Business Information Systems

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Course Overview
Key Facts
Course Outline
Further Education
Why Choose This Course?
Course Fees
Find Out More

NUI Galway Open Day - BIS What our students say Hitachi CTO Bill Schmarzo BIS & SAP Internship Partnership - NUI Galway BIS Virtual Open Day 2020

Entry Points (2023)

507

Course Overview

Business Information Systems (BIS) is an EFMD accredited innovative 4-year undergraduate degree that explores the use of technology in the modern business environment. Incorporating skills development in technology, business and technology management through individual, team and virtual team project work combined with our global learning and industry engagement initiatives. It mixes business subjects such as Accounting, Economics and Marketing with technology-focused subjects such as Databases, Systems Analysis, Cybersecurity and Networks. The BSc (BIS) degree provides you with the ideal platform for a successful career in business.

The objective of the programme is to nurture high-calibre graduates for the national and international business environments, that can demonstrate business analysis and applied information skills, coupled with a strong blend of business knowledge and management capabilities.

Global Experience & Work Placement

BIS students now have the opportunity to avail of a Global Experience year as part of their studies. This will take place in year 3 of the programme. Semester 1 will typically consist of a period studying abroad with a global partner university. In some cases, it may be possible to undertake a period of work placement abroad. In cases where a student cannot travel abroad, they will follow a programme of global activities that achieves the learning goals of the programme.
Some of our partners include City University Hong Kong, Kogod School of Business (Washington DC, USA), Montana State University (USA), Lehigh University (NY, USA), FNHW, Switzerland, and ESC Rennes (France). These opportunities are offered on a competitive basis.
Semester 2 will feature a paid work placement. Placements are secured via competitive selection and can vary in length from 3 to 8 months. Our membership of the SAP and Microsoft University Alliance provides our students with access to the latest industry software while our Industry Advisory Board ensures that the skills, methodologies and theories that you learn are consistent with industry needs. Recent placements have included SAP, Dell, OnePageCRM and EY

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Applications and Selections

Who Teaches this Course

Requirements and Assessment

Key Facts

Entry Requirements

Minimum Grade H5 in two subjects and passes in four other subjects at O6/H7 level in the Leaving Certificate, including Irish, English, another language, Mathematics, and any two other subjects recognised for entry purposes.

Additional Requirements

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)

Duration

4 years

Next start date

September 2024

A Level Grades (2023)

universityofgalway.ie/alevels

Average intake

QQI/FET FETAC Entry Routes

5 (More Info)

Closing Date

NFQ level

Mode of study

ECTS weighting

Award

CAO

GY206

Course code

Course Outline

Curriculum Information

Curriculum information relates to the current academic year (in most cases).
Course and module offerings and details may be subject to change.

3^rd year students in 2023/24 will do Study Abroad in Sem 1, and a Placement in Ireland in Sem 2

Curriculum Information

Curriculum information relates to the current academic year (in most cases).
Course and module offerings and details may be subject to change.

Glossary of Terms

Credits: You must earn a defined number of credits (aka ECTS) to complete each year of your course. You do this by taking all of its required modules as well as the correct number of optional modules to obtain that year's total number of credits.
Module: An examinable portion of a subject or course, for which you attend lectures and/or tutorials and carry out assignments. E.g. Algebra and Calculus could be modules within the subject Mathematics. Each module has a unique module code eg. MA140.
Subject: Some courses allow you to choose subjects, where related modules are grouped together. Subjects have their own required number of credits, so you must take all that subject's required modules and may also need to obtain the remainder of the subject's total credits by choosing from its available optional modules.
Optional: A module you may choose to study.
Required: A module that you must study if you choose this course (or subject).
Required Core Subject: A subject you must study because it's integral to that course.
Semester: Most courses have 2 semesters (aka terms) per year, so a three-year course will have six semesters in total. For clarity, this page will refer to the first semester of year 2 as 'Semester 3'.

Year 1 (60 Credits)

Year 2 (60 Credits)

Year 3 (60 Credits)

Year 4 (60 Credits)

Further Education

Graduates can go on to study in many postgraduate programmes such as MSc in Information Systems Management or Business Analytics. Past graduates are employed in companies such as Google, Accenture, Deloitte, Microsoft, SAP and Storm.

