A trailblazer in Philippine education, Mapúa University now offers Master in Business Analytics (MAN). It is the Philippines’ first graduate program in business analytics that aims to produce topnotch data science and analytics practitioners in demand in today’s industry.

“Due to computerization, businesses nowadays amass huge amounts of data on a daily basis. At the same time, computers also allow them to systematically and very, very quickly sift through and analyze these data to generate useful information,” said Dr. Reynaldo B. Vea, Mapúa University president. “A Master in Business Analytics program, therefore, ought to be valuable to business organizations and individuals.”

Hands-on student experience

Students of the program will undergo a practical curriculum. Trainings and fieldworks will be based on live business problems that can be solved by analytics. They will also receive extensive trainings on communication to effectively deliver outcomes for business decision-makers.

“The program’s practicum feature, in which the student will have a hands-on experience in solving an actual and current problem using powerful software will give our students the edge. It is a differentiating dimension of our offering,” said Dr. Vea.

MAN program’s practical curriculum is designed to address the needs of different industries – banking, insurance, telecommunications, power and energy, manufacturing, retail, distribution, and the government.

Collaborative curriculum

The program was patterned after the Master of Science in Analytics program (MSA) of North Carolina State University’s Institute for Advanced Analytics, whose mission is to produce the world’s finest practitioners of analytics.

“The collaboration of Mapúa University and North Carolina State University for MAN was made possible through the kind sponsorship of Dr. James Goodnight, founder and CEO of SAS,” said Dr. Vea.

“Imparting MSA’s discipline to Mapúa’s MAN reaches our degree’s own objective. It is a commendable act of Mapúa to take this unprecedented step in the Philippines, as it contributes greatly in promoting the global practice of data science and analytics,” said Dr. Michael Rappa, Goodnight director, and distinguished professor and founding director of the Institute for Advanced Analytics.

Mapúa’s MAN will also receive sponsorships from leading organizations in the industry. Members of the Yuchengco Group of Companies – RCBC, RCBC Savings, RCBC Bankard, Malayan Insurance, and the First Nationwide Assurance Corporation (FNAC) – are the pilot sponsors of the program. Sponsors will provide students the exact environment for learning application – business problem, data, real-world problem-solving experience, and presentation of results.

“The Master in Business Analytics program in Mapúa is my personal commitment to uplift the quality, technical capability, and industry-readiness of our bright young Filipino professionals so they are better equipped to contribute to their employers’ mission and share positively in the building of our nation,” said Helen Yuchengco Dee, Chairman of the Yuchengco Group of Companies.

Mapúa University’s School of Information Technology has partnered with Cloudera, SAS, and SAP to provide the advanced tools for the program. Students will be given the opportunity to master the tools and can choose to obtain vendor certifications while completing their degree.
MAN is the first program in the Philippines to be supported by leading Hadoop provider, Cloudera. It is the first university in the country to join the Cloudera Academic Partnership (CAP) program and integrate Cloudera’s data engineering educational content into its curricula. SAS was instrumental in designing the program.

Students of MAN will be presented to the sponsors and the business community a few months before graduation so both students and employers can explore employment opportunities immediately after graduation.

Mapúa University’s Master in Business Analytics is among the first offered program by the University in the country. Recently, Mapúa has also offered Master of Engineering in Industrial Engineering (MEP-IE), the Philippines’ first fully online engineering graduate program.