EFMD Global Focus_Iss.1 Vol.15 www.globalfocusmagazine.com
The QTEM Global Business Analytics Challenge (GBAC) and Why it Matters Online learning has taken on an entirely new dimension during the COVID-19 crisis. The enormity of the situation has forced us to innovate, change and adopt new technologies and ways of working at an exceptionally accelerated rate. By Anne Vaxelaire
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ith students spread all over the world, QTEM (Quantitative Techniques for Economics and Management), a global master’s network founded in 2012, actually incorporated remote learning from the outset, and at a more measured pace, when designing its cornerstone project: the Global Business Analytics Challenge (GBAC). The project gave QTEM the opportunity to carefully analyse the advantages and constraints of distance learning and, ultimately, to create and offer an exclusive remote learning experience to students. Comprising 23 universities, QTEM selects the best students from each partner institution to improve both hard skills, such as data science, and soft skills, such as communication and adaptability, preparing students to use analytics in a business environment. In addition to earning a master’s from their home institution, these outstanding students get international exposure by studying in two foreign countries, on average, and completing a professional, analytics internship. But in addition to the basic programme, QTEM also wanted to ensure students graduate with a standard baseline knowledge of analytic skills, and thus the Global Business Analytics Challenge was born.
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The GBAC consists of two segments taken over the course of the masters. The first is a series of online training sessions with industry and academic experts. Here, students acquire an advanced level of statistical knowledge and data analytical skills applied to business environments, as well as key concepts of online collaboration. This training prepares students for the second segment: the QTEM Data Challenge (QDC). The QDC is a programme that uses real data, often from QTEM Corporate Partners, and requires students to use analytics to find innovative solutions. For the 2020 Millennium Challenge, one corporate Partner, Millennium bcp, organised a Customer Digitalisation Strategy. For this, students received anonymised data sets and were asked to analyse them and recommend creative strategies and solutions. Amélia Goulão, Marketing Analytics Unit Team Leader at Millennium bcp in Portugal who supervised Millennium’s participation and coached QDC teams said, “This was an amazing opportunity for us to gain meaningful insights into our data from the students and to increase visibility in academia. It is a win-win proposition – and it’s a lot of fun!”
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Comprising 23 universities, QTEM selects the best students from each partner institution to improve both hard skills, such as data science, and soft skills, such as communication and adaptability, preparing students to use analytics in a business environment