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ICT in Business and the Public Sector

The MSc programme 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.

The curriculum depends on the student’s background. Students with a business background follow the Foundation courses on ICT (12 EC total). Students with an ICT background follow the foundation courses on Business (12 EC 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 12 EC. Students who choose for the specialisation ICT in Business need to take all courses from the Module specialisation ICT in Business (15 EC 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 (15 EC in total). Students who choose both specialisations have to take all specialisation courses from both specialisations resulting in a total of 144 ECTS.

The master ICT in Business and the Public Sector consists of a full-time, two-year master’s programme (120 EC).

Curriculum

Year 1&2

  1. The required Main Module courses and the Foundation Module Business (12 ec) OR the Foundation Module ICT courses (12 ec).

  2. The required Specialisation courses ICT in Business (15 ec) OR ICT in the Public Sector (15 ec).

  3. Electives (9 ec).

Year 2

The Master’s Thesis Research Project (38 EC) (including Master Class, optional Internship, Written Master's Thesis and Master's Thesis Presentation)

Remarks

  • September starters are advised to take the following mandatory courses in their third semester: Leading and Managing People, Machine Learning for Business Analytics, Applied Research Methodology and their electives.

  • February starters are advised to contact their study advisor in order to balance their studyload in the second, third and fourth semester. February starters are advised to write their thesis in their third semester. They are also advised to take Leading and Managing People, Machine Learning for Business Analytics and Cyber Security Management in their fourth semester.

  • As of 2019-2020, the Post Experience programme (for candidates with working experience) is no longer offered. Current PE students (starting September 2017 and earlier) will be enabled to finish their studies by contacting the study advisor of the program (ictinbusiness@liacs.leidenuniv.nl).

Main Module (120 ec)

All students take the courses in the main module. February starters are advised to take Cyber Security Management, Leading and Managing People and Machine Learning for Business Analytics in their fourth semester. They are also advised to do their internship/thesis writing in their third semester.

September starters are advised to take Leading and Managing People, Applied Research Methodology and Machine Learning for Business Analytics in their third semester.

As of September 1st, 2024, the following course has been renamed: Enterprise Architecture (was ICT Architectures). The previously completed course is considered to be equivalent.

Students that started before September 2023 and already succesfully passed Advances in Data Mining don't need to complete Cyber Security Management and Machine Learning for Business Analytics.

Students that started before September 2023 and already passed Machine Learning for Business Analytics and Cyber Security as a foundation course are advised to take Introduction to Machine Learning or Advances in Data Mining as mandatory courses.

As of September 2023 the following course has been renamed: Cyber Security Management (was Cyber Security). The previously completed course is considered equivalent.

As of September 1st, 2022, the following course has been renamed: Machine Learning for Business Analytics (was Business Intelligence).The previously completed course is considered to be equivalent.

Vak EC Semester 1 Semester 2

Main module

Global Business Game - CIO Simulation 1
Machine Learning for Business Analytics 3
Applied Research Methodology 4
ICT Enabled Process Innovation 3
Leading and Managing People 5
Software Development and Product Management 6
Cyber Security Management 3
Model-Driven Systems Engineering 6
Enterprise Architecture 6
Research Methods 5
Capstone Cases 4
Workshop Cross Cultural Management 0

Module Foundation Business OR Module Foundation ICT (12 ects, see under different tabs)

Module specialisation ICT in Business OR ICT in the Public Sector (15 ects, see under different tabs)

Electives (9 ec, see under different tab)

Master Class 0
MSc Research Project 38

Foundation Module Business (12 ec)

Students with an ICT background follow the foundation courses on Business (12 EC total). Students with a bachelor degree ‘Informatica & Economie’ from Leiden University are exempted from the courses in the foundation modules. These students instead follow additional electives for 12 EC.

As of September 1st, 2024, the course Process Modelling has been removed from the module Foundation ICT and Accounting has been removed from the module Foundation Business, and in the core module, the 3 EC course Systems Development has been replaced by the 6 EC course Model-Driven Systems Engineering. Students that previously completed Process Modelling or Accounting but not Systems Development must now complete Model-Driven Systems Engineering and can reduce their elective space with 3EC.

As of September 1st, 2021, the following courses have been renamed: Strategy and Technology (was Strategy), Marketing Science (was Marketing) and Operations Management (was Technology Operations Management). Previously completed courses are considered equivalent to those renamed in September 2021.

