Prospectus

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ICT in Business and the Public Sector

Master

The MSc ICT in Business and the Public Sector is offered by the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS) as a two-year research master on the management and application of ICT in an organizational context.

Over the last years, rapid changes in information and communication technology (ICT) have created major challenges and opportunities for all kinds of organisations, industries, and individuals. To thrive in our modern information society, businesses and governmental organisations alike must combine a solid grasp of the evolving technological possibilities with a deep understanding of how to effectively and responsibly apply these in an organisational context.

The programme is 120 EC in extent and consists of several course-work modules for a total of 82 EC, and a master’s thesis research project of 38 EC. The research project should be supervised by at least one LIACS scientific staff member and can be an in-company project. The course-work modules cover methodological issues, foundational and advanced business related topics, and foundational and advanced ICT related topics. Elective courses on ICT, business and governmental topics allow students to individualise their programme and accommodate their specific interests. In addition, there are possibilities to customise the programme through international exchange programmes.

The curriculum depends on the student’s background. Students with a business background follow the foundation courses on ICT (15 ECTS total). Students with an ICT background follow the foundation courses on Business (15 ECTS total). Students with a Bachelor degree ‘Informatica & Economie’ from Leiden University are exempted from the courses in the foundation modules. These students follow additional electives instead for 15 ECTS. Students who choose for the specialisation ICT in Business need to take all courses from the Module specialisation ICT in Business (24 ECTS in total), whereas students who choose for the specialisation ICT in the Public Sector take all courses from the Module specialisation ICT in the Public Sector (24 ECTS in total).

For post experience see under tab files. Students that started the post experience track before September 2017 will be enabled to finish their studies.

First year

The curriculum depends on the student’s background. Students with a business background follow the foundation courses on ICT (15 ECTS total). Students with an ICT background follow the foundation courses on Business (15 ECTS total). Students with a Bachelor degree ‘Informatica & Economie’ from Leiden University are exempted from the courses in the foundation modules. These students follow additional electives instead for 15 ECTS. Students who choose for the specialisation ICT in Business need to take all courses from the Module specialisation ICT in Business (24 ECTS in total), whereas students who choose for the specialisation ICT in the Public Sector take all courses from the Module specialisation ICT in the Public Sector (24 ECTS in total).

Students who have started the programme before September 2020 need to complete all main courses except for Capstone Cases (only if they have chosen for the specialization ICT in the Public Sector), System Development, and Advances in Data Mining, Marketing, Accounting, Business Intelligence, Process Modelling, and Foundations of Software Testing. Students who have chosen before 1 September 2020 for the specialisation ICT in Business need to take all courses from the Module specialisation ICT in Business except for Systems Optimisation. If completed before 1 September 2020, the courses Corporate Decision Making, and Corporate Entrepreneurship will be considered as electives of the Module specialisation ICT in Business. Students who have chosen before 1 September 2020 for the specialisation ICT in the Public Sector need to take all courses from the Module specialisation ICT in the Public Sector. Eventual extra courses needed to reach a total of 120 EC need to be discussed with the programme coordinator and may need the approval of the Board of Examiners if the selection include courses not in this programme.

Course EC Semester 1 Semester 2

Main courses
Global Business Game - CIO Simulation 1
ICT Enabled Process Innovation 3
Leading and Managing People 5
Systems Development (ICTiB&PS) 3
Software Development and Product Management 6
Research Methods 5
ICT Architectures 6

Foundation Module Business
Accounting 3
Strategy 5
Technology and Operations Management 4
Marketing 3

Foundation Module ICT
Cyber Security 3
Foundations of Software Testing 6
Business Intelligence 3
Process Modelling 3

Module specialization ICT in Business
Systems Optimisation 3
Financial Management 3
Entrepreneurship 3
Managing the Digital Business 3
Managing Innovation 3

Module specialization ICT in the Public Sector
Working for the Government as ICT Expert 6
Role of IT in Public Administration 6

Electives
Marketing Analytics 3
Managing Software Evolution 3
Digital Transformations 5
Data Science in Practice 6
Introduction to Machine Learning 6
Information Retrieval and Text Analytics - CANCELLED 6

Second year

The curriculum depends on the student’s background. Students with a business background follow the foundation courses on ICT (15 ECTS total). Students with an ICT background follow the foundation courses on Business (15 ECTS total). Students with a Bachelor degree ‘Informatica & Economie’ from Leiden University are exempted from the courses in the foundation modules. These students follow additional electives instead for 15 ECTS. Students who choose for the specialisation ICT in Business need to take all courses from the Module specialisation ICT in Business (24 ECTS in total), whereas students who choose for the specialisation ICT in the Publiuc Sector take all courses from the Module specialisation ICT in the Public Sector (24 ECTS in total).

Students who have started the programme before September 2020 need to complete all main courses except for Capstone Cases (only if they have chosen for the specialization ICT in the Public Sector), System Development, and Advances in Data Mining, Marketing, Accounting, Business Intelligence, Process Modelling, and Foundations of Software Testing. Students who have chosen before 1 September 2020 for the specialisation ICT in Business need to take all courses from the Module specialisation ICT in Business except for Systems Optimisation. If completed before 1 September 2020, the courses Corporate Decision Making, and Corporate Entrepreneurship will be considered as electives of the Module specialisation ICT in Business. Students who have chosen before 1 September 2020 for the specialisation ICT in the Public Sector need to take all courses from the Module specialisation ICT in the Public Sector. Eventual extra courses needed to reach a total of 120 EC need to be discussed with the programme coordinator and may need the approval of the Board of Examiners if the selection include courses not in this programme.

Course EC Semester 1 Semester 2

Main courses
Capstone Cases 4
Applied Research Methodology 4
MSc Research Project 38
Advances in Data Mining 6

Module specialisation ICT in the Public Sector
Digital Government-Citizen Interaction 3
Data-driven Policy Making 3

Electives
Lean Six Sigma 3
Management Science 3
Marketing Analytics 3
Regulatory Governance and Data Science 6

Career Perspective

The career perspective for ICT in Business and the Public Sector is very good. Most students find a job within 3 months after graduation.

Students benefit from the department’s strong links to industry. There are good in-company research thesis internships, often followed by excellent career opportunities.

With a master’s degree in ICT in Business, job opportunities are excellent and diverse, ranging from consultancy to IT management and from entrepreneurship to PhD research.