Data Science Education: How Universities are Leading the way

Data science is transforming industries. Whether it’s healthcare, manufacturing, or finance, data science has emerged as a transformational tool for companies across all industries. Data Science Education– Today companies are using it to stay competitive and make decisions that drive growth for their company.

All major business functions – marketing, customer service, sales, operations, human resources, business strategy—use data science to improve their processes.

Naturally, this has increased demand for data science professionals. According to LinkedIn’s 2020 list of emerging jobs, data scientists rank third. Universities, colleges, and other academic institutions are taking an active approach to producing a greater number of data scientists to produce by now introducing data science programs. Most universities are offering master’s degree or Ph.D. programs in data science, but a few institutions have also introduced a bachelor’s degree in data science with the aim to meet the demand for data science professionals.

Globally, universities and colleges are making efforts to step up data science education.

Taking data science forward

Data science education is an area of focus for universities and colleges globally. To materialize this goal, institutions have been increasingly focused on providing high-quality education by setting up a center of excellence, to offer research opportunities along with education.

Here are a few universities with prominent data science centers for research and education.

1. Data Science Research Centre, University of Derby – The University has set-up a state of the art lab equipped with high computing facilities and invites industry experts for collaboration on data science research.

2.  Data Science Institute, Columbia Institute, New York – The University aims to transform all fields, professions, all sectors through the application of data science. Furthermore, the institute wants to ensure the responsible use of data to benefit society.

3. Data Science Research, University of Florida – The university has a well-established relationship with corporates and funded research projects that aim to make a breakthrough in data science. The university offers sponsored postdoc and research positions for research studies. Currently, the university has sponsored data science research projects from the likes of Amazon, Facebook, Google, and more.

4.  Data Science Research & Education, University of Washington – The university has received several grants including the prestigious $38.7 million awards from the Moore and Sloan Foundations (Joint with Berkeley and NYU) for its intensive data science research projects and take the data science research forward.

5. Center for Data Science, New York University (NYU) – The university boasts of introducing a first-ever Ph.D. data science program and high-ranking MS in the data science program.

6. Goergean Institute for Data Science, University of Rochester – The research at university focuses on health analytics, artificial intelligence, cognitive science, methods, tools, and infrastructure and aims to push data science toward new frontiers. 

Overall, datascienceeducation is becoming a crucial area for academia. Local colleges and online universities have started to take notice of the demand for data science professionals and are following suit. Indiana University and Northwestern University offer an online degree in data science.

Aiding data science education

The efforts of academia are accentuated by governments around the world that offers subsidies and grants for promising students and experts. Similarly, organizations like World Data Science Initiative are aiding the process of expanding data science educations by offering as much as $300 million in subsidies and grants, which universities around the world are open to taking.

As part of the initiative, the organization also offers the opportunity to accredit participating researchers and supporting talent by DASCA data science certifications. These certifications will validate the researcher’s skills and help them close the skill gap that may be required to perform optimally in their role, stepping up data science education.   

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