Master's programme: Modeling of Big Data in Business and Finance

Form of study: part-time

Duration of study: 2 semesters, admission from winter and summer semesters for economists and non-economists

Director: Prof. Ivan Ivanov, DSc

e-mail: i_ivanov@feb.uni-sofia.bg

Aim of the programme:

To pepare highly educated and skilled specialists with up-to-date knowledge and skills in conducting business analysis on big data, modelling and using technologies for business analysis and solving applied problems with a high degree of effectiveness. The training combines courses for accelerated acquisition of skills in modeling and conducting high-performance analysis of big data in using open source software.

Students gain skills at a sufficiently good level to be able to apply them for high-performance business analyses on observations from different application areas of business, as well as the theoretical knowledge and competencies to carry out independent professional work and teamwork to conduct analytical research on large data sets from different applied areas.

A Mentor Council has been established at the Master's programme in collaboration with leading companies from business. The main objective of the council is to provide modern training that corresponds closely to the needs of the labour market.

Graduates of the programme obtain the qualification of Master in Big Data Modelling in Business and Finance.

Tuition fees in Sofia University for the academic 2024 / 2025 year

Admission requirements: see general requirements.

For admission to the programme, applicants submit a CV and a motivation letter.

Possible implementation for graduates of the programme:

The introduction of a new generation of technologies that enable the collection and storage of large volumes of data has increased demand for professionals with an interdisciplinary mindset has increased significantly, requiring knowledge in several parallel fields. The Master programme offers specific skills for learners and readiness for immediate implementation in highly effective research on big data in various applications of knowledge - business analysis in economics and finance, building numerical methods and artificial intelligence algorithms, marketing analytics, medical analytics. Graduates of the program can pursue careers in various areas of economics, finance, scientific institutions, universities, as specialists conducting effective analysis on big data and using the models of high professional level. In their work they skillfully use open source software as well as closely specialised software from leading companies in the field.

The duration of the training is 1 year (2 semesters). The curriculum contains selected courses, subordinated to the main goal - creating knowledge and skills for big data modeling, methodologies for improving existing models and conducting high-performance big data analysis using open source software. Each course in the curriculum strives, within a small time frame, to offer in-depth knowledge to learners. To develop their skills, students develop course projects in each course. The teaching literature is based on up-to-date textbooks in English and Bulgarian published in the last two to three years, as well as on specialised scientific publications. The titles in the course literature are available to students in electronic format. The software and its documentation are freely available.

Non-economist students must choose two general economics preparatory courses - microeconomics and macroeconomics.

Students may choose to graduate by passing a state examination or developing a Master's thesis in October and March.