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Business Intelligence Master’s Degrees

Broadly speaking, business intelligence (BI) is the extraction of insights from raw data to aid in business decision making. BI has traditionally involved cataloging and examining data from past actions, and developing a consistent set of metrics to both measure past performance and guide business planning.

Today, business intelligence analysts leverage a variety of technologies, processes, and software to identify, extract, combine, and analyze the abundance of data that is produced by—and can inform—day-to-day business. Functions of BI technologies may include development of dashboards, online analytical processing, data mining, querying, complex event processing, business performance management, benchmarking, predictive analytics, prescriptive analytics, and reporting.

A degree in business intelligence will help you with the technological and decision-science knowhow to improve business decision making.

Business Intelligence versus Business Analytics

The distinction between business intelligence (BI) and business analytics (BA) is neither clear cut nor agreed upon. The fields of study are related enough that some programs combine the two, offering degrees or concentrations in “Business Intelligence and Analytics.”

Still, it’s helpful to have some idea of the difference. BI looks to the past, basing business strategies on insights gleaned from historical data. BI answers questions such as “what happened,” “how many,” and “how often.”

BA, in contrast, uses modeling techniques to predict future events, tackling questions such as “why is this happening,” “what if these trends continue,” “what will happen next,” and “what is the best that can happen.”

Courses

BI (and BI/BA) programs typically require students to complete a handful of core courses and then fill out their schedule with electives. Common courses include:

  • Data Mining
  • Data Warehouse Design and Implementation
  • Decision Support Systems
  • Database Tools
  • Balanced Scorecards and Performance Dashboards
  • Predictive Analytics
  • Data Pre-Processing and Exploration

Many BI programs require applicants to have a bachelor’s degree in science, mathematics, computer science, engineering, or a related field.

New Developments

The increasing demand for self-service data visualization and business discovery tools reflects the influx of data-savvy knowledge workers equipped to dig into the data themselves rather than enlisting an IT intermediary. Bypassing the IT department may save time, but it also means that analysis becomes less centralized. As the popularity of self-service BI tools grows, industry leaders are likely asking: Does the analytics empowerment and reduced time-to-answer afforded by these tools come at the expense of cost control and data quality management? Is the trade-off worth it?

For more on Business Intelligence trends, see Tableau Software’s list.

School Listings

We found 16 universities in our directory offering Business Intelligence programs.

If you represent a university and would like to contact us about editing any of our listings, or adding new programs, please send an email to info@mastersindatascience.org.

Browse schools by state

New York | Florida | International | Minnesota | Missouri | Nebraska | New Jersey | Pennsylvania

New York

Florida

Full Sail University

Master of Science in Business Intelligence

Full Sail University offers a completely online Master of Science in Business Intelligence that students can complete in one year by taking one course each month. Courses cover topics such as data management, business intelligence technology and analytics, data mining, process modeling, and data visualization. Applicants to the program must have maintained at least a 2.5.

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International

Maastricht university

Masters in Information Management & Business Intelligence

Enrollment Type

Full-Time

Length of Program

1 year

Credits

N/A

Admission Requirements

  • Bachelor's Degree
  • Formal transcript
  • Resume
  • List your education, relevant extracurricular activities, internships and (professional) experience.
  • Letter of motivation
  • Upload proof of all relevant statistics courses that you followed during your bachelor’s programme.
  • GMAT or GRE scores score

Minnesota

Saint Mary's University of Minnesota

Masters in Business Intelligence and Data Analytics

St. Mary's University of Minnesota has a Master of Science in Business Intelligence and Data Analytics The courses in this program are application based, and students learn R or Python, with the option to learn both. The curriculum requires 36 credits, including a capstone project. Applicants must have a bachelor's degree with a GPA of 2.75 or higher. Applicants must submit official transcripts, a personal statement, resume, and two references.

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Missouri

Grantham University

Master of Science in Business Intelligence

Grantham University offers a completely online Master of Science in Business Intelligence. To earn the degree, students must complete a capstone project in business intelligence where they apply their knowledge to a real-world issue. Applicants must have earned a bachelor's degree from an accredited college, preferably in a computer science or business field. Statistics, programming, and calculus coursework is recommended.

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Nebraska

Creighton University

Master of Science in Business Intelligence and Analytics

Students can earn a Master of Science in Business Intelligence and Analytics from Creighton University's Heider College of Business. The curriculum requires 33 credits. On-campus students take 12 credits in core courses and 21 credits in electives.Applicants must have a bachelor's degree and must have completed an undergraduate statistics course and must be proficient in computer programming. GMAT scores are required.

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New Jersey

Stevens Institute of Technology

Master of Science in Business Intelligence and Analytics

Stevens Institute of Technology has a program leading to a Master of Science in Business Intelligence and Analytics that also has an optional concentration in Data Science. For their capstone, students must complete a practicum under the direction of an industry mentor. Applicants must have a bachelor's degree in a STEM discipline with a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Prerequisites include a year of calculus and a basic course in probability. Applicants must submit GRE or GMAT scores. The college prefers applicants with at least one year of work experience.

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Pennsylvania

St. Joseph's University

Master of Science in Business Intelligence and Analytics

St. Joseph's University offers an entirely online program leading to a Master of Science in Business Intelligence and Analytics (MSBIA). Graduates of the program also receive a Business Intelligence Certificate from SAS Inc. The 30-credit program includes classes in database management, enterprise data, business process modeling and analysis, data mining, and predictive analytics.

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Information last updated: July 2026