Master Student Interview: Information Management

Master Student Interview: Information Management

Hello! My name is Pieter Cox. I am a 22 year old Master Student at Tilburg University. This is my fourth year of studying on our beautiful campus. After my bachelor IBA I decided to start the master Information Management. I started this master in January of 2020 and have had half a year of courses now. As you may know, the second half of this semester has been given online. All classes were either given through conferences or a special other way.

Before I even started my bachelor study International Business Administration, I knew I wanted to do this master. When orienting for a bachelor study, I also looked at the possible master studies given at that same university. Information Management immediately caught my attention. The reason why I chose this master is because I feel like there is a lot of potential in data and IT when combined with business. The study is well ranked and it perfectly fits my interests. Furthermore, my father’s company is also data/information management based and I have always been very interested in what he was doing.

Immediately when I started, I noticed a big difference with my bachelor. Courses are all focusing on one topic: IT. Furthermore, the master has blocks/units instead of semesters. This allows students to focus more on a select amount of courses. Each block is either 2 or 3 courses, so you have more classes per week in those courses. Block 2 and 4 are blocks where no mandatory courses are given, but you have to choose from electives. Throughout the year, you have to pass 4 electives. A few examples of elective courses are: Cybersecurity Risk Management, Smart Business Networks, Knowledge Management and Project Management. 

“Immediately when I started, I noticed a big difference with my Bachelor”

The courses I follow are mainly about data management, project management and a bit of programming. Personally, I like the data management and project management courses the most. For example, Business Intelligence & Data Management is about data management, data warehousing and data mining. This course also includes programming with SQL and Python. Programming is not really my thing but there are only a few courses with minor programming parts in it, such as this one. Another course which was really interesting to follow was Project Management: People and Technology. This course was focusing on how companies should develop their software and projects. You learn about various methods such as Agile, Scrum and XP. The course really focusses on how to successfully start, execute, monitor, and manage IT projects. Overall, many of the courses try to include guest lectures which gives you a lot of real world cases to the theory you are learning about. Due to the current situation, my third block was completely provided by online lectures. One of the courses, Knowledge Management, was given through a virtual world called SecondLife. Other courses were given through canvas conferences or Zoom lectures. Since I started in January, my thesis has not started yet. I am considering writing it at a company, since that would give me some more practical experience. 

When looking back at this past half year, I really start to see the progress of what I have learnt about IT and business. I am looking forward to what the future will bring me in this study. Hopefully, this article will help you in your decision making. If you have an interest in IT and Management, this is the perfect Master! If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me through an email on my university account. I wish you all best of luck with your Master.



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