McGill post-grad program targets Internet business

05.06.2009
has upgraded its graduate-level IT diploma credit programs with changes to existing courses and the addition of the program scheduled to begin in the Fall 2009 semester.

"In our mind, this is the area that will be the future and also very highly in demand at the moment," said Dr. Hang Lau, director of Academic Development at McGill's Centre for Continuing Education in Montreal, QC.

With courses on Web analytics, business intelligence (BI), social media, project management, Internet business analysis and design, the program teaches skills applicable to any business that makes use of the Internet, he pointed out. Soft skills courses are recommended as electives.

Lau spoke with IT consulting firms and public media to determine which skills were most sought after by business and used the feedback to help develop the program. Companies are looking for these kinds of skills, but universities aren't providing training in these areas, he said.

McGill's program is unique in the university environment, according to Lau. "They don't really exist academically," he said.

Finding experts to teach the courses was a challenge, he pointed out. "There are very few people in the market who are able to teach this subject with their own practical experience and expertise," said Lau. The founder of is one instructor slated to teach this fall.