Data Science Professional Development Award
HE Qualification - Edinburgh College
Course overview
Are you in a job where you are using data and want to upskill? looking for something you can study flexibly around your work, that's also free?
Do you have a degree and are looking to add Data Skills to your CV?
This certificate in Data Science delivers open learning to fit around your life and is completely free to study if you are a resident of Scotland and have been for at least 3 years.
Data Science is the fastest-growing Tech industry area, and all employers are looking for data-savvy professionals to join their teams. Data gives insights that give businesses a competitive edge, or inspire innovation and adaptation to improve lives or processes and systems.
Data is part of every industry:
Engineering, Health and Social Care/ Marketing/ Software development/ Cyber Security, Finance, Agriculture and retail, to name but a few.
Edinburgh College offers many Data Science qualifications in many contexts to meet your needs. This one is aimed at those in the Tech sector or who have an intermediate knowledge of Python Programming.
There are few bite-sized qualifications at the undergraduate level, so we are pleased to be offering you this Professional Development Award at SCQF level 8.
The award is made up of 4 SQA units at an undergraduate 2nd-year level.
Course description
What you will learn
This course has a focus on the programming and key technologies required to understand data science and its application. Edinburgh College worked directly with the SQA to develop this course and has a significant role in data education in Scotland.
This is a one-year distance learning course and runs over two semesters, this presentation runs January 2023 - December 2023 (with a break for summer in July and August)
- Semester 1 Jan - Jun 2022
- Semester 2 Sep - Dec 2023
Tuition will stop in line with the academic holidays, for example over the October break, Christmas break bank holidays and Easter break.
What you will learn
This course has two units each semester:
Semester 1: Programming for Data and Working with Data
Semester 2: Communicating with data and a Data Science project
In the course, you will develop your analysis and communication skills to prepare you to work in a data professional role.
Help you appreciate the range of tools and techniques available for data analysis, including packages, such as pyplot, numpy and seaborn data extraction from sources such as files and API's.
You will be introduced to using large datasets, to gain insights into business data using a range of visualisations and dashboards.
Be able to create reproducible and automatable analyses of large datasets.
Apply your knowledge and skills, in a collaborative context, to the analysis of large and/or complex datasets.
Entry requirements
This is an undergraduate-level course and it is anticipated those undertaking it will be qualified to HNC, HND or Degree level, preferably in a related subject area, Technical, Scientific, or Mathematical.
The coursework requires you to make use of programming and so you will need to be confident enough to make use of both Python and R programming languages without being taught the basics. There is a group project and you have to work synchronously in a team, i.e weekly team meeting at a set time and a work schedule to complete the project.
If you are unsure about using Python and R and you are looking for a course to introduce you to all the concepts first, we advise completing the NPA Data Science with Python and R course which runs from January to June and is also free to study for residents of Scotland.
Progