Sharda University partners with IBM to launch MBA Program

Sharda University (SU) and IBM today launched a collaborative full time MBA Program in Business Analytics in line with the vision to develop multi-disciplinary skills in India.

A definitive agreement has been signed to jointly develop the curriculum of the program for better industry alignment and to deliver the content and courses along with experts from IBM.

Sharda University has also set up an IBM Business Analytics Lab under Career Education for Business Transformation (CEBT) program that provides students and faculty members access to the relevant Business Analytics software tools and technology along with industry content using live case studies and scenarios from IBM. As part of this initiative, IBM will also be conducting training sessions for SU faculty members and students on advanced analytics.

The aim of this program is to create future managers and leaders who understand the value of businesses by not only having a data-oriented outlook but also to support the growing need of Big Data Analytics in enterprises today. It will help students to gain better customer insights, manage risk, and financial metrics more effectively, and help strive for unique market differentiation.

The program is set to cover all the relevant analytics-related topics including the courses on Descriptive and Predictive Analytics, Data Mining, Big Data and Enterprise Planning & Budgeting. The course will also focus on the sectoral usage of Business Analytics in various industries like Retail, Manufacturing, BFSI and more to make the course more industry relevant for the students.

Commenting on the collaboration, Mr. P K Gupta, Chancellor - Sharda University and Chairman - Sharda Group said, "Sharda University is delighted to launch an MBA in Analytics in collaboration with IBM. Through hands-on and application-based approach of this program, we are sure that our students will scale new heights in this sector and become highly successful professionals."

Besides MBA Program in Business Analytics, Sharda University also aims to nurture their Under Graduate students in BBA and B.Com Professional Courses by providing them hands-on training in the fundamental areas of Business Analytics, which will help them develop an appreciation of data analytics field and make meaningful career decisions.

According to Sudhir Sastry, SWG Technical Sales Leader - India / SA, "IBM has the broadest set of skills and knowledge of the industry - from technical skills to industry skills in areas such as data architects to statisticians. IBM has been working with universities to expand and strengthen the analytics curricula to meet the growing demand of highly skilled big data business workers of the future, Career Education for Business Transformation (CEBT) Program is a perfect example of IBM's commitment to software education."

Data Analytics was once considered the purview of maths, science and information technology specialists. Now barraged with data from web and other sources companies want employees, who can both sift through the information and help solve business problems or strategize. According to a study from McKinsey & Co., there will be a shortage of talent necessary for organizations to take advantage of big data. By 2018, the United States alone could face a shortage of 140,000 to 190,000 people with deep analytical skills as well as 1.5 million managers and analysts with the know-how to use the analysis of big data to make effective decisions.

"Data analytics is a large and rapidly growing sector, and requires highly skilled business professionals in large numbers. Sharda University's specialized Analytics MBA, in partnership with IBM has been launched in response to industry's needs and I am sure it will be received very well", said Mudit Consul, Executive Vice President, Sharda Group.