UTA to offer new bachelor’s degree in business analytics

Harry Dombroski UTA courtesy
Radha Mahapatra, chair of the Department of Information Systems and Operations Management at UTA. Credit: UTA

The University of Texas at Arlington will offer a new Bachelor of Science in Business Analytics, available at only a few universities in the area, beginning in January 2021.
The new degree plan, approved by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in July, will reside in UTA’s College of Business.

Radha Mahapatra, chair of the Department of Information Systems and Operations Management (ISOM), said there are very few universities in the region that offer a bachelor’s degree in this discipline.
“This is a very much in-demand skill,” Mahapatra said. “As businesses rely more and more on data to make crucial business decisions and drive business strategy, the demand for data science and analytics skill continues to rise.
“More and more businesses, especially larger firms, are seeing the benefits of data analytics and are recruiting college graduates with business analytics skills. This demand has created well-paying jobs, even at entry-level positions, and a good career path. In the end, business analytics has proven to save companies money and increase efficiencies,” he said in the university’s announcement.

Harry Dombroski, College of Business dean, said transforming data into better business decisions is what’s at the heart of business analytics.
“The degree benefits businesses, but more importantly, it ensures students leave campus with an essential skill that today’s businesses are demanding of their employees,” Dombroski said. “We are extremely proud to be offering the Bachelor of Science degree in Business Analytics (BSBA), as the data analytic skills students acquire will serve them their entire careers.

“As businesses continue to discover the benefits of data and business analytics, more and more mission-critical decisions will be data-driven. Employees with business analytic skills will be at the forefront of determining the optimal solution for any given business issue. This degree is another important step in achieving our goal of infusing data and business analytics in every degree program within the College of Business,” Dombroski said.

The ISOM department has been offering a successful Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) program for more than five years, and the bachelor’s program builds on its success. Students benefit from a strong relationship with industry executives through the Analytics Advisory Board and an annual Analytics Symposium.
As someone who has been through another master’s program, the MSBA program at UTA is different in that it doesn’t just teach you how to crunch numbers, but rather, it teaches you to be a problem-solver,” said Eric Mwangi, who earned a UTA master’s degree in business analytics.
Some of the skills that students in the BSBA program will learn include:

Data-driven decision-making
Python programming for data analytics
Business statistics
Data visualization
Big data and predictive analytics