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Southampton Data Science Academy Partnerships

Southampton Data Science Academy is committed to building partnerships with professional bodies and international education partners who can help tackle the global need to grow skills, knowledge and general literacy in data science and artificial intelligence. 

Find out more about the benefits of Southampton Data Science Academy short courses. Watch now:

Read the transcript for this video

Manuel [00:00:03] I'm Manuel. I'm a lecturer in the University of Southampton in the Electronics and Computer Science Department, and I am also the head of learning of Southampton Data Science Academy. What does it mean? Well, I run a team of some 11 instructors who teach in the courses that we deliver and also participate in the design of those courses, and they lead the design and the design of those courses, and the tutoring approach, I designed the tutoring approach that we are delivering in those courses. We offer at the moment three main public courses, one of them is called Data Science Nontechnical. Yes, and Fundamentals of Data Science, Non-technical, that's the whole title of the course. And in this course we cover the big picture of data science and we cover it in what I would say practical way, but without getting our hands dirty with gold. And there is another course Fundamentals of Data Science Technical, and in this course, we indeed get our hands dirty with gold and it requires the use of our programming language called Python. And we have to use tools to analyse, to visualise and to manage data. And then we have an artificial intelligence force in which we focus the use of artificial intelligence in the current business industry. Ok, so we mainly cover how to choose the best artificial intelligence application for specific tasks within an organisation. In that course, in the artificial intelligence course, we don't use programming. We don't code, but we cover the fundamental technical aspects of the most common artificial intelligence methods. So those courses are fully online. That's the most important feature of these courses, we don't do any face to face. Those courses are also bite size, it means that they are short courses. Our longest course would amount for a total of 100 hours of study. Our shortest course would amount for some twenty five hours of study and we move within this range. The length of those courses, well our average then is six weeks. Although we have other courses that are eight weeks long and some others that are 10 weeks long. How they are structured, they are structured in modules. Yes, and each module can be one week long or two weeks long. Those modules cover one topic of data science. Usually, they cover one part of the data science pipeline. What kind of data science pipeline, that will depend on the focus of the course. We have different courses, some of them are non-technical and they are the big picture of data science. Some of them, they are more technical, in which the use of our programming language called Python is expected. And other kind of courses where we cover artificial intelligence. We also have courses on Digital Marketing and even Data Security. And the common structure of all those courses is that they are divided in modules and each of the modules have got a beginning and an end, and kind of assessment days. All courses have also one or two big assessments, as well as some smaller assessments along the course. So that will be more or less the main and most common feature of all the courses along all our portfolios. These courses are indeed tutor led, and this means that they offer many hours of contact with tutors, both direct contact, face to face, online. I mean, via asynchronous communication, in calls or in teleconference. And also via discussion forums and also via messages. All these ways in which the delegates can interact with the tutors are all designed for the tutoring team to support the progression of the delegates along the course, and they are also meant to have conversational learning experience by which you learn in those courses by talking about it. Who do you talk to during the course? You talk to your tutors, but you also talk to your peers. So the role of the tutors is also organise and foster these communities of interest and to make sure that along the learning experience of all the weeks of this course, the delegates engage in interesting conversations with like minded people and with people who share the same interests. Most of them graduated doctors, so if not graduated, they are on the way to finish their doctoral studies in computer science related topics and in data science related topics.

Manuel [00:07:05] So we have quite a variety of tutors coming from quite a variety of disciplines. All of them with a common interest in data science, I will give you an example. We have tutors who come from the health science discipline, and they have been for many years analysing diverse quantities of data related to health science. So these tutors are very versed in data science in general and data science for health science in particular. We have other tutors, we have tutors who have been working, doing research on blockchain or others who have been doing research on explainability of artificial intelligence. So we have quite a pool of experts in data science from a variety of disciplines, and all of those tutors bring all the expertise accrued during their professional lives and during their academic lives and they bring them to the course so they are experts they work with data on a day to day basis, and they have a wide expertise in training other people on the use, management, analysis, visualisation of data. So the tutors support you during the whole learning journey of this course. They know your name, they know who you are and they support you even on a personal level.

