Business Analytics MSc



Equip yourself with the knowledge, skills, and experience needed to become a business-ready analytics professional

Overview

Are you ready to become a business-ready analytics professional?

Our MSc Business Analytics program equips you with the knowledge, skills, and hands-on experience you need. This course focuses on the practical application of analytical techniques in business settings, making it ideal for those who want to excel in business intelligence, business insight, business analysis, management consultancy, or simply wish to make better use of data and make more accurate decisions in their current field.

Imagine gaining hands-on experience and the practical skills needed to stand out in the competitive business world. Our curriculum aligns with the Certified Analytics Professional (CAP) qualification, potentially shortening your path to CAP certification.

Take the next step in your career and become an expert in transforming data into actionable insights.

Unfortunately, we are no longer accepting applications from international applicants for this programme for September 2025.
 
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Mode of Study:

Full-time

Duration:

1 years

Course details

In today's data-driven world, businesses are eagerly looking for individuals with the expertise to extract meaningful insights from the volumes of data now available to them. Our MSc Business Analytics program equips you with the knowledge, skills, and hands-on experience you need to become a business-ready analytics professional.

You'll gain the knowledge and practical experience to effectively utilise descriptive, prescriptive, and predictive analytics to make sound business decisions and drive success within any organisation.

A key design thread linking the program's modules is the development of performative competency. Together, the modules you study will develop your ability as a  'business-ready' analytics professional who can choose the best techniques to address different business problems, formulate models with software and programming tools, and interpret and then persuasively communicate findings to both a technical or lay audience.

Lead academics

Professor Maxwell Chipulu

Associate Professor Sujoy Bhattacharya

Compulsory Modules

Analytics Final Project

Data Analytics

Decision-making with analytics

Final project Development

Machine Learning, AI and Ethics

Predictive Analytics

Prescriptive Analytics

Optional Module

Business Analytics and Change OR Digital Analytics Strategy

How will my degree reflect sustainability and sustainable development?

The Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME) – established under the UN Global Compact – places a clear onus on Higher Education to ‘transform management education and develop the responsible decision-makers of tomorrow to advance sustainable development’. The Business School is a PRME signatory, and we seek to influence professional practice and policy nationally and internationally, helping to drive key societal, economic and environmental impacts.

Our mission is ‘to empower communities to apply business knowledge for positive societal impact’ and we work constantly to embed practical actions into our curriculum, to promote sustainability and relate these to the key ideas of sustainability, as reflected in the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes now reflect one or more of the SDG, and our research is targeted to solve real world problems, mapped against the criteria used in the Times Higher Education’s Impact Ranking.

The most recent annual league table for Sustainability - compiled by People & Planet, the UK’s largest student campaigning network - again places Edinburgh Napier in a top 3 position among Scotland’s 19 universities. This reflects their assessment of our performance across a range of environmental and ethical considerations, which include carbon reduction and management, and education.

What is distinct about equality, diversity and inclusion?

Edinburgh Napier University is enriched by the diversity of perspectives, cultures and backgrounds brought by all within our global community. We are committed to a positive environment where diversity and inclusiveness is celebrated and everyone is treated fairly regardless of sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, disability, age, ethnic origin, religion or belief, marital or civil partnership status or whether pregnant or on maternity leave. We commit ourselves to providing a learning, working and social environment that is free from discrimination, prejudice, intimidation, stigmatisation and all forms of harassment and bullying.

The Business School's vision: 'To be the Business School for empowerment, enterprise and employability for all'.

Our mission statement: 'Empowering our communities to apply business knowledge for positive societal impact'.

 

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    How you’ll be taught

    The course will utilise a range of teaching and learning methods to ensure that students achieve the learning outcomes.

    Learning activities will include:


    - Lectures, tutorials and seminars;

    - Individual Modelling Assignments;

    - Computer Labs;

    - Class debates and discussions;

    - Private Study;

    - Internet and digital research;

    - Problem-based learning involving ‘real world’ organisations; and

    - Simulations.

    Class activities and problem-solving exercises will enable you to gain feedback about your knowledge and understanding, before any formal summative assessments. 
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    Assessments

    A range of assessment methods are used in this program to enable you to demonstrate your achievement of the intended learning outcomes, including: - Individual computer modelling tasks where you submit a model;


    - Individual written assessments, including layperson, executive summaries, technical analysis reports and model documentation;

    - Poster displays and presentations;

    - Capstone projects involving ‘real world’ organisations;

    - Business simulations;

    - Reflective reports.

    To enable you to customise your program to your learning styles and interests, both the learning methods and assessments will allow you as much flexibility as is feasible. For example, you may choose the topic, materials, databases, analytic techniques, group members, etc. for an assignment. Similarly, teaching and learning topics will be related to the latest business practices from diverse industries, allowing you the chance to learn from the examples most suit your interests.

