"Where should our company apply AI?"
These are questions that corporations today, pursuing artificial intelligence transformation (AX) and digital transformation (DX), constantly face. To offer clear answers, advanced management capability that goes beyond simple technical understanding and comprehensively judges customers, organizations, investment, and business strategy is essential.
Amid these demands of the times, the IT management track in the Department of Business Administration at the Graduate School of Business at Hanyang Cyber University is drawing attention as a cradle for convergent IT leaders who convert technology into business value by combining AI and big data, information systems, IT investment and startups, and patents and technology commercialization on the foundation of business administration.
◇ Blending business administration and IT… Linked master's and doctoral professional education
The IT management track at the Graduate School of Business at Hanyang Cyber University provides education that adds expertise in IT and technology management to an MBA foundation that understands overall management. The core is an integrative perspective that views technology and management in a convergent way. It focuses on cultivating the strategic capability to identify technologies needed for corporations' strategy execution, analyze the changes that technology adoption will bring to organizations and work, and help ensure that it leads to real customer value and corporate performance.
The IT management track runs both MBA master's and doctoral programs to maximize practical and research capabilities step by step. The master's program focuses on building problem-solving skills in the field based on core theories of business administration and practical expertise. The doctoral program, by contrast, develops independent researchers who systematically analyze management phenomena and create new academic knowledge based on advanced theory and research methodology.
◇ From AI and big data to patents and ESG… A differentiated convergent curriculum
The greatest strength of the IT management track lies in its organic curriculum that goes beyond simple use of technology to connect to commercialization and sustainable growth. First is convergent education linking business administration and IT. Through "Business big data analysis" and "AI business," students explore data-driven decision-making and business opportunities using AI.
Another strength is practical training centered on problem-based learning (PBL) and case studies. Students receive training to define problems in actual management settings concretely, compare and evaluate alternatives, and derive executable action plans based on evidence.
Finally, the business and social value of technology is examined comprehensively from multiple angles. "Systems management" and "Strategic management information theory" provide the framework for organizational decision-making, while "IT investment and economic analysis," "IT entrepreneurship," and "Patent analysis and invention filing" teach how to assess the validity of technology investment and secure intellectual property. Adding "High-tech marketing" and "Sustainable development and ESG" extends technological innovation into market and social value.
◇ Flexible academic operations tailored for working professionals… Balancing work and study
The IT management track has a flexible and solid academic system that allows students to combine busy work life with study. With online lectures as the backbone, more than three real-time video seminars or offline special lectures per semester are held in parallel to support both learning efficiency and network building.
In the master's program, after completing the regular four semesters, students can freely choose between the thesis track and the thesis-substitute credits track, allowing them to earn a master's degree without writing a thesis. In the doctoral program, after taking the regular four semesters, students conduct doctoral dissertation research during two semesters of research registration and earn the degree after journal publication records, comprehensive exams, and the dissertation review process.
Here, even applicants without a relevant major or practical experience in IT or management can feel confident about taking on the challenge. This is because an organic, customized curriculum is offered to build up basic concepts step by step so that digital technologies such as AI and big data can be applied to business settings.
IT management track head professor Lee Ji-eun said, "The IT management track offers a clear roadmap for IT practitioners seeking to extend their understanding of technology into management decision-making, for strategy planners promoting AI and digital transformation, and for business innovators preparing technology-based startups," stressing, "I hope you will sublimate your field experiences and concerns into concrete management strategies and leap forward as key leaders who will lead the AX and DX era." The following is a Q&A with head professor Lee Ji-eun.
- How can what is learned be applied to the job?
"Learning in the IT management track connects with questions faced in the field. A person in charge of reviewing the introduction of a new system can gain a framework for comparing investment costs and expected effects, and a practitioner planning an AI service can gain a perspective for analyzing customer value and the business model. Someone preparing a startup can review together the distinctiveness of the technology, the possibility of market entry, and ways to secure intellectual property. In PBL and case studies, the process of defining problems concretely, finding necessary information, comparing the pros and cons of alternatives, and presenting an action plan is important. This learning also helps explain on-the-job experiences in the language of business administration and build the ability to convey one's proposals with evidence."
- How are classes conducted, and what are the graduation requirements for the master's and doctoral programs?
"Online lectures are the basis, and more than three real-time video seminars or offline special lectures per semester are run in parallel. In the master's program, after completing the regular four semesters, students can choose either the thesis track or the thesis-substitute credits track, allowing them to graduate without writing a thesis. In the doctoral program, after the regular four semesters, students conduct doctoral dissertation research during two semesters of research registration, meet the degree requirements such as journal publication records and comprehensive exams, and go through submission of a dissertation proposal, a preliminary review, and a dissertation defense."
- Can I apply without major knowledge or practical experience related to IT or management?
"Yes. You can apply even without major knowledge or practical experience related to IT or management. We run a curriculum that helps people with diverse majors and careers build the basics of business administration and develop convergent capabilities that connect digital technologies such as AI and big data to business."
- Will it help someone preparing a technology-based startup?
"Through courses such as IT entrepreneurship, IT investment and economic analysis, patent analysis and invention filing, and high-tech marketing, you can explore the knowledge needed to review and concretize technology ideas from a business perspective."
