New NHH master’s - available to all students

It has long been talked about in the halls of NHH that a new master’s program building on BEDS program has been in the works, but the details have been unknown.

Yesterday however, more details about the program, named Masters in Business and Data Science (MBDS), have emerged from NHH, on their website and in an information release sent to students.

As expected

Starting in autumn 2027, the program will run in English and the courses follow the program name. In contrast to the BEDS degree, courses in fields like economics and strategy have been cut. When asked, Steffen Juranek, the vice rector for academic affairs at NHH, says this is being done to specialise the degree sufficiently. 

Over the first year, students will spend their time between the fields of business and data science, spending 30 ECTS on each subject. Business courses include accounting, finance, and marketing. On the data side, students will take courses in econometrics, technological responsibility, and deep learning and AI. There will also be a 30ECTS masters thesis. 

“We have concluded on the overarching goals for the program, but the courses themselves need to be fleshed out”, Jørgen Haug, the new program director says.

Going for prestige?

According to NHH’s own website, students will be prepared for "prestigious entry-level positions in management consulting, finance and industry”. As well as specialist roles in data science and analysis. 

These descriptions differ from those given to MØA, even the one given to the BAN-specialisation. In fact, the program is an entirely new offering, with different descriptions, rather than a new specialisation within MØA. 

Haug adds that the level of ambition at BEDS should be retained in the new master’s, although BEDS hopefully keeps a brand of its own.

New turns to the case

A perhaps more surprising detail is that MBDS will not be exclusive to BEDS students. It will be possible for students coming from the Norwegian BØA-program to apply for the new master’s. This is despite the new program being “specially designed for BEDS students”, according to information sent out. This development has not been announced publicly before. 

BØA students will still need to have taken the courses FOR14 and MAT10. Courses in Python and linear algebra respectively. New students from BØA will also be offered a summer course that will be required to enter MBDS.  

However, Juranek is not worried about the BØA students not sufficing in the new program.

“There may be some areas where the BEDS students have a stronger background but that may be true the other way as well. The important part is that everyone fulfils the requirements to succeed in the program.”

Juranek does not imagine that BØA-quotas will be needed in the degree. This is given the current number of qualified students, and the popularity of current master’s programs like BAN.

MBDS will also continue the BEDS tradition of international focus, with an aim to recruit from outside NHH and Norway. The details of this are not yet clear, but Juranek emphasises that marketing is just around the corner.

Bigger changes coming

To some, it may seem that MBDS overlaps with existing programs like BAN or ECON. While that may be the case, MBDS represents bigger changes coming to the graduate-level offerings at NHH.

The degree portfolio should therefore be seen in a bigger context, according to Juranek. This context include the fact that fundamental changes to MØA are on the way. This is a process of several years, and things are not yet set in stone.