AI and Business Analytics MS Online

It's a business master's degree offered through the Charlton College of Business. You'll learn how to use data, analytics, and AI tools to make smarter business decisions in areas like marketing, finance, operations, supply chain, and healthcare management — and how to help organizations adopt AI successfully. Most businesses know AI matters but are still figuring out where to start. This program prepares you to be the person who can identify the right opportunities, evaluate the tools, manage the risks, and lead the change. The emphasis is on applying AI to real business problems, not on building AI systems.

No. This is a business degree. You'll gain hands-on skills with analytics and AI tools, but the coursework is grounded in business strategy, management, and decision-making. If you want to use AI and data to lead in a business setting — and help your organization put AI to work — this program is designed for you.

Yes. The program is designed for working professionals. Many students apply what they learn immediately — leading an AI pilot, improving a reporting process, or advising leadership on AI strategy at their current job.

No. We welcome applicants from all academic and professional backgrounds. Many students come from fields like marketing, healthcare, education, the social sciences, and the humanities. Also, many engineering and computer science professionals are looking to add business analytics to their portfolio.

Yes! All online programs from Charlton offer the flexibility to take courses online or on campus, with the same faculty and curriculum in both formats. That said - there is no requirement to be on campus for the online program.

Online learning at UMassD is designed to keep you connected. Through virtual discussions, group work, email, and other course interactions, you’ll have opportunities to engage with Charlton faculty and collaborate with classmates. You’ll get the flexibility of online learning while staying connected to a supportive academic community.

You'll get hands-on with the same AI tools businesses are adopting right now — without needing a programming background.

• Large language models and AI assistants. You'll work directly with current LLM platforms throughout the program, including in a dedicated course on AI agentic systems where you'll build working AI agents and multi-agent applications, such as an automated reporting engine, using frameworks like LangGraph, CrewAI, and AutoGen.
• Python in JupyterLab. In AI Foundations for Business, you'll run instructor-provided Python code in a Jupyter environment to see how machine learning and AI models behave, how predictions are generated, and how performance is evaluated. You won't be asked to write or modify code; the goal is understanding how the models work so you can judge when and how to use them.
• Real enterprise systems. You'll get hands-on experience with cloud-based and AI-enabled enterprise systems — the platforms organizations use to run their operations — so you can manage them, not just read about them.
• Business analytics and intelligence tools for operations, supply chain, and decision-making.

Strong. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment for analytics roles such as operations research analysts and management analysts to grow much faster than the average for all occupations over the next decade, with median pay for both well above the national median (roughly $89,000 and $102,000 as of 2025). Behind those numbers is a bigger shift: the large majority of employers expect AI to transform their business, and AI and data skills consistently rank among the fastest-growing skills they're hiring for. Organizations need people who can turn that technology into business results — and that's what this program prepares you to do.