Business with Decision Analytics

Decision analytics is the discipline of using data, quantitative modelling and structured reasoning to improve the quality of decisions made by organisations. In a world where businesses, governments and not-for-profit organisations face growing complexity, the ability to move from raw data to clear insight and well-reasoned action is increasingly central to effective leadership and management. Combining it with business study creates a degree that is firmly grounded in the realities of how organisations work while developing the technical and analytical capabilities that modern decision-making demands.

This four-year full-time programme at the University of Edinburgh includes a year abroad, which gives you the opportunity to develop international experience and to study business and analytics from a different national perspective. Throughout the degree you will study the foundations of business including strategy, finance, marketing and organisational behaviour, alongside modules in statistical reasoning, data analysis, optimisation, forecasting and the use of analytical tools in real decision contexts. The programme prepares you to engage with the social, political, environmental and cultural challenges facing contemporary organisations, not just the technical ones, and to bring analytical rigour to problems that are fundamentally human as well as numerical.

Graduates are well prepared for careers in management consulting, data analytics, business intelligence, strategy, operations research, finance, the civil service and technology-facing business roles. The combination of business knowledge and analytical capability is valued by employers across sectors who need people capable of both understanding complex data and translating it into organisational decisions. Postgraduate study in business analytics, management science, finance or MBA programmes is a natural progression for those who wish to develop further expertise.