Why Choose This Course?

Career Opportunities

Our graduates are employed by Accenture, Avaya, CISCO, Google, KPMG, Deloitte, Intel, Lawler Developments, Lionbridge, Pramerica and IBM to name just a few.

100% Employability Rate

100% of BIS graduates are now in degree-related employment. The mix of business acumen, technical skills and management knowledge combined with communication and team skills makes Business Information Systems graduates valuable assets to any organisation. Our graduates pursue careers across a wide spectrum of job titles. Many choose to focus on their business skills and pursue careers as diverse as entrepreneurship, sales, management, or non-business careers such as teaching or law enforcement.

Other graduates focus more on their technology skills and pursue more specialist careers such as:

Business analyst - defining the optimal technology to drive business.
Software tester/ developer - application development and testing.
eCommerce consultant - leveraging internet related technologies for business.
e-Business specialist - managing supply chains or customer relationship management systems.
IS manager - managing the range of hardware, software and networking equipment in any organisation.
Specialist IS consultant - working with enterprise systems such as SAP or Oracle. BIS gives you the flexibility to define your career.

Work Placement

The BIS programme includes a paid work placement, site visits to leading multinational companies and our membership of the SAP and Microsoft University Alliance provides our students with access to the latest industry software while our Industry Advisory Board ensures that the skills, methodologies and theories that you learn are consistent with industry needs.

Placement

Study Abroad

BIS students have the option to study abroad in our partner universities in year 3. Some of our partners include Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Kogod School of Business (Washington DC, USA), Montana State University (USA), Lehigh University (NY, USA), and ESC Rennes (France).

Click here to see where your B.I.S degree can take you in the world!

For students who choose not to study abroad, a global experience that fulfills the integrated learning outcomes of a Global Experience without physically going abroad will be offered.

BIS Studying Abroad

Examples of Visiting professors and CEO- in-Residence initiative‌

Prof. Bill Schmarzo, CTO, Hitachi Vantara
Dr Stefan Siedel, University of Liechtenstein
Mr Gearoid Madden, Accenture Analytics
Mr John Power, Founder and MD of Aerogen
Mr. Eoin Corey, Senior Analyst, Accenture
Mr Gillian Grant, Analyst, Accenture
Dr Efpraxia Zamani, The University of Sheffield

Examples of Guest Lecturers, Panel & Seminar Speakers

Mr Michael Ryan, EMEA Manager, Azure CXP Engineering, Microsoft
Mr. Alex Burnham, Mazars
Ms Yvonne Comer, CEO & Co-founder of RugbySmarts
Ms Danese Cooper, CTO, Paypal,
Mr Davitt Connolly, Integration Specialist & Team Leader, SAP
Mr. Stephen Howell, Microsoft
Dr Annemarie Hanlon, Cranfield School of Management.
Mr Joe Haslam, Executive Director of Owners Scaleup Program,
Ms Jane Ann Meehan, Physioflex
Ms Kate Costello, Global Senior Social Media Manager, Burberry.
Prof. Robert Scapens, Emeritus Professor at Alliance Manchester Business School
Mr Conor O’Dowd, CEO Galway Port
Mr Jim Clarken, CEO Oxfam Ireland
Ms Katie Lernihan, SAP Services Strategy (BIS Graduate)
Mr Barry Comerford, CEO Cambus Medical Ms Dora Trachana, Principal, Uni.fund

Amazon Web Services Educate Program

We are also a member institution of Amazon Web Services Educate Program. This program is a global initiative that provides students and educators with the resources needed to greatly accelerate Cloud-related learning endeavours and to help power the workforce of tomorrow. AWS Educate provides grant-based access to AWS, training, and content, while also providing educators and students with a forum for collaboration. For the BIS discipline, his provides many benefits to students and teaching staff, most importantly free credits for tutorials and labs using cloud services.

