knowledge-and-security-management&PHPSESSID=a144efeadbb21a09c08b0597be086867



- MSc in Business Analytics at University College of Dubline, Smurfit Business School (triple accredited business school)

http://www.smurfitschool.ie/businessanalytics/


- Master in Business Intelligence and DSS at University of Milan-Bicocca

http://www.bimasterbicocca.it/index.php?lang=en

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