Revamped MSBA Curriculum Focuses on Generative AI

Building artificial intelligence (AI) skills has been part of the Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) curriculum for many years. Yes, even before the release of ChatGPT. The explosive growth in technology and attention on generative AI has changed the world rapidly. Businesses across the globe are wrestling with how to handle and leverage this technology. Now, MSBA students will benefit from a redesigned curriculum to meet these challenges.

The MSBA program’s new curriculum will feature enhanced AI offerings and introduce an “AI for Business” track while expanding the elective credits lineup and reshaping some existing courses.

"Industry reports and ongoing discussions with our advisory board of industry leaders suggest that generative AI will significantly impact various sectors, creating a demand for analytics professionals who possess a deep understanding of these technologies and can harness them responsibly and effectively to drive productivity and innovation,” says De Liu, MSBA academic director and Xian Dong Eric Jing Professor.

The updates, scheduled to launch in the 2024-25 academic year, come after the program reviewed changing industry standards and gathered input from stakeholders from the Carlson School and throughout the industry.

Updates include:

• A new “Responsible AI” course that covers various ethical considerations of AI (e.g., algorithmic bias, privacy issues, AI security, and AI transparency) and offers hands-on components to use specific techniques to build responsible AI systems and solutions.
• An enhanced Exploratory Data Analytics course that harnesses the power of large language models for exploratory analytics.
• New, elective courses on generative AI, recommender systems, and natural language understanding.
• An AI for Business track that provides a roadmap of courses that students who want to delve deep into this topic should take.

“We are very excited to roll out this new curriculum,” Associate Professor Mochen Yang says. “AI is growing fast and the landscape of analytics education is shifting. We want to continue to be on the forefront and be leaders when it comes to analytics.”

One reason driving the change is that employers are looking for students who are well-versed in generative AI and can contribute to the company’s journey of figuring out how best to leverage these tools.

“Employers want their new hires to be well-versed in generative AI, and be able to contribute to the company’s journey of figuring out how best to leverage such a technology,” says Liu. “Our recent curriculum update reflects such a need, among other demands, and continues to give students the traditional analytics skills and business acumen that companies still value.”

Learn more about the Master of Science in Business Analytics program.