ISA Master s in Business & Finance Degree Title Master of Science in IT Strategic Management University Universitat Pompeu Fabra University Overview Founded in 1990, the Pompeu Fabra University is the Spanish public university with the highest ratio of international students and faculty (2012, QS ranking). It is recognised for the scientific mentality of its faculty and its leading positions in international rankings: 2013 Times Higher Education ranking: 25th highest ranked university in the world among those under 50 years of age 2013 QS ranking: 25th highest ranked university in the world among those under 50 years of age 2012 Shanghai University ranking: Among the 500 top universities in the world. By fields, it is the 1st Spanish university in Social Sciences and Management Since 1990, Pompeu Fabra University has received recognition from several national and international institutions for its teaching work and quality, being positioned among the best universities in the world. The European Commission recognises the Department of Economics and Business The European Commission has recognized the Department of Economics and Business of the UPF as one of the main economic research centres in Europe. Furthermore, it has classified its postgraduate programme as a "Programme of Excellence". The best in Spain in research According to the world ranking of the Scimago Research Group, the UPF is the best Spanish university for its research quality. Internationally it is in 107th position. Among the 200 best universities in the world The UPF is one of the two Spanish universities in the Times Higher Education (THE) ranking. Internationally, it is in 155th position and, in the classification of the best European universities, it is in 58th position. Campus of International Excellence (CIE) In 2010 the UPF was classified as a Campus of International Excellence (CIE) in a move promoted by the Education Ministry in order to position Spanish universities of excellence among the best in Europe. A university with international recognition The European University Association sets the trends in higher education and research policies. The UPF stands out with the following strong points: Brand name and reputation consolidated in Spain and with increasing international recognition. Close attention to teaching quality: High capacity to attract the best Spanish and foreign exchange students. o Approximately 90% of the graduate students find a job six months after they have finished their studies. o The students are satisfied and proud to belong to the UPF. High level of internationalisation:
o Some of the postgraduate programmes and many research groups are clearly internationally oriented. o Almost 47% of PhD students are foreign. The expansion of graduates and the use of a brand well established in the international area attract undergraduate students from other countries. The UPF has a significant amount of lifelong learning programmes within the European sphere. The alumni network is well established and dynamic. First in teaching quality In 2007, the Fundación Conocimiento y Desarrollo [Knowledge and Development Foundation] granted the UPF: First place in teaching quality, considering factors such as the dropout rate, performance and graduation rate, teaching resources or degree of openness. First place in investment expenditure for students and income from R&D for teaching and research staff (PDI). Third place in physical teaching resources, such as libraries, and students registered on PhD programmes residing outside Spain. Fourth in scientific productivity A study by the Direcció General d'universitats del Ministeri de Ciència i Innovació [General Directorate of Universities of the Ministry of Science and Innovation] carried out in 2008 by the University of Granada placed the UPF fourth in the global ranking of scientific productivity in Spanish universities. The UPF is an "island of excellence" The ranking of the University of Shanghai, ARWU 2010, placed the UPF among the 300 to 400 best universities in the world and among the top 7 Spanish universities. The UPF among the best universities in Spain The newspaper El Mundo placed the UPF in the ranking of the best Spanish universities and granted it: First place in Business Sciences, Political and Administration Sciences, Audiovisual Media, Law, Economics, Humanities and Labour Relations studies. Second place in Business Administration studies. Fifth place in Translation and Interpreting studies. The UPF Library is the best The Digital Atlas of Spanish Universities placed the Library of the UPF first in the ranking of Spanish public and private university and scientific libraries. Program Information The Barcelona School of Management was founded in 2011 as the new business school of the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF). It was launched as a response to the current global need of capacitating state-of-the-art professionals in business management and public administration. Profiting from the UPF's expertise and insight, the Barcelona School of Management offers a wide range of business-related postgraduate education options for both junior and executive professionals, as well as customised in-company training. The Barcelona School of Management bases its methodology on three core ideas: evidence-based management, entrepreneurship and innovation and engaged social value. It also understands education as a merger b etween University and Industry. That is why leading companies and public authorities participate in the
