You can't talk the future of business without talking data.
That's the idea behind the new University of Illinois-Deloitte Foundation Center for Business Analytics. The new center, which was announced this week and will be hosted at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, will create data analytics curriculum that can be integrated into undergraduate and MBA education.
The center was made possible by a $5 million gift from Deloitte Foundation, the education-focused nonprofit arm of the tax firm, as well as an undisclosed number of of Deloitte’s retired and current partners, principals, managing directors and employees who have an interest in the university.
“With globalization, outsourcing, cloud-based computing and other technological advancements, a state-of-the-art education is critically important to prepare the business leaders of tomorrow," said Illinois College of Business Dean Jeffrey R. Brown in a release.
“Students with an education in STEM disciplines are widely needed in business to help fuel economic growth, create competitive advantage and drive innovation,” added Ron Sonenthal, chief operating officer of Deloitte Tax LLP and Deloitte’s advisory university partner for the University of Illinois.
This isn't the first time UIUC has put an emphasis on data analytics-- this past spring, the school announced a Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) in data science. The business school was also the first in the country to offer an entirely online MBA.
Jon Davis, head of the accounting department at UIUC's College of Business said the new center will also offer specialized training to faculty, and the data analytics curriculum could also be offered online. They also hope to showcase what they learn to other universities looking to add data to their curriculum.
“The creation of the Center will allow Illinois to create, disseminate and maintain model curricula for faculty that can be made available to other colleges and institutions of higher education,” he said. "Students will benefit because they can participate in national or global case competitions, become involved in organizations that focus on analytics and in the future be eligible for scholarships and degrees in data analytics.”
