Master of Science in Management and Informatics

Structure and contents

The Master of Science in Management & Informatics has been designed to provide graduates from a wide variety of backgrounds (informatics, economics, mathematics, business, engineering, etc.) with the necessary tools and skills for understanding complex information technology (IT) problems while, at the same time, knowing about the needs and requirements of a modern organization. The shortage of professionals who can interface these two sides is apparent in many companies and leads to extra costs, development of less efficient systems, and general misunderstandings between the technical and organizational parts of a company. The purpose of the degree is to offer a solution to this problem, and to educate professionals who can take responsibility for the interface between these two sides of an organization.

This Master offers a balanced combination of courses that cover the necessary background in management as well as the fundamental aspects of current and evolving information technologies. Moreover, the programme provides students with a specialized knowledge in topics at the interface between management and informatics such as enterprise resource planning. Since English is the unique teaching language, graduates are well-prepared to work in international companies. Moreover, the interdisciplinary approach of this Master provides a general skill to work across traditional areas.

Teaching

Top-level faculty of international renown teach innovative courses, with a strong multi-disciplinary orientation and in collaboration with prestigious institutions at local and international level. Professors are pursuing research on a variety of topics and are active participants in Swiss and international research projects and networks. Visiting professors from renowned universities complement the top-quality teaching.

Teaching methods at both the Faculty of Informatics and the Faculty of Economics stress an interactive approach or dialogue with the students. Further, as most tasks in organisations become increasingly interdisciplinary it is also important to be able to work across traditional areas, which is a skill that is actively encouraged within the programme. This is reflected in the variety of different teaching methods used including lectures, case studies, group work, games and fieldwork.

The Faculty and the students are an international group, with education and work experience from across the world. This increases learning and cultural exchanges, as students learn to work effectively with people from different cultures.

International Rankings

USI in the Times Higher Education (THE) and Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings (QS), which are amongst the world's most popular and well-known global rankings - latest available data:

• QS World University Rankings 2023
  240th globally
  (out of 1500 universities considered)
  
• THE World University Rankings 2023
  Range 201-250
  (out of 1799 universities considered)
  
• THE World's Best Small Universities 2022
  15th worldwide
  among small universities.
  
• THE Young University Rankings 2022
  57th worldwide
  among ‘young’ universities (less than 50 years old)
  
• QS Top 50 Under 50 2021
  26th worldwide
  among ‘young’ universities (less than 50 years old)

U-Multirank 2022

With 16 "A" in the indicators taken into consideration, USI ranks 3rd in the ranking of Swiss universities (Country Report Switzerland).

Rankings by Subject Area

In addition to the global university rankings, USI has made significant progress in subject area rankings:

• THE Subject Rankings
  with important results in particular in Computer Science, Clinical and Health, Economics.
• Forschungsmonitoring
  with high scores in the rankings that measure the impact of research in Economics, especially when referring to the most prestigious academic journals of the field.

Master of Science in Management and Informatics

Career Prospects

On the one hand, graduates from this Master will have sufficient knowledge in informatics to be able to interact with the IT department of an organization. This includes a profound understanding of the technical issues involved, the evaluation of technical proposals, and the ability to articulate possible solutions to the organization or customer. On the other hand, they also understand the tactical and strategic use of IT to enhance the efficiency of an organization and know how to explain the requirement of the users in terms that can be understood by the IT department or client.

The primary labour market for the graduates of the programme is found in medium to large companies as well as the public sector, both in Switzerland and abroad. Most companies struggle with integrating IT in the organization and there is a great need for people who can be the interface between the technical and organizational parts of a company. Potential job profiles range from project management to consulting and include areas such as evaluating the benefit and managing the introduction of a new technology into an organization, designing and implementing small and large scale IT systems, and consulting companies and customers regarding the requirements and the limitations of IT systems.

Employability Data

• Employed 100%
• Average Time to Job 2.2 months
  (56% within 3 months: 39% before graduation)