development of all its academic programmes. T he school is a catalyst for cross-line training and research, with all its academic training being practice-oriented in order to attain a fully scientific approach to knowledge. The school runs its programmes in two of the UPF's largest and most central campuses, respectively: the Ciutadella Campus and the Balmes building. In 2010, the UPF was designated a Campus of International Excellence in a move promoted by the Spanish Ministry of Education in order to establish Spanish universities of excellence among the best in Europe. The Barcelona School of Management is part of the UPF Group, a leading conglomerate of academic institutions committed to research and knowledge creation.in 2013, 84% of the school's MSc students came from 23 different countries and 71% of its faculty had been educated in top worldwide universities outside Spain. Why to study our Master of Science in ICT Strategic Management? Because all companies need trained employees with management and technology skills to make better business decisions. Because having in-depth knowledge of information systems and analytic tools in strategic management is the key for future success. Because students will be trained on the effective management of big data and analytics and their beneficial application to businesses. Because students will be taught by a world's top ranked faculty. Because students will have class in one of Barcelona's largest and most multicultural campuses: the Ciutadella Campus. Course Outline The Master of Science in ICT Strategic Management consists of 3 class terms (September to June) plus 1 classfree term (July to December). The programme starts with two levelling tracks in which students from different backgrounds are separated in order to complement their previously learned skills: Students coming from Economics or Business Administration-related studies are taught advanced technology application skills. Students coming from IT-related studies, Engineering, Mathematics or Physics are taught business administration and management-related concepts. After the levelling tracks, all students are fully and equally prepared and they reunite for the programme's core courses, which take place along the 2nd and 3rd terms. On the 4th term students work on their master thesis and take on a curricular internship (read more about the programme's internship). First Term: Levelling Tracks 1A: Management for Engineers/Mathematicians o Strategic Management o Marketing Management o Accounting and Finance Management o Operations Management 1B: ICT Skills for Business Profiles/Economists o Project Management o ICT Sector and Value Chains o Networking Services and Infrastructures
o Information Systems and Business Intelligence Common Course: Knowledge Economy Second Term: Tools for Management Supply Chain Management and Technology Information Technology for Marketing Management Science and Business Information Systems Enterprise Resource Planning systems for Business Knowledge Management Systems Third Term: Business Strategy Technology Strategy Business Change Management Entrepreneurship/Technology and Innovation Management E-Business Technology and Management Fourth Term: Internship/Mobility and Master Thesis Internship Master Thesis Mobility Placement Additional Off-programme Activities Further to the programme's regular classes, all Master of Science students have the possibility of attending free complementary training parallel to the running of their programmes. The following activities are optional and are included in the programme's tuition fees: Brush-up Courses: preparatory crash-courses on business and economy-related subjects which take place two weeks prior to the beginning of the programme. Spanish or Catalan Courses: one-year, 3-hour/week courses at the UPF's language school. Career Development Programme: career sessions and workshops during which students obtain specific training on how to improve their CV, approach potential employers and develop professional soft skills. Next Steps For students interested in receiving their Master of Science in ICT Strategic Management through the ISA Masters Degree program, please submit your application here. Summary of Teaching and Assessment The Master of Science in ICT Strategic Management combines different teaching methodologies in all courses: Master classes Teamwork Case analysis Problem resolution Business simulation games
In order to foster the interaction between professors and classmates, students are encouraged to discuss courserelated current affairs in class. Throughout the programme, students get the chance to put the course's theoretical aspects into practice through role playing activities and company visits. Further to this, the UPF Barcelona School of Management bases its training methodology on a fully scientific approach to knowledge and three core ideas: evidence-based management, entrepreneurship and innovation and engaged social value. Evaluation The assessment criteria of each course will be detailed at the beginning of the term. The evaluation system may vary from course to course and it will be based on the student's performance regarding the following activities: Written exams and multiple choice tests Oral presentations Individual works and essays Group projects Class participation and debate interventions Program Outcomes Objectives The Master of Science in ICT Strategic Management will thoroughly train students to: Interpret the vast quantities of information (big data) generated by current companies and take the best business decisions accordingly Use the necessary information systems and analytic tools required for strategic management Use state-of-the-art technology and follow the latest high-tech trends in mobility, business and analytics in order to address new challenges across organizations, units, functions and geographies Get to know the rapidly-evolving tools and technology required for big data handling and use them for business innovation Work in a multidisciplinary and multicultural business environment Future Jobs & Positions Upon successful completion of the Master of Science in ICT Strategic Management will be able to pursue a professional career in the following professional fields: CIO (Chief Information Officer) IT Management and Consulting Logistics and Big Data Innovation Management Companies in the IT sector and Digital Contents IT-based Entrepreneurship Business Development and Strategy Internet Marketing BIS Consulting and IT Analyst