Manuel [00:09:10] The reason is that there are not high ratios of students to tutors. I mean, we have a cap of delegates, of students, so that the tutor knows every single student. They know their name, they know who they are, so there is dedication. There are one-to-one tutorials that happened during the course. And there are group tutorials and there are many, many opportunities for the delegates to talk to the tutors so that so by the end of the course, they have developed a kind of a relationship, from tutor and tutee. So those tutors support the delegates in such a way that they have the necessary conditions for completing the course and completing the course means that that delegate has worked on a series of assignments and assessments. And they are not just quizzes and it's not enough by just attending the tutorials. The delegates, to finish the course, they have to demonstrate that they have assimilated the knowledge within the course and that they can produce something and the tutors support this way of learning along the whole course via discussion forums, messages, feedback in the assignments, one to one tutorials, group tutorials and announcements. So there are like five or six different weight ways in which the tutors communicate. These courses are for people, usually professionals who have already finished their studies and they are already in the job market. For those professionals to either progress within their organisation or for changing careers or for giving a slight turn to their duties and responsibilities within the organisation. And these courses are also suitable for those who are looking for a job. So they are job seekers who want to explore the data science related industry, or the data-driven industry. So I would say three main profiles. You are working in a

Manuel [00:12:21] company and you want to progress within the company by learning data science techniques. You are working in a company and you want to change departments and you want to go to a more data driven department or you are looking for a job and you want to enhance your data science skills and obtain a certificate that might help you land in a data-driven role. Yeah, so I would say that some of the leading current challenges are that we are sitting on vast amounts of data and we are still not harnessing the value of this data. So we are still very reliant exclusively on our expertise within a specific area, our own experience, our intuition. And I would say that if we complement this with the insights that data can bring us, we can enhance the value of all of our operations. That doesn't mean that data exclusively is going to give us the answers and is going to help us make better decisions. It is the combination of our expertise and the insights that we can extract from data that can help us add value to all the activities that we do in all sorts of different areas in the data-driven industry. So these courses, what they address is that they help you understand, how can you maximise the value of the data that you have available and how you can complement these insights that data brings you, into your day to day decisions that you do at work. So they apply to your day to day work and they are based on real life case studies. So they are oriented to professionals

Manuel [00:15:11] and we use real life scenarios, I would say. The main difference that sets this course apart from other similar courses on offer, is that the tutoring team is dedicated for you to progress in the course. So you as a delegate, you will have the chance to interact with a tutor much more than in any other course, so this is why we have so many tutors and those tutors dedicate many hours to the interactions with the delegates. So that makes these courses a slightly different learning experience in which there is much more interaction, much more conversation, and which we believe makes the learning experience much more meaningful than other kinds of learning experience, which might be a little bit more isolated. These courses can bring all sorts of career opportunities, and it depends on the circumstances and on the aims of the delegates in the course. These courses will expect the delegates to develop a critical understanding of the latest developments, both in artificial intelligence and in data science and the latest techniques. So by completing these courses, you as a delegate will have much more wider view and broader view and deeper view of what the data science industry is bringing along. And also there will be many other career opportunities from other angles, for example, the conversational nature of those courses that leads to many networking opportunities.

Manuel [00:17:44] So by joining those courses, you are also joining a kind of community of people who have a much closer relationship to the data science industry. This means that you will meet many people, you will meet the tutors as well. And in the materials of the courses, you will have a much broader view of the current data science industry. So this is a career opportunity in itself, so knowing what others are doing basically. My final and central piece of advice when enrolling to this course, is make use of the tutoring support available, so make use of the opportunities that we put together for talking to, not only the tutors, but also your peers. So talk about data science with other people during the course. This is the main advice that I can give you, and I think this is what will make you make the most of those courses. You will also have the opportunity to go through the materials of the courses, which are developed by by leading academics in the area. And you will also have the opportunity to develop an understanding of data science and artificial intelligence by completing the assignments and the assessments. But the main value of this course is that you will be doing it along with other people, not only the tutors, but your peers.

 

Our partners

infoNation

Infonation

Southampton Data Science Academy has worked with infoNation since inception to develop both its learning materials and to build valuable go-to market partnerships and alliances.

CII - The Chartered Insurance Institute

The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) has partnered with the Southampton Data Science Academy to help insurance professionals meet the data and AI challenges they face. The CII introductory-level course will develop insurance professionals’ understanding of data analysis, data visualisation techniques, an ethical approach and understanding of AI and data science techniques for insurance.

