On a mission to develop more African data scientists

The African Centre of Excellence in Data Science (ACE-DS) in Rwanda is set to develop the skilled data scientists needed to analyse and interpret data and after a rigorous process to assess the designed programmes, available infrastructure and teaching capacity, ACE-DS was internationally accredited by the Data Science Council of America (DASCA), the first on the African continent to get this recognition.

The ACE-DS director, Dr Charles Ruranga, says data science is a growing area that involves interdisciplinary collaboration between statistics, computer science, economics, mathematics, engineering and other disciplines. “It is a combination of interdisciplinary disciplines.”

Ruranga says rapid and sustained economic growth has increased the need for skilled people in data science, and it is a growing field. A career as a data scientist is ranked as the third-best job in the US for 2020, and by Glassdoor, a job and recruiting site involved in online jobs and career communities in the US.

The work of a data scientist includes breaking down big data into usable information, and creating software and algorithms that help companies and organisations determine optimal operations.

Funded by the World Bank

ACE-DS is one of four centres hosted by the University of Rwanda’s various colleges, and has been funded by the World Bank since 2016.

According to Ruranga, Rwanda submitted the proposal to secure funding after it identified skills gaps in data science and other different areas. “This centre is not only for serving our country, Rwanda, but it is a regional centre where we have students from more than 10 countries. The training is at masters and PhD level,” Ruranga said in an interview with University World News.

The centre aims to award 100 masters degrees as well as 40 PhDs in two different cohorts. It is also involved with collaborative research with other institutions and disciplines, and offers professional courses together with different partners in different areas.

“We have some professional courses with the Data Science Council of America, where we have six short courses.”

DASCA is a US-based institution that researches, designs, builds and develops platform-independent data science knowledge frameworks, standards and credentials. It also certifies individuals entering or working across the spectrum of emerging data science professions.

ACE-DS focuses on five areas. These are data mining, biostatistics, actuarial science, econometrics and demographics.

As an interdisciplinary field, data science is also useful for companies and institutions. “For example, if you go to the Rwanda Revenue Authority, they have huge data sets that need to be analysed for prediction purposes.”

Similar opportunities exist at communication companies, the Rwanda Social Security Board, insurance companies, banks and other companies with big data sets.

Ruranga points to the number of students already admitted, the number of research papers that have been completed and the short courses offered as some of ACE-DS’s accomplishments.

Global recognition

The centre has not only been accredited by DASCA, but is also a member of the World Data Science Initiative, with the mission to build a global workforce of 250,000 data science professionals.

“Being internationally accredited to offer these programmes is an indicator that our programmes meet international standards. This is one of the key milestones of our project and we are proud of this achievement,” Ruranga said.

“It was a good opportunity to test ourselves, and will help us increase quality, get more partners, and be more confident that institutions from outside will trust our programme because we have national and international accreditation,” he added. His aim is for ACE-DS to become more competitive globally.