Brush-Up Courses We strongly recommend taking these courses with the exception of students who have studied these topics recently. These Brush-Up Courses will provide the background to be able to easily follow classes in the first term. If the student has studied these topics recently attendance may not be necessary. In that case, the student may choose not to attend one or several brush up courses. Each student should discuss their choice with the Program Coordinator. Please contact them in order to enroll in the courses and these programs are free of charge. First Brush-up Week >Descriptive and Inferential Statistics (16 hours) OBJECTIVES This brush up coursed is aimed at MSc students with little or no experience in business-oriented statistics. The purpose of this course is to familiarize such students with basic descriptive and inferential statistics techniques so that they can follow the compulsory course Applied Statistics without any major trouble. Although students with a background in management or economics are welcome to come, this brush up course might be too elemental for them. Please look at the contents below to decide if this brush up course can be of interest to you. 1. Basic statistical terminology: observations, variables and distributions 2. Learning how to display the distribution of a single variable: a. Pie charts and Bar graphs b. Histograms and Stemplots 3. Learning how to describe the distribution of a single variable: a. Measures of the center: the median and the mean b. Measures of the spread: variance, standard deviation, and quartiles c. Measures of the shape: skewness and kurtosis d. Exceptions to the pattern of a distribution: the outliers e. A convenient graphical representation of the measures: the boxplot 4. Approximating a variable s distribution through a density curve a. Why are density curves useful? b. How are density curves described? c. A very special density curve: the Normal curve 5. The relationship between two numerical variables: an introduction a. The roles of a variable in a relationship: dependent variables vs. independent variables b. Displaying the relationship between two variables: the scatterplot c. Describing the relationship between two variables: 6. The relationship between two numerical variables: the linear regression a. Understanding the OLS regression line b. Learning to use the regression line to make predictions c. Limitations of regression: 7. The relationship between two categorical variables a. Marginal and conditional distributions in two-way tables b. Testing if the two variables are related: the chi-square test 8. Inferential Statistics: an introduction a. Population vs. sample b. The sample mean: a random variable c. Using the sample mean to infer the population mean. The role of standard error of the mean d. How sure can we be that our inference was accurate? The role of confidence intervals 9. Hypotheses testing: an introduction a. The null and the alternative hypotheses: a court example b. Setting the hypotheses correctly: the null is what I always want to reject
c. Figuring out how strong the evidence against the null is: an exercise that requires inferential statistics and computing probabilities from density curves. >Accounting and Finance (16 hours) OBJECTIVES This "brush up" course is targeted to those students with a weak accounting and finance background or to those who need to "refresh" their knowledge. The main objective of the course is to provide students with a working understanding of the basic concepts of accounting and finance. 1. Net income: profit or loss 1.1. Net income 1.2. Income 1.3. Expenses 1.4. Cost of sales 1.5. Amortization/ depreciation 1.6. The profit and loss account 2. Cash flow 2.1. Relevance of the cash flow 2.2. Cash flow from operating and non-operating activities 2.3. Cash flow statements 3. The balance sheet 3.1. The balance sheet 3.2. Ordering and grouping of accruals 3.3. Main assets valuation criteria Second Brush-up Week >Quantitative Methods (16 hours) OBJECTIVES This "brush up" course is addressed to those students with a low quantitative and mathematical background or to those who need to "refresh" their knowledge. It is also recommended to students with little knowledge on the use of Microsoft Excel worksheet. Students will be introduced to dynamic tables, the use of functions and add-ins such as Solver, and how to draw graphs and functions. Quantitative Business Modeling 1. Decision Making and Quantitative Modeling 2. Quantitative business modeling 3. The modeling process 4. Detailed Modeling 5. Software for modeling Basic Mathematical concepts 1. Notation and definitions 2. Functions 3. Linear equations 4. Rules of manipulation 5. Basic financial functions Data Collection and Analysis 1. Data collection 2. Descriptive statistics 3. Probability and random variables 4. Common probability distributions 5. Distribution of sample statistics Optimization and Mathematical Programming 1. The modeling process 2. Linear programming
3. Solving problems with excel 4. Extensions Decision Analysis 1. The decision analysis situation 2. Decisions under certainty 3. Decisions under uncertainty 4. Decisions under risk 5. Decision trees > General Economics (16 hours) OBJECTIVES This "brush up" course is targeted to those students with a weak economics background or to those who need to "refresh" their knowledge in principles of microeconomics, macroeconomics and international economics. Contents and tools will be provided for understanding the economical agent s decisions and markets 1. Microeconomics a. Fundamentals of Economics b. Supply and Demand. c. Elasticity. d. Consumer and Producer Surplus e. Production costs 2. Macroeconomics a. GDP Measurement b. Productivity determinants c. Taxation and welfare d. Money supply and the financial system