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

• Published in: Information and Communication Technologies for Development. Strengthening Southern-Driven Cooperation as a Catalyst for ICT4D pp. 349 - 360
• Main Authors: Mbwilo, Betty, Kimaro, Honest, Justo, Godfrey
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing
• Series: IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology
• Subjects: Data science; Data science education; Data scientists; ICT; Skills-gap; UDSM
• ISBN: 9783030191146; 3030191141
• ISSN: 1868-4238; 1868-422X
• DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-19115-3_29

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.