Students in the first year of the Master in Management offered by the Faculty of Business and Economics at UNIL can expect an entirely revamped program for 2017! Among the new features are a choice of new orientations, including one dedicated exclusively to the topic of Business Analytics. The reform is intended to build on and highlight teaching in an area where HEC Lausanne has developed a strong reputation, namely quantitative subjects and data analysis methodologies.
An overview of the changes with Professor Valérie Chavez, director of the Master in Management (MScM) at HEC Lausanne, in an interview at the start of the 2017 academic year:
Why did the Faculty of Business and Economics embark on this reform?
In this era of big data, digitization and globalization, we wanted to adapt the Master in Management to the new challenges raised by the changes, by putting more emphasis on quantitative issues and training specialists in a number of areas. With this in mind, we created four orientations for the MScM, which build on a common core of strategic and analytical skills: “Business Analytics”, “Strategy, Organization and Leadership”, “Marketing” and “Behaviour, Economics and Evolution – BEE”.
We hope the revamped program meets the needs expressed by both students and businesses, for a general understanding coupled with expertise in a specific area.
What are the new features of the MScM program?
One of the main new developments is the introduction of the Business Analytics orientation. Students who choose this orientation will learn how to capitalize on large volumes of digital data (big data) to extract key information for decision-making or to improve performance. It’s clearly in line with the spirit of the times! By learning to exploit past data systematically to anticipate what will happen in the future more effectively, our future managers are giving themselves a valuable asset!
The other three orientations are based on subjects taught in the previous Master program. They have been updated to reflect current issues and now offer much more specialized content than in the past, the idea being to validate what has been learned in the various areas studied.
In the core modules taken by all students in the first semester, we have strengthened the quantitative aspects of the whole program and have added a number of case studies.
What are the advantages of the new Master in Management for students?
With the new program, we are training real specialists, who will be able to stand out on the labor market by offering advanced skills in a particular area, along with general expertise in management.
A fine start for all students in the first year of the Master in Management
And to start off, HEC Lausanne has organized a first week of total immersion in the world of management, with a program of discussions and workshops based on a practical case study of a multinational company in the Lake Geneva area. This will explore the four themes of the four orientations, with a single unifying thread.
“We are delighted to welcome our new students with this comprehensive and fascinating program and wish them every success!” concludes Valérie Chavez.