Levi Ikele_alumnus BAOR

Program and courses Business Analytics and Operations Research

Combine the fields of business, mathematics and statistics to solve management problems in production systems, supply chains, and IT.

Program structure

This one-year program consists of 60 credits (ECTS), of which:

  • 5 core courses (30 ECTS)
  • 2 elective courses (12 ECTS)
  • Master’s thesis (based on an internship or not) (18 ECTS)

You can start either end of August or end of January.

Program content

Core courses

Choose 5 out of the following core courses (30 ECTS in total):

  • Decision Making with Business Analytics
  • Decision Making under Uncertainty
  • Optimization
  • Data Science Methods
  • Professional Business Analytics Skills
  • Supply Chain Analytics
Elective courses

Through your choice of electives, you can acquire specialized skills of business analytics methods and techniques in a specific field of your interest, e.g., finance, marketing or economics, or you can extend your technical skills in data science or optimization methods and techniques.

Choose 2 out of the following elective courses (12 ECTS in total), presented by field of interest:

  • Asset Liability Management 
  • Customer Analytics
  • Empirical Finance
  • Microeconometrics
  • Panel Data Analysis of Microeconomic Decisions
  • Dynamic Real Investment
  • Games and Cooperative Behavior
  • Time Series and their Applications
  • Operations Research and Machine Learning
  • Courses in Operations Research theory and methods offered by LNMB in Utrecht
  • Valuation & Risk Management
  • Other electives

It’s also possible to choose the core course you didn’t take yet. 

Optional courses (0 ECTS):

  • Software workshops
  • Career Development: developing skills as a preparation for the job market
Master’s thesis (based on an internship or not)

The aim of your Master's thesis is to learn to do independent scientific research, and to write, present, and defend scientific work concerning a quantitative/econometric topic belonging to the area of Operations Research & Management Science.

The subject of the thesis - based on an internship or not - should meet the following criteria:

  • The research involved should be related to topics dealt with in the Business Analytics and Operations Research curriculum and should include sufficient quantitative aspects.
  • The project should go beyond applying general and current techniques or principles. This may be achieved by applying current techniques to new fields of application, or by developing new methods for solving existing or new problems;
  • The project should allow you sufficient scope to operate creatively and independently.

Watch a trial lecture

You will find a detailed description of the courses and required literature in our course catalog.

Go to the course descriptions


Please note: programs are subject to change. We advise you to look up the current program in OSIRIS Student at the start of the year.


Do you want to know more about this Master’s program?

Find out more during one of our events

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Make the most of your Master's

In the first semester of the regular program, ambitious students can apply for the following additional advanced programs:

Extended Master's Program: traineeship (+0.5 years)

Short overview of the Extended Master's Program

During your traineeship, you work on practical assignments for a company, follow professional skills courses, and receive mentoring and guidance. By increasing your professional experience, skills, and network like this, you seriously boost your chances in the job market.

  • If selected, you will fulfill your traineeship from April to October. On average, you will work four days at the company, and attend skills training once a week at Tilburg University. In addition to this, company visits will be organized in the Extended Master's Program network.
  • If both you and the company are happy with the results, you are welcome to extend the traineeship by writing your Master's thesis at the company. Your research topic then needs to be approved by the Tilburg University thesis coordinator.
  • There are no administrative or participation fees for taking part in the Extended Master's Program. You will pay the regular tuition fees for the extra six months the Extended Master's Program takes.

Application and admission

You can apply for the Extended Master's Program once you've started the regular Master's program.

More on the Extended Master's Program

QTEM program: study abroad and traineeship (+1 year)

This Master's program is a proud partner of the prestigious Quantitative Techniques for Economics and Management (QTEM) network.

  • Excellent and ambitious students have the opportunity to extend their one-year Master's program with an additional year.
  • In this additional year, they can spend up to two semesters at different QTEM partner universities, and do an internship abroad at one of the corporate partners. Corporate partners include McKinsey, Bain, Deloitte, and ABInBev.
  • Successful QTEM students are awarded the QTEM Network Certificate.

Application and admission

You can apply for the QTEM program once you've started with the regular Master's program.

More information about the QTEM program

Entrepreneurial Literacy Initiative: online extracurricular program

Entrepreneurial Literacy Initiative (ELI) is an online extracurricular program that provides Master's students with tools to reflect and plan for an entrepreneurial career. Overall, ELI can be a very useful experience if you have entrepreneurship on your mind. —either right after graduation or later in your career! If you are unsure whether entrepreneurship fits you and your goals, ELI will help you find out.

Application and admission

All students enrolled in a Master's program at TiSEM are invited to apply.

More information about the Entrepreneurial Literacy Initiative

Short overview of Business Analytics and Operations Research

Combine the fields of business, mathematics and statistics to solve management problems in production systems, supply chains, and IT.

  • Learn how to apply descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics to generate valuable insight which supports and improves business decision making.
  • Applications include vehicle routing, supply chain optimization, inventory management, donor kidney allocation, optimizing tumor treatment plans, dike height optimization and train scheduling.
  • Real business cases provided by (multinational) companies to discuss new trends in Business Analytics and Operations Research with both academics and practitioners. 
  • Develop skills to successfully apply theory to practice, and to communicate efficiently with decision makers.
  • Small class sizes with approachable and supportive professors.

Interested in the MSc Business Analytics and Operations Research?

Check your eligibility and the deadlines for application