Operations Research

A telecom company wants to construct a network as cheap as possible with complete coverage, but doesn’t know how to do that. A hospital wants to please as many employees as possible during the christmas break, but the patients in the hospital still need care. The staff manager doesn’t know how to handle this problem. Operations Research (OR) (or Management Science) includes all (mathematical) methods and techniques needed to improve or optimize processes in industries and non-profit organisations. Involved questions are:

• How much should I produce and which composition should I use?
• How many telephonists are needed in a call center?
• What are efficient routes?
• How can you analyse complex manufacturing processes, a building project or a service centre in a short time? (Banks, post offices, hospitals, checking-in desks at airports)

Examples of these can be found in almost all fields of Business Administration and Economics. As an OR-specialist you have an advisory function, which often leads you to a job in consultancy. But there are also governmental agencies and companies which hire OR-specialists. Examples are telecom companies, post offices, railway agencies, airlines and big oil companies.

Universities

For this direction you can do the following masters:

• Master Econometrics and Operations Research – Operations Research Theory aan Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
• Master Econometrics and Operations Research – Supply Chain Management aan Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
• Master Econometrics and Operations Research – Financial Engineering aan Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
• Master Operations Research at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
• Master Operations Research and Quantitative Logistics at the Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam
• Master Operations Research at Maastricht University
• Master Operations Research and Management Science at Tilburg University