Addressing UN Sustainable Development Goals

Modules offered on the BSc (BIS) address all of the UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals. New modules introduced in recent years include Cybersecurity, Philosophy, Theory and Research Methods in IS, and Introduction to Sustainability.

Who’s Suited to This Course

Learning Outcomes

Transferable Skills Employers Value

Work Placement

Study Abroad

Related Student Organisations

Course Fees

Fees: EU

€5,598 p.a. (€5,738 p.a. including levy) 2024/25

Fees: Tuition

€2,598 p.a. 2024/25

Fees: Student Contribution

€3,000 p.a. 2024/25

Fees: Student levy

€140 p.a. 2024/25

Fees: Non EU

€18,500 p.a. (€18,640 p.a. including levy) 2024/25

EU Fees are comprised of Tuition + Student Contribution Charge + Student Levy** €140. **Payable by all students and is not covered by SUSI. Further detail here.

Find out More

J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics, University of Galway
T + 353 (0)91 492 612
E business@universityofgalway.ie

What Our Students Say

Mk Chong | Software Infrastructure Engineer at Intel Corporation

University of Galway and the BIS programme gave me the opportunity to find my passion in business, technology and cyber security. Furthermore, it has given me a valuable network of talented friends and lecturers that have inspired me to pursue a technical career. While studying, I founded University of Galway's first competitive cyber security team (The Dec1phers). We’ve remained active in cyber security competitions for 2 years, consistently ranking top 3 on the Irish leader board on CTFtime and achieving 1st place in Zerodays CTF 2022, the largest national onsite cyber security competition in Ireland (one of my proudest moments studying at University of Galway). I highly recommend the BIS programme as it is designed to be a student-centred, multi-disciplinary and rewarding degree.

in Connect with Mk

Katie Lernihan | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT , SAP INNOVATIVE BUSINESS SOLUTIONS

The BIS course offers students an education and skillset that is unique, competitive, and relevant. Through BIS I built a strong global network through international guest lectures, my Erasmus at La Rochelle Excelia Business School, the talented faculty at the NUIG Business School who are incredible mentors to my class and through industry leaders who connected with our class, incl. SAP where I completed my 8-month Internship and where I continue to build my career since graduating in 2019. I would encourage any individual who wishes to pursue a successful and exciting career in the rapidly accelerating world of technology to consider this course. As a young woman in tech, BIS has provided me a diverse and extensive knowledge base that is relevant and reflective of the demands, trends, and strategy of the technology industry today allowing me to fully thrive in my role at SAP and many aspects of my professional life!

in Connect with Katie

Brian Barrins | Technology Analyst, Accenture

The BIS undergraduate degree is the perfect blend of business and computers. Having the opportunity to learn about programming languages, databases & new and emerging technologies helps to make you really well informed student. This, coupled with an understanding of management principles, accounting and economics let’s you mix and bring together all your other learnings in each module. The course and classes themselves are very personable. The small class sizes really helped with my learning, and by having small numbers ensures you don’t get left behind, and can have a personal relationship with each lecturer. Through the study abroad option in second year of the course, I got to study in Villanova University with the help of a scholarship programme in place. While there, I got to study new modules, increase my knowledge in areas I liked, and even made long lasting connections and friends which I still use today. My current role is with Accenture where I am working in the Cyber Security field helping clients devise state of the art strategies to protect and secure payments.

Paul O'Flynn | EMEA Sales Finance Lead at Intel Corporation

I have a keen interest in IT and I also wanted to do a course that incorporated business studies in some way; the obvious answer was Business Information Systems. One of the best things that a BIS student is equipped with when they graduate is the employability factor. You learn about business, economics, and marketing all side by side with IT such as programming, information systems, and so much more. Along with this, a student is put on an eight-month internship. Most graduates are snatched up by multinational companies.

Kathleen Garrity | Sr Program Manager, Data Science & Engineering, Google

I choose to study Business Information Systems at NUI Galway because of the wide range of topics and career options that it offered. I was exposed to a wide variety of subjects which allowed me to find my strengths and areas of interest. This suited me because I didn’t know what kind of job or career I wanted to pursue. The industry experience was an invaluable feature of this degree.

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