The skill of the 21st century

Being able to handle data has grown in importance as a skill set in the past years. Leveraging complex data is nowadays sought after in areas such as economics and business, but also sports and healthcare for example.

A 2011 report from McKinsey Global Institute suggested that the U.S. alone will require 140,000 to 190,000 more workers with “deep analytical” skills and 1.5 million more data-literate managers by 2018. This was supported by the 2012 IBM Tech Trends Report where more than half of the surveyed IT and business decision makers claimed that their organizations planned to increase their investment in business analytics.

Business schools as well as the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), which administers the GMAT that most business schools worldwide demand as an entry exam, have adjusted to these new requirements. Since 2010, at least a dozen specialized master’s programmes in business or data analytics have been launched at business schools and many more schools have integrated data analysis throughout their curricula. The GMAT exam also includes a data section called the Integrated Reasoning section since 2012.

GMAC research has shown that these data analysis skills are valued by corporate recruiters and business school alumni alike. Almost all employers surveyed in GMAC’s 2012 Corporate Recruiters Survey said Integrated Reasoning skills are important for their new graduate business hires to have. And the vast majority of business school alumni surveyed in the 2013 Alumni Perspectives Survey said they use Integrated Reasoning skills on the job.

http://newscenter.gmac.com/news-center/big-data-goes-to-b-school