Hyderabad: Coursera, the global leader in online education and learning, and Indian School of Business (ISB), a premier global B-school, launched two new Specializations called ‘Business Technology Management (BTM)’ for professionals in IT functions and the IT industry, and ‘Trading Strategies in Emerging Markets’ for beginners in financial markets sector. These programmes are being offered by ISB on Coursera’s platform after the successful launch of ISB’s first Coursera Specialization, ‘Financial Markets and Investment Strategy,’ in June this year.
Business Technology Management Specialization is targeted at professionals in IT functions and the IT industry and is designed to empower individuals with the ability to examine technology through a business lens. Certified individuals will learn about IT-enabled competition and how they can leverage IT for efficiency, innovation and business transformation. In turn, they will be poised for technology consulting, IT program and project management, IT leadership and client facing positions in IT functions and the IT industry.
Five premier ISB faculty, Deepa Mani, Sudhir Voleti, Ramabhadran Thirumalai, M R Rao and S Ramnarayan teach the five courses in the Specialization – Digital Transformations, Business Analytics and Digital Media, Accounting and Finance for IT Managers, IT Project Management, and Leadership and Emotional Intelligence, respectively.
The aim of the trading Strategies in Emerging Markets Specialization is to equip individual investors and money managers with skills required to develop, measure and test their own or others’ trading strategies respectively. This course also provides the learners with several trading strategies which have proved highly successful in emerging markets in the past as per academic research.
Three premier ISB faculty – Vaidya Nathan, Ramana Sonti and Ramabhadran Thirumalai – teach the four course Specialization: Trading Basics; Trading Algorithm and Trading Risks; Trading Strategies – Back testing and Performance Evaluation; and Trading Strategies – Creating a portfolio. In order to earn a specialization Certificate, learners are required to complete a final Capstone Project that involves developing new trading strategies, evaluating them using the tools learned in the course, integrating them with the existing portfolio and also develop a plan to start a hedge fund.
Dr. Rick Levin, CEO, Coursera, said: “India’s prominence in global markets is growing and leading to a rise in the need for Indians equipped with skills in areas like trading and technology management. By offering these Specializations on Coursera, ISB is making a basic education in valuable career skills available to anyone. Given that the Indian market has a large pool of fresh graduates looking to break into high paying careers, we foresee a huge amount of interest in these Specializations.”
Dr. Deepa Mani, Associate Professor & Executive Director, Srini Raju Centre for IT and The Networked Economy (SRITNE), ISB said: “Business Leaders in the new digital economy need to shift their view of IT from a “cost centre” to a “competitive asset”. This shift in thinking about the IT function requires a new breed of IT leaders and managers. Managers who can examine technology through a business lens. We are happy to offer our Business Technology Management Specialization on the Coursera platform that will address this very need.”
On an average, the Specializations should take about six months to complete with an estimated workload being of 3 to 4 hours per week. Both the Specializations are priced starting at Rs.17,735.