    We recognise that not all students may undertake learning and assessment as specified. Therefore, to ensure that the course is inclusive of and considerate of diverse needs, we will make alternative, individualised, arrangements if you are not able to complete learning and teaching sessions or assessments in the specified manner.
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    Work placement

     There is no work placement on this course but learning activities will involve working with real organisations to enable you to see how business analytics operates in a commercial context, while providing the opportunity to practice workplace-relevant skills.
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    Facilities

     You will study at our Craiglockhart campus

Entry requirements

What are the entry requirements for Business Analytics?

The entry requirement for this course is a Bachelor (Honours) Degree at 2:2 or above in a degree with significant quantitative component. Suitable fields include: Statistics, Psychology, Maths, Physical and Biological Sciences, Business Management, Economics, Finance, Engineering, Computer Science.

We may also consider lesser qualifications if you have sufficient professional work experience within the industry.

Can I get admission into Business Analytics based on my working experience in this sector?

This course has academic entry requirements which are assessed alongside relevant work experience. Full details of any relevant work experience, including references should be submitted with your application and may be considered for entry where the minimum academic entry requirements are below those required.

Usually, unrelated work experience is not considered sufficient for entry without meeting the minimum academic entry requirements. Please contact us with your specific circumstances by submitting an enquiry form above and we will be happy to discuss your options.

Can I make an appointment with an advisor to discuss further about the admission process?

If you want to get more information on the admission process, please get in touch with the postgraduate admissions team by submitting an enquiry form above.

If your first language isn't English, you'll normally need to undertake an approved English language test and our minimum English language requirements will apply.

This may not apply if you have completed all your school qualifications in English, or your undergraduate degree was taught and examined in English (within two years of starting your postgraduate course). Check our country pages to find out if this applies to you.

We welcome applications from students studying a wide range of international qualifications.
Entry requirements by country

Please note that international students are unable to enrol onto the following courses:
  • BM Midwifery/MM Midwifery
  • MSc Nursing courses
  • All Graduate Apprenticeship courses

See who can apply for more information on Graduate Apprenticeship courses.

We’re committed to admitting students who have the potential to succeed and benefit from our programmes of study. 

Our admissions policies will help you understand our admissions procedures, and how we use the information you provide us in your application to inform the decisions we make.

Undergraduate admissions policies
Postgraduate admissions policies

Fees & funding

The course fees you'll pay and the funding available to you will depend on a number of factors including your nationality, location, personal circumstances and the course you are studying. We also have a number of bursaries and scholarships available to our students.

Tuition fees
Students from 2025/26 2026/27
Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Republic of Ireland £9,160 £tba
Overseas and EU £19,750 £tba
Tuition fees are subject to an annual review and may increase from one year to the next. For more information on this and other tuition fee matters, please see our Fees and Funding links above.
The University offers a 20% discount on Postgraduate Taught Masters programmes to its alumni. The discount applies to all full-time, part-time and online programmes. The discount can only be applied to year one of a full-time Postgraduate degree, any additional years are exempt from the discount. For part time Postgraduate degrees the discount will apply to years one, two and three only and any additional years will be exempt from the discount. Please read our full T&C here
Please note that the tuition fees liable to be paid by EU nationals commencing their studies from 1 August 2021 will be the Overseas fee rate. The University offers a range of attractive Tuition Fee bursaries to students resident in specific countries. More information on these can be found here.


Careers

What can you do with a postgraduate degree in Business Analytics?

As the influence of data analysis methodology grows, and the volume of data collected increases rapidly, the number and variety of roles in data science are also growing significantly. The purpose of our MSc Business Analytics degree is to develop industry-ready analytics professionals who have knowledge and skills in the techniques that are integral to developing and implementing the analytics function of organisations, making graduates attractive to employers. In the Scottish Employer Skills Survey (Scottish Government, 2021) complex analytical skills accounted for 44% of skill-shortage vacancies.

Graduates will have gained useful and practical business skills and descriptive, prescriptive and predictive analytics knowledge. This will enable them to significantly contribute to the performance of any organisation and to deliver important information for key business decisions and business development within the global business environment. Additionally, the program will develop software and modelling skills for implementing analytics projects, including the use of tools that are widely used in the analytics industry such as Python, R, Excel-based modelling, and Simul8.

What does a Business Intelligence Analyst do?

A Business Intelligence Analyst professional plays a vital role in supporting businesses to make date-driven decisions. They collect, analyse and interpret large volumes of data to transform numbers into actionable insights that inform business decisions. Working in this role will mean you have excellent problem-solving skills, digital abilities and great communication.

Daily tasks and responsibilities in this role may include:

  • Data collection and integration

  • Data analysis

  • Identifying trends and opportunities

  • Business development and optimisation

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