Master of Science in Business Engineering (Operations Management)
A business engineer possesses a thorough knowledge of the discipline of business administration and related technologies, i.e. technological products and processes. In this respect, a business engineer may act as a mediator between technical and business economic positions to conduct data analysis, modelling and decision-making. You are trained to develop and implement business solutions from model to business process, and to develop and implement solutions for business problems. You also model the real business situation in a (-n abstract) presentation, take relevant decisions based on the model and translate these decisions into business processes.
What
The Master of Science in Business Engineering is a multidisciplinary programme that focuses on data-driven management science, business processes, and technology. These three core disciplines are integrated throughout the two-year curriculum through a combination of theoretical lectures, practical case studies, business games, guest lectures, and company projects. The programme delivers a strong balance between theoretical foundations and practical, real-world applications.
While the Bachelor of Science in Business Engineering primarily provides a quantitative foundation, the Master’s programme explores the aforementioned subdisciplines in a more applied and in-depth manner. By linking business analytics and business processes with technology, the programme equips students with the skills to translate business processes into effective business models and organisational structures into information systems.
Using data analysis, conceptual and mathematical modelling, and decision-making techniques, students analyse business operations both within individual organisations and across supply chains. These operations include the processes and logistical flows of products, services, and information. The acquired techniques support the efficient organisation of resources, enabling companies to achieve their strategic goals and objectives.
Students specialise in one of three main areas: Data Analytics, Finance, or Operations Management.
The Operations Management main subject is a management discipline focused on the design, oversight, and control of service and production processes, as well as the continuous improvement of business operations. It emphasises the efficient use of resources while ensuring that customer needs are met effectively and consistently.
The discipline addresses process management across the entire transformation cycle, from the conversion of various inputs—such as raw materials, labour, and energy—into outputs in the form of goods and/or services. Key business concepts, including Project Management, Total Quality Management, Production Management, and Supply Chain Management, are examined from multiple perspectives, providing students with a comprehensive understanding of how operational excellence can be achieved within organisations.
For whom
The admission requirements may vary. Depending on your prior education, you can either enrol directly or there may be additional requirements.
Structure
The integration of management science, business processes, and technology is a central theme throughout the Master’s curriculum. This is reflected in course units focusing on organisational management, resource allocation, and business processes, such as Strategic Management, Human Resource Management, and Business Process Management.
The technological dimension of the programme is further strengthened through courses such as Technology for the Circular Economy and System Dynamics. The interaction between technology and business management is explored in courses including Financing High-Tech Entrepreneurial Companies, Technology Entrepreneurship, Innovation Management, and Enterprise Architecture.
Across these course units, key principles of management science are consistently applied, including mathematical modelling, simulation, statistics, and numerical algorithms. These methods enhance an organisation’s capacity to make rational, informed, and impactful management decisions.
If you want to combine a master’s degree with a teacher’s degree, then there is the option of following an ‘Educatieve master’ instead of the above described master. The ‘Educatieve master’ however is a Dutch taught programme. More information can be found on www.ugent.be/educatievemaster.
It is possible to participate in a double degree programme with the Université de Liège or the University of Porto or the University of Tartu (Estonia). In a double degree programme students receive a degree of both the home and the host university. .
Labour Market
A degree in Business Engineering opens up a wide range of career opportunities. With a strong foundation in business economics, broad knowledge of emerging technologies, and a strong focus on quantitative analytics in production, services, logistics, marketing, and finance, business engineers are uniquely equipped to improve efficiency across the various components of a company’s logistics and value chains.
Graduates typically pursue roles that involve managing and optimising production processes and services, applying analytical and quantitative methods to enhance overall organisational efficiency. Acting as bridge builders between business economists and engineers, they optimise decision-making at different levels of the organisation, ranging from operational decisions on the shop floor to strategic decisions at board level.
As economic agents, business engineers have a thorough understanding of company processes, enabling them to perform accurate cost calculations. As engineers, they adopt a broader systems perspective, allowing them to identify inefficiencies and improvement opportunities within complex logistical processes. Their essential knowledge of the latest technologies, combined with a strong background in business analytics, enables them to apply state-of-the-art ICT concepts to optimise business processes. These competencies are embedded in almost every course unit of the Business Engineering curriculum and are essential in today’s modern, international business environment.
Typical career paths for Business Engineering graduates include roles such as production manager, logistics director, and supply chain consultant, where they ensure efficient and effective operations. Others pursue careers as process engineers or operations analysts, focusing on streamlining workflows and enhancing organisational productivity.
