Business Decision-Making

The ability to think critically and strategically has never been more important to organizations. Successful professionals need a strong analytical foundation in order to develop innovative solutions to today’s complex problems.

KU’s Business Decision-Making Graduate Certificate is designed to provide advanced knowledge of the tools and methods that help professionals make effective and informed decisions. 

This program is built to be accessible to all graduate students, including those without a bachelor’s degree in business or extensive professional experience. The certificate’s curriculum provides a substitute course that introduces students to accounting, finance and economics – no additional credits required. 

The certificate is a 12-credit program for students who want to enhance their analytical skills without a full commitment to an MBA program. However, the courses explore MBA-level concepts, and these credits can be used toward the full 30-credit Master of Business Administration if you choose to continue your studies. 

What You’ll Learn

The Business Decision-Making Certificate requires only four graduate-level courses that can be completed in as little as 9 months.

• Data-Driven Decision-Making (DSC 510) – This 15-week course will explore decision-making frameworks, then guide students as they select and implement appropriate frameworks and statistical techniques to solve common business problems in financial management, marketing or human resources.
• Managing the Value Chain (DSC 530) – This 7.5-week course examines the end-to-end process of producing products and services. Students will learn how departments like accounting, marketing and operations work collaboratively to create a value chain.
• Strategic Decision-Making (DSC 540) – This 15-week course explores the strategic issues that high-level business professionals often encounter. Students will learn how to use various analytic approaches to make thoughtful and effective decisions.
• One of the following:
  • Introduction to Quantitative Decision-Making in Business (BUS 501) – This 7.5-week course is for students whose undergraduate degree is not in business, or who do not have equivalent professional knowledge. It will introduce financial and economic concepts that underlie many business decisions, in order to prepare students for more advanced concepts in the other three required courses.
  • Business Intelligence Analytics and Data Visualization (DSC 520) – This 7.5-week course is built for students who hold a bachelor’s degree in business. Students will use business intelligence tools and data visualization techniques to better understand data and to communicate data-driving insights.

Admissions Requirements for the Business Decision-Making Certificate

There are no prerequisite courses required to be considered for admission to the certificate program. Students with a bachelor’s degree in any discipline are encouraged to apply.

• Completed application
• Current resume
• Official transcripts verifying completion of a bachelor’s degree, as well as official transcripts from all universities and colleges attended, whether or not a degree was earned
• A bachelor’s degree in business or equivalent knowledge of basic financial accounting, financial management and microeconomics. Students without this background will be referred to take Introduction to Quantitative Decision-Making in Business or advised on other options for meeting the requirement.

On Your Way to an MBA

Students who are enrolled in one of our certificate programs can apply for the MBA program at any time.

If a student has successfully completed this graduate certificate with an overall GPA of 3.2 or higher, the student can be directly admitted to the MBA program, subject to a grade review.