Bachelor Minor in Digitalization and Applied Data Science in Business, Economics and the Social Sciences

The minor enables you to better understand the digital transformation of businesses, economies, and societies. Students will acquire the technical skills to collect, organize, visualize, and analyze large amounts of data to gain new insights in the fields of business administration, economics, and social sciences.

The program is characterized by a high degree of interactivity and provides you with theoretical and technical skills that are in very high demand in companies and organizations.

The minor is primarily intended for students who are enrolled in a major of the WISO faculty (Business Administration, Economics, or Social Sciences). However, it can be chosen as a minor to any major.

Basic information
Degree: -
Number of credits: 30 ECTS 
Combination possibilities: several
Duration: 4 semesters
Language: English/German (compulsory courses are taught in English; some optional courses are taught in German)
Beginning of studies: Fall semester
Information: The minor study program Bachelor Digitalization and Applied Data Science in Business, Economics and The Social Sciences is supported by the Digitalisierungskommission der Universität Bern (DigiK).

The program is divided into two parts.

The first part consists of three compulsory modules amounting to 18 ECTS. The module «Digitalization and society» provides you a basic understanding of digitalization and its impact on the economy and society. The module “Programming for data scientists” introduces you to the programming languages R and Python. The module “Data management, data visualization and machine learning” covers methods for organizing, visualizing and analyzing data. An important component in all modules are case studies and individual projects which give you the opportunity to apply the acquired knowledge.

In the second part, you can specialize in specific topics by selecting individual courses amounting to 12 ECTS from a set of predefined courses. The predefined courses are offered by the departments of business administration, economics and social sciences. Note that some courses may have special requirements.

If you are enrolled in a Bachelor's major of the Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences , we recommend to start with this minor program in the third semester of your studies (after the introductory year).

The study program includes the following components:

Compulsory courses (18 ECTS, recommended completion in semesters 1-3 of study program)

Module Course Recommended completion ECTS
1 Digitalization of societies Semester 1

3

2 Programming for data scientists I Semester 1

4.5

2 Programming for data scientists II Semester 2

4.5

3 Data management for businesses  Semester 2

3

3 Data visualization and machine learning Semester 3

3

Optional courses (12 ECTS, recommended completion in semesters 3-4 of study program)

You have to complete optional courses worth 12 ECTS in total. The list of optional courses will be updated every year. The current list is available in appendix B.

In general, the Bachelor Minor Digitalization and Applied Data Science (DADS) is designed for Bachelor students of the Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences. Therefore, the primary combination possibilities are as follows:

Study program structure
Major ECTS Minor ECTS
BWL/VWL/SOWI 150 ECTS  30 ECTS DADS
BWL/VWL/SOWI 120 ECTS 30 ECTS DADS + one other Minor 30 ECTS
BWL/VWL/SOWI 120 ECTS 30 ECTS DADS + two other Minors 15 ECTS each or

30 ECTS DADS + one Minor 15 ECTS + required elective courses 15 ECTS

Compulsory electives consist of already existing lectures that are offered at the Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences. Individual academic attainments cannot be credited twice: Thus, courses which are completed as a part of the student’s chosen major cannot also be credited to the respective minor.

We live in the era of data. There is a high demand for knowledge in digitization and data science in virtually all industries. Also the programming skills taught in the minor are in high demand on the job market.

Moreover, the program is an ideal preparation for a master's degree or an academic career.