Preparing students for the digital economy

Data analytics is an essential tool of business and commerce, and the unprecedented pandemic underscores the need for efficient tools and skills for online commerce to succeed.

A leader in business education, HELP University is in an eminent position to nurture data analytics talent. It was awarded the Premier Digital Tech Institution (PDTI) status by MDEC for transforming into an analytics-driven entrepreneurial university – one of the few so honoured.

HELP offers four relevant programmes – Bachelor of Business Analytics (BBA) (Hons), Bachelor of IT (BIT) (Data Analytics) (Hons), Master of Applied Business Analytics (MABA), and Master of Data Science (MDS).

To achieve this objective, HELP University offers 4 programmes in data science and data analytics: the Bachelor of Business Analytics (BBA) (Hons), Bachelor of IT (BIT) (Data Analytics) (Hons), Master of Applied Business Analytics (MABA) and Master of Data Science (MDS).

These programmes have been designed to include the latest tools and state-of-the-art content to put students in the forefront of this burgeoning field.

The BBA equips graduates with the skills and capabilities to seize the limitless scope for new jobs and new ventures in the IR 4.0 era and to gain an advantage over the competitors.

According to the course leader Dr Melody Tan:

“The BBA is targeted directly to fulfil the enormous demand and need for trained Business Analysts to boost business and productivity. It strengthens our capability as the leading business school to nurture skills and professionalism to contribute to the digital economy”.

Dr Tan leads the programme with a unique set of skills; she used a data science methodology (social network analysis) to study the movie series Stargate and Star Trek for her PhD thesis. This complements the skills in bibliometric and citation analysis of data she acquired as a postgraduate student at Universiti Malaya.

The HELP Master of Applied Business Analytics (MABA) on the other hand synthesises technological capability and rich datasets to enable business leaders to derive strategic intelligence about consumer patterns and market conditions to maximise productivity and profitability. It aims to nurture talents to assume positions like Chief Data Officer and Chief Analytics Officer to help CEOs build the digital organization and achieve business objectives.

“Data analytics is very exciting and creative work”, said MABA course leader Assoc Prof Dr Paolo Casadio, who worked as an econometrician and financial economist in leading European banks and asset management companies.

“Today you need an analytics mindset and a sophisticated set of models and tools to manage large sets of data in real time and produce reliable forecasts in different scenarios. Only then can you identify the best solutions and adopt strategies that make an impact for your business”.  

The Bachelor of IT (Data Analytics) meanwhile focuses on the technical skills needed to develop and support organisational needs in terms of data management and data analysis. It is uniquely designed to provide both a background in the technologies that support information systems and a specialization in data analytics methods and tools in order to derive value from the data in these systems.

Course leader Ms Ng Shu Min is a SAS-certified Data Scientist, in which capacity she conducts analytics training to a wide band of students and executives. She is also listed in the National Digital Skills Training Directory, an MDEC initiative to assist young job-seekers and the unemployed to select digital courses that meet their career needs.

“I believe in demystifying mathematical and technology concepts; that’s why I believe Data Science skills should be made accessible to many people”, says Shu Min, affirming her passion to reach out to schools and the community to conduct analytics courses to teachers, students and professionals.

Rounding out these programmes is the Master of Data Science (MDS) course at HELP.

The MDS aims to apply quantitative modelling and data analysis techniques to the solution of real-world business problems, communicate findings, and effectively present results using data visualisation techniques.

Apart from harnessing qualified and experienced leadership to deliver these four programmes, HELP has created a robust eco-system to nourish the analytics agenda in keeping with its mission to nurture the A*Gen, the Analytics Generation.

It maintains close ties with the industry and governing bodies to ensure its curricula and pedagogy are fit to achieve its stated objectives.

A RM25mil Business Analytics and Technology Innovation Centre (BATIC) was set up to incubate and innovate techno-entrepreneurship, and research and development in analytics, the latter in tandem with the HELP Centre for Applied Research in Analytics (CARA).

BATIC also houses one of the largest Bloomberg Financial Labs among private higher learning institutions in Malaysia, where students learn online stock-trading and acquire Bloomberg Market Concepts certification.

In collaboration with SAS, the leading analytics software developer, HELP offers BIT students a joint certificate for competency in the application of SAS tools for descriptive and predictive analytics.

HELP’s extensive network of local and international collaborators provides opportunities for enriching students’ learning experience. The Alibaba Business School provides mentorship in data analytics and e-entrepreneurship, while the Beijing Jiaotong University (BJTU) provides a credit transfer pathway in software engineering, with industrial exposure opportunities in the Haidian technology hub in Beijing where BJTU is located.

Currently HELP is making access to its analytics programmes easier through offering microcredentials to a wide community of students from high school to undergraduates and working adults.