Data Science Postgraduate Education at University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania: Current Demands and Opportunities - Information and Communication Technologies for Development
Conference Papers Year : 2019

Data Science Postgraduate Education at University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania: Current Demands and Opportunities

Betty Mbwilo
  • Function : Author
  • PersonId : 1053580
Honest Kimaro
  • Function : Author
  • PersonId : 1053540
Godfrey Justo
  • Function : Author
  • PersonId : 1053581

Abstract

Several studies indicate that there are no enough people in the market with data science skills and even those graduates in ICT from universities do not possess skills required by employers. Thus, researchers have suggested the urgency for universities to review their curricular as the world is heading towards data era. The aim of this research was to analyze the current skill-gaps needs from stakeholders and opportunities to establish data science postgraduate programme that reflects the current technological trends and market demands at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM). A questionnaire was administered to 85 identified organizations to solicit information on the needs for data scientists and existing skill gaps. A total of 61 filled questionnaires response were received out of the 85 that were administered to selected organizations indicating a turn out rate of over 70%. Overall the analyzed data articulated a compelling evidence for the local industry growing need for data scientist. The survey that was conducted was followed up by conduct of various workshops and meetings to solicit inputs from different experts and stakeholders on different versions of the developed curriculum. Finally, a new programme in MSc in data Science was approved and established from April 2018 at UDSM. Despite its late approval and without formal advertisement on the public media, the programme attracted a large number of applicants for 2018/19 academic year, compared to other several postgraduate programmes in ICT offered at UDSM.
Fichier principal
Vignette du fichier
484106_1_En_29_Chapter.pdf (169.15 Ko) Télécharger le fichier
Origin Files produced by the author(s)
Loading...

Dates and versions

hal-02281319 , version 1 (09-09-2019)

Licence

Identifiers

Cite

Betty Mbwilo, Honest Kimaro, Godfrey Justo. Data Science Postgraduate Education at University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania: Current Demands and Opportunities. 15th International Conference on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries (ICT4D), May 2019, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. pp.349-360, ⟨10.1007/978-3-030-19115-3_29⟩. ⟨hal-02281319⟩
563 View
184 Download

Altmetric

Share

More