Quality Assurance
At Ghent University, we strive to educate people who dare to think about the challenges of tomorrow. For that purpose, we provide education that is embedded in six strategic objectives: Think Broadly, Keep Researching, Cultivate Talent, Contribute, Extend Horizons, Opt for Quality.
Ghent University continuously focuses on quality assurance and quality culture. The Ghent University's quality assurance system offers information on each study programme’s unique selling points, and on its strengths and weaknesses with regard to quality assurance.
More information:
Unique Selling Points
A business engineer specializes in planning, designing and managing the flow of goods, services and information within and between companies. Business engineers use their unique knowledge and skills to analyze, integrate and optimize these flows. In doing so, they bridge the gap between the business side of a company which focuses on effectiveness, efficiency and economic viability, and the technology, production, research and development-oriented business functions with a focus on quality, productivity and sustainable innovation.
- Multiperspectivism: our programme strongly reflects the interdisciplinary character of the field. Business engineers need a sound understanding of the value chain, including the possibilities and limitations of the technological products and processes that underpin it. They must also be able to read the business economic context in which the value chain problem is situated. To meet these requirements, our study programme offers a unique combination of (business) economic, academic-technological and domain-specific components, supplemented by a general education and ample focus on innovation and entrepreneurship. The English name Business Engineering is a good reflection of this: “engineering the business”.
- Talent development: with our study programme , we not only strive to impart knowledge to the students, but also to teach them how to apply that knowledge in other contexts. The Bachelor’s curriculum offers students to use scientific-academic techniques (e.g. mathematics, statistics, computer science) to solve problems in managing product and information flows within and between organizations. The Master’s curriculum offers opportunities to develop new techniques to solve these problems in an academically sound manner. Students either do so independently, or in a team.
- Knowledge creation: knowledge is the bedrock of creativity. We use the education concept ‘creative knowledge development’ as our starting point. The methodological learning pathway in our curriculum supports the construction of knowledge by teaching students how to analyze relevant research and business problems. Business engineers are critical of their own knowledge. They consider the unknown as a challenge rather than a threat. A business engineer’s technical-technological knowledge is only a beginning, from which point they must be able to delve into specific subdisciplines. A final aspect is communication: communication leads to knowledge development. With a sound business economics foundation, a broad knowledge of new technologies and a strong focus on production, services and logistics, business engineers build bridges between different disciplines in corporate life.
- Curriculum: the Business Engineering programme combines domain-specific training consisting of three essential core trajectories: 1) operational research and data science, 2) operational management, and 3) policy informatics with a broad general education in applied economics, a polyvalent technological-academic education in basic sciences and engineering disciplines, and a general social education in various support and related sciences (including communication skills, foreign language skills and team collaboration skills).
Strengths
- Preparation: our study programme introduces students of the first joint Bachelor’s degree in Economics, Business Economics and Business Engineering to the different core tracks of business engineering. This supports students in making a well-founded choice at the start of the second Bachelor’s year.
- Vision: our study programme clearly positions itself against other programmes of (applied) economics in the Flemish higher education landscape and meets the international standards of the business engineering domain. We have a detailed and strongly focused vision, which is known to students and clearly present throughout the entire curriculum.
- Room for international experience: our curriculum leaves room for mobility windows, making an international study experience possible. One in three of our students graduate with a study experience abroad.
- Room for practical experience and assessment in a real business context: in the later years of our study programme, the acquisition of intellectual competencies takes central stage. We achieve this by means of authentic assessment through simulations and games, cases, research projects, work placements and the Master’s dissertation. These different assessment methods bring students into contact with a specific issue from a professional or research context.
- Student and alumni satisfaction: in general student and alumni satisfaction with our study programme is very high. Alumni indicate that they find a job in a wide variety of sectors and positions.
Challenges
- Sustainability and social engagement: our study programme is committed to embedding these themes (even) more clearly and visibly in the study programme.
- Feedback: we aim to further improve the provision of (interim) feedback, feedup and feedforward.
- Internationalization@Home: we are committed to a formal and informal integration of intercultural and international elements into curricular activities for all students.
Accreditation
This study programme is accredited by the Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders (Dutch: NVAO). Accreditation was extended following the positive outcome of the institutional review in 2022. Programme quality was validated by a quality review, i.e. a screening of the Education Monitor by the Education Quality Board. The Quality Assurance Resolution (in Dutch) can be found here.
This program is accredited by AACSB International – The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. AACSB is a global nonprofit association whose accreditation processes are ISO 9001:2015 certified.
This information was last updated on 01/02/2023.
In case of questions or suggestions with regard to the publicly available information, please contact the study programme.