Sian Fisher, CEO of the CII, said:

“Data Science and AI are helping insurance companies improve customer service and products; provide more detailed and insightful analysis; make better decisions and predictions and improve efficiency via automation, algorithms, better pricing and modelling. People are increasingly being asked to work with data in their roles. Those who understand its potential are well-placed to drive innovation. Data resides across various silos and teams within most businesses. Increased data literacy drives teamwork and innovation.”

 

IDM - Institute of Data and Marketing

Southampton Data Science Academy and Institute of Data and Marketing

The IDM has partnered with the Southampton Data Science Academy to offer a new AI and Machine Learning for Marketers course. Courses will demystify AI and empower participants to develop strategies to take advantage of the opportunities ahead.

It will also help professionalise AI & Data Science across the marketing profession to embed a responsible and ethical approach and ensure an appropriate balance between humans and machines. Just as blue collar industries were transformed by industrialisation so AI will change the world of work for white collar professions.

In the last two decades, the marketing industry has been on a steady path to learning how to unlock the value of data to improve customer experience and to understand, attract and retain customers. In the next two decades, Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents an opportunity to accelerate and enhance the ways organisations harness data, spot trends more effectively and shift towards predictive rather than historical data analysis. AI will enable machines to automate processes so people are able to work on higher value activity.

IFoA - The Institute and Faculty of Actuaries

The Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) is working with the Southampton Data Science Academy (SDSA) to present a certificate in data science jointly accredited by the Web Science Institute at the University of Southampton.

Initiated in response to demand from IFoA members, the Certificate is an introduction to the concepts, tools and techniques used in data science and their relevance within an actuarial context.

The Data Science Certificate is a part-time, online course which will require approximately 10 hours of study per week, across an eight-week period, with an additional two weeks to complete the final assignment. There’s no requirement for those undertaking the course to have any minimum programming skills.

Why should actuaries complete this certificate? UK Skills Champion for AI Dame Wendy Hall explains in this video:

Find out more about the Data Science Certificate.

Lloyds

Data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence will irrevocably impact the lifecycle of insurance.

In a drive to ensure everyone in the Lloyd’s marketplace can understand and use these concepts and tools, Lloyd's is partnering with the Southampton Data Science Academy to offer online tutored courses in the Fundamentals of Data Science (technical and non technical versions) and AI for Business.

Lloyd's marketplace employees can register their interest for the courses here.

CIPFA - The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy

The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) has partnered with the Southampton Data Science Academy to offer a new CIPFA Certificate in Data Science.

CIPFA is a UK-based international accountancy membership and standard-setting body, the only such body globally dedicated to public financial management. The course will help public finance professionals and accountants understand the opportunities that unlocking data value presents. Armed with the fundamentals of how to manage, analyse and communicate insight from data, participants will also learn how to apply the theory and tools to their roles and organisations.

A more data-driven approach can help the public sector make more informed decisions, analyse the impact of policy, make more accurate predictions, assess risk, improve processes and services and effectively communicate with citizens. Finance professionals can play a key role in bridging data science and other business functions. They can also help drive the adoption of best practice via responsible use of data. You can find out more about the course on the CIPFA website.

Saltlux

Southampton Data Science Academy is delighted to be partnering exclusively with Saltlux Partners to take data science and AI education and learning to the people of the Korean peninsular.

Chabukaisix Learn

Chabukai6 logo

Chabukaisix Learn was established by Chabukai6 Limited to help extend the reach of Southampton Data Science Academy’s learning propositions in South-East Europe (SEE) and to ensure content and delivery can be adapted as appropriate for local market conditions.

Chabukaisix Learn is licensed to distribute and re-sell SDSA learning. Courses delivered locally will be jointly accredited by SDSA and Chabukaisix Learn. Course syllabi is revised, and quality assured by SDSA.

The vision of the Chabukai6 Limited is that the growth of the SEE economies will be achieved only through rapid transformation of their educational and professional development training systems and establishing effective cooperation with the businesses.

The objective of Chabukai6 Limited is to contribute to the SEE economies to overcome the shortage of digitally skilled workforce by bridging the ICT and data skills gap in today’s increasingly data-driven world. This can be achieved only through provision of top-class study programmes, application of the knowledge, experience and approach of the best world universities, as well as by dynamic adaptation to the needs and requests of the SEE economies.