This fall, Driehaus debuts a refreshed master’s program: the MS in Business Analytics and AI (MSBAI).
Formerly the MS in Business Analytics, the program’s classes are offered both online and in-person. It is designed to accommodate students with full-time jobs who want to pivot in their careers and upskill in analytics and Applied AI.
The degree joins technical expertise in data analysis and AI usage with holistic training in leadership and organizational acumen. It prepares students not just for careers at the intersection of business and technology but for careers that make a difference in how emerging technologies — AI foremost among them — are developed, implemented, and governed.
Industry needs drive curricular innovation
The new program is part of Driehaus’ commitment to ongoing AI-related curricular innovation in step with the changing needs of industry.
The seeds for the program were planted, said program director Khadija Ali Vakeel, in conversations with industry leaders. Industry leaders on the dedicated advisory council for the program were seeking AI-fluent graduates. How was the program preparing students for the dynamic AI transformation underway in the industry?
For Ali Vakeel and her co-director, Sina Ansari, answering that question meant incorporating a wide range of AI-related skills into the curriculum. It also meant pairing technical training with strategic thinking. How do you prepare students to be effective leaders during times of change? How do you teach them not just to build AI-powered analytical tools but to consider how to lead these changes — how to fit these transformative skills and tools into the bigger organizational picture?
“Right now in industry, most AI use falls into the category of horizontal efficiencies,” said Ali Vakeel. “There’s a lot of focus on doing individual tasks quicker. What the MSBAI does is shift the focus to vertical efficiencies. How are you working with leadership? How are you communicating and collaborating across the organization? That’s where the real opportunities lie.”
Program emphasizes AI governance, organizational effectiveness
The new curriculum comprises two groups of courses. One set focuses on teaching students the nitty-gritty of leveraging analytics and AI in business settings. Analytics and AI can be used, for instance, to parse complex datasets or to display findings in custom dashboards. It can even be used to help analysts communicate with key stakeholders by translating data-driven insights into compelling, actionable narratives.
The second set of courses in the MSBAI, meanwhile, hones vital soft skills: change management, operational effectiveness, and more. These skills, Ali Vakeel said, won’t just be critical as graduates navigate their careers. They’re part of a mindset shift that the new program seeks to impart.
“Right now, when most of our students use AI, they’re end users,” she said. “They’re typing questions into ChatGPT. But once you're a working professional, you might be the one building or deploying these models to bridge technology and business. You have to think critically about AI related challenges, such as governance, hallucination, and ethics. It’s a mindset shift from being the end user to taking ownership of an agent or product.”
Curriculum equips students to lead in a fast-growing field
The MSBAI will prepare students to launch or accelerate careers at the intersection of business, technology, and AI. The field is fast-growing; according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the market for management analytics is expanding by about 9% year over year.
With the rise of AI, the field is also undergoing a sea change. Up until now, according to Ali Vakeel, most AI skills were learned on the job, often through trial and error. The MSBAI intervenes with structured training, paired with plenty of opportunities to implement skills in real-world settings. (The program’s capstone class, which connects students with a different real-world organization each quarter, is one such opportunity.)
“This program is designed to help people gain confidence in creating AI tools and agents that work: that can be tested and deployed with confidence, and that can be presented to industry leaders,” Ali Vakeel said.
“Our students are already motivated to develop expertise in AI,” she added. “So why not give them a framework that helps them learn, lead, and excel? The MSBAI is one step in the right direction that prepares early-career and mid-career professionals to become AI industry leaders in the future.”