9/12/2013
IS Graduate
Program
by Jack Jiang
1
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Programme Structure
 M.

Comp.
Size: 48 (in Information Systems) and 32
(Infocomm Security)
 M.S.

in Business Analytics
Size: 38 (inaugural cohort)
 Ph.D.

in Information Systems
Size: 50 (in progress) and 10 (submitted
theses)
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M. Comp.
 M.
of Comp. in ITPM renamed to IS to
broaden the career scope.
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M.S. in Business Analytics
 Global
trend: big data analysis
 Vision

Be Asia’s Global Business Analytics Program
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Launch of MSBA Programme
Purpose: To educate experts and leaders in
this rapidly growing sector
Partners: IBM and other industry partners
collaborate with NUS
Quality: Two leading faculties of NUS,
School of Computing and NUS Business
School with internationally reputed faculty
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Curriculum

5 Essential Modules







3 Vertical Sector Modules
Capstone Professional Consulting Project


DSC5103 Statistics
BDC5101 Deterministic Operations Research
DSC5101 Analytics in Managerial Economics
IS5152 Decision Making Technologies
BT5110 Data Management and Warehousing
Equivalent to 3 modules
Total number of modules is 11
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3 Vertical Sector Modules

Big-Data Analytics Techniques




Consumer Data Analytics



CS5344 Big Data Analytics Technology
CS5224 Cloud Computing
CS5246 Text Processing on the Web
CS5345 Social and Digital Media Analytics
IS5126 Hands-on with Business Analytics (Consumer)
Finance & Risk Analytics





DSC5211C Quantitative Risk Management
DSC5121 Hands on with Business Analytics (Finance)
FE5208 Term Structure and Interest Rate Derivatives
FE5101/ FE5101D Pricing Derivatives and Fixed Income
FIN4111 Research Methods in Finance
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Duration and graduation
requirement

Programme duration:



Full-time: 12 months
Part-time: 24 months
Graduation requirement

Students must achieve a final CAP of 3.0 (average
grade of B-) to graduate, or their candidature will be
terminated
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Admission requirements

Bachelor degree and work experience:
A Bachelor degree with good honors classification in
computing, engineering, science, mathematics, statistics,
business or economics,
or
 A Bachelor degree in computing, engineering, science,
mathematics, statistics, business or economics, with 2 years of
industry experience


Strong quantitative analytical ability is emphasized



For instance, strong GRE or GMAT quantitative section scores
and/or high mathematics and statistics grades
TOEFL/IELTS for students from non-English undergraduate
institutions
Admission interviews will be conducted for short-listed
candidates
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Ph.D. Programme – Research
Methodologies

Behavioral Methods


Economics


Survey, Case Study, and Experiment
Econometrics/stat., math. modeling, and simulation
Technical/Computer Science

Data mining, software development, and design
science
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Ph.D. Programme Structure
 First


Year
5 compulsory modules
QE: end of the first year (two attempts
allowed)
 Second


year
4 elective modules
Complete Graduate Research Paper by
the third semester
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Ph.D. Programme Structure
 Third

Year
Complete dissertation proposal
 Fourth

and fifth year
Complete dissertation
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First Placement (Academic)




Asia (Particularly China)
 Tsinghua University (China)
 Fudan University (China)
 Nanjing University (China)
 Xi’an Jiaotong University (China)
 Renmin University
 Xiamen University (China)
 Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HK)
 City University of Hong Kong (HK)
 Tokyo Institute of Technology (Japan)
US
 Pennsylvania State University (university park, US)
Europe
 ETH Zurich (Switzerland)
 ESSEC (France)
Australia
 University of New South Wales (Australia)
 University of Sydney (Australia)
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Past Graduate Student Data
 Admitted
120 graduate students since
2003
 Average CAP: 4.2
 Graduated with MSc: 26
 Average length: 5.35 years
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Analysis Based on Students’ Bachelor
University Affiliation (A Ten-Year Review since 2003)
Bachelor University
Total #
CAP
Downgraded
to MSc
Placement (Assistant
Professors in Decent
Universities or above)
(total # graduated with
PhD)
NUS
39
4.32
7
9 (23)
Renmin Univ.
13
4.09
4
1 (4)
Nanjing Univ.
12
3.97
2
2 (4)
South China Uniiv. of
Technology
7
4.11
1
1 (1)
Fudan Univ.
6
4.515
1
1 (3)
Univ. of Moratuwa
Total (including all
universities)
4
4.11
0
120
4.20
26
17 (38)
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Issues to Be Discussed
 When
should students pick advisors?
 QE




Structure of the exam
Reading list
Should be more specific, rather than
something like a research proposal.
Failure rate?
 Length
of IS Ph.D. Programme?
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Issues to Be Discussed
 Job


search
Department level coordination
Publish graduating students’ CVs online
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Issues to Be Discussed

Graduate Outreach



Share contacts
Leverage past graduate resources
Ph.D. Admission Process


Involve all professors who want to supervise Ph.D.
students
Ranking of foreign universities


We have an old ranking list, but many schools do not
belong to the list
How to evaluate academic performance of
applicants.

Different universities may have different grading
criteria
2013 SOC Retreat