Students that would like to make a combination of the two foundation modules due to their prior education have to contact the programme coordinator in advance.

Vak EC Semester 1 Semester 2

Foundation Module Business

Operations Management 4
Strategy and Technology 5
Marketing Science 3

Foundation Module ICT (12 ec)

Students with a business background follow the foundation courses on ICT (12 EC 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 12 EC.

As of September 1st, 2024, the course Process Modelling has been removed from the module Foundation ICT and Accounting has been removed from the module Foundation Business, and in the core module, the 3 EC course Systems Development has been replaced by the 6 EC course Model-Driven Systems Engineering. Students that previously completed Process Modelling or Accounting but not Systems Development must now complete Model-Driven Systems Engineering and can reduce their elective space with 3EC.

Students that started before September 2023 and succesfully completed Cyber Security and Machine Learning for Business Analytics don't need to take Introduction to Machine Learning.

As of September 1st, 2022, the following course has been renamed: Machine Learning for Business Analytics (was Business Intelligence). Previously completed courses are considered equivalent to those renamed in September 2022.

Students that would like to make a combination of the two foundation modules due to their prior education have to contact the programme coordinator in advance.

Vak EC Semester 1 Semester 2

Foundation Module ICT

Introduction to Machine Learning 6
Foundations of Software Testing 6

Specialisation ICT in Business (15 ec)

Students who choose for the specialisation ICT in Business need to take all courses from the Module specialisation ICT in Business (15 EC 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 (15 EC in total). Students who choose both specialisations have to take all specialisation courses from both specialisations resulting in a total of 144 ECTS.

Students with a bachelor degree ‘Informatica & Economie’ from Leiden University are exempted from the course Strategic Financial Management and follow within this module 3 extra EC as elective courses instead of 9 EC.

As of September 1st, 2021, the following course has been renamed: Strategic Financial Management (was Financial Management). The previously completed course is considered equivalent to those renamed in September 2021.

Students who started before 1 September 2021 and have already successfully completed the previously mandatory courses Managing Innovation or Managing the Digital Business do not need to follow Managing Software Evolution or AI for Strategy.

Vak EC Semester 1 Semester 2

Specialisation ICT in Business

Entrepreneurship 3
Strategic Financial Management 3
AI for Strategy 3
Systems Optimisation 3
Managing Software Evolution 3

Electives (9 ects, see different tab)

Specialisation ICT in the Public Sector (15ec)

Students who choose for the specialisation ICT in Business need to take all courses from the Module specialisation ICT in Business (15 EC 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 (15 EC in total). Students who choose both specialisations have to take all specialisation courses from both specialisations resulting in a total of 144 ECTS.

From September 2022 Data-Driven Policy Making changed to 6 EC instead of 3 in the previous years, and, dually, Working for the Government as ICT Expert changed to 3 EC instead of 6. Students following Public Sector specialisation who successfully completed the 3 EC version of Data-Driven Policy Making before September 2022 will be able to follow the old 6 EC version of Working for the Government as ICT Expert after consulting the program coordinator.

Vak EC Semester 1 Semester 2

Specialisation ICT in the Public Sector

Digital Government-Citizen Interaction 3
Data-driven Policy Making 6
Role of IT in Public Administration 6

Electives (9 ects, see different tab)

Electives

Elective courses on ICT, business and governmental topics allow students to individualise their programme and accommodate their specific interests.

Students that take the ICTiB specialisation are allowed to follow the public sector courses as electives and dually.

Eventual other electives need to be discussed with the study advisor and may need the approval of the Board of Examiners if the selection includes courses not in this programme.

As of September 1st, 2022, the following course has been renamed: Financing Technology Ventures (was Entrepreneurial Finance). The previously completed course is considered to be equivalent.

Vak EC Semester 1 Semester 2

Electives

Management Science 3
Advances in Data Mining 6
Data Science in Practice 6
Regulatory Governance and Data Science 6
System and Software Security 6
Social Network Analysis for Computer Scientists 6
Information Retrieval 6
Reinforcement Learning 6
Financing Technology Ventures 3
Lean Six Sigma 3
Marketing Analytics 3

Career Preparation

Career preparation at Leiden University

In addition to offering you a solid university education, Leiden University aims to prepare you as well as possible for the labour market, and in doing so contribute to the development of your employability. In this way, it will become easier for you to make the transition to the labour market, to remain employable in a dynamic labour market, in a (career) job that suits your own personal values, preferences and development.

'Employability' consists of the following aspects that you will develop within your study programme, among others:
1. Discipline-specific knowledge and skills
Knowledge and skills specific to your study programme.

2. Transferable skills
These are skills that are relevant to every student and that you can use in all kinds of jobs irrespective of your study programme, for example: researching, analysing, project-based working, generating solutions, digital skills, collaborating, oral communication, written communication, presenting, societal awareness, independent learning, resilience.

3. Self-reflection
This concerns self-reflection in the context of your (study) career, including reflecting on the choices you make as a student during your studies, what can you do with your knowledge and skills on the labour market?

In addition, reflecting on your own profile and your personal and professional development. Who are you, what can you do well, what do you find interesting, what suits you, what do you find important, what do you want to do?

4. Practical experience
Gaining practical experience through internships, work placements, projects, practical (social) assignments, which are integrated into an elective, minor or graduation assignment.

5. Labour market orientation
Gaining insight into the labour market, fields of work, jobs and career paths through, for example, guest speakers and alumni experiences from the work field, career events within the study programme, the use of the alumni mentor network, interviewing people from the work field, and shadowing/visiting companies in the context of a particular subject.

Employability in the curriculum of ICT in Business and the Public Sector

General
During the master Computer ICT in Business and the Public Sector (ICTiBPS), we want to provide you with the best possible preparation to enter the job market after graduation.

The master ICTiBPS programme combines industry-based practice with research, which allows training of a broad set of discipline-specific knowledge and skills, but also teaches students to work in a professional environment and fosters the development of an extensive set of transferable skills. This makes its graduates also well-prepared for a career both in industry and in research.

In addition, in the Master Class, which runs over the entire second year of the programme, students are explicitly trained in several aspects of academic skills and are stimulated to make self-directed, conscious choices for their own professional development and preparation for a successful start of their career on the job market.

Activities contributing to employability

First and/or second year

  • All courses (discipline-specific knowledge and skills)

  • Science Skills Platform with a Personal and Professional development domain (transferable skills, self-reflection)

  • Mentorship and tutoring (transferable skills, self-reflection)

  • Lunch & Learn lectures by companies (labour market orientation)

  • Visits to companies and organisations as part of courses (e.g., Capstone Cases; practical experience, labour market orientation)

  • ‘Inhousedays’ at companies via study association De Leidsche Flesch (labour market orientation)

  • Symposia and seminars by study association De Leidsche Flesch (labour market orientation)

  • Workshops and Career Colleges Science Career Service (transferable skills, self-reflection, labour market orientation)

Second year

  • Master’s Thesis Research Project (discipline-specific knowledge and skills, transferable skills, self-reflection, practical experience)

    • Optional: internship (practical experience, labour market orientation)
  • Master Class (transferable skills, self-reflection)

    • Including: career orientation (e.g., guest lectures) (labour market orientation)

Activities to prepare for the labour market co-curricular or outside the curriculum of ICT in Business and the Public Sector

Every year, various activities take place, within, alongside and outside of the ICTiBPS study programme, which contribute to your preparation for the labour market, especially where it concerns orientation towards the work field/the labour market, (career) skills and self-reflection. These may be information meetings on decision moments within your programme, but also career workshops and events organised by the ICTiBPS programme, the faculty Career Service, study association De Leidsche Flesch, or others, including:

  • Alice & Eve

  • Leiden University Study abroad festival

  • Annual Leiden University Diversity Symposium

Career Service, LU Career Zone and career workshops calendar

Faculty Career Service
The Career Service of your faculty offers information and advice on study (re)orientation and master's choice, (study) career planning, orientation on the labour market and job applications.

Leiden University Career Zone Leiden University Career Zone is the website for students and alumni of Leiden University to support their (study) career. You can find advice, information, (career) tests and tools in the area of (study) career planning, career possibilities with your study, job market orientation, job applications, the Alumni Mentor network, job portal, workshops and events and career services.

Workshops and events
On the course calendar you will find an overview of career and application workshops, organised by the Career services.