I recently read, Big Data Education: 3 Steps Universities must take
Here are the 3 steps listed:
- Data Science cannot be an undergraduate degree
- A graduate degree should contain math, stats and computer science
- Research
Step 2 seems obvious. Math, stats, and computer science are some of the key areas for data science. I would add communication and presentation skills to the list because people with just math, stats, and CS skills are not known to be naturally good communicators. I agree with step 3. More research needs to be done, but most of the research will need to be interdisiplinary. Universities need to put more effort into interdisiplinary research.
Step 1 confused me a bit. The argument was data science has too many necessary skills and an applied focus area. Of course a person cannot learn everything about data science in an undergraduate degree. Earning a computer science degree does not mean you will know everything about computer science. It just means you know the fundamentals about algorithms, architecture, and operating systems. You know enough about computer science to understand the field and learn more as you go. I think 4 years should be enough time to do the same for data science.
What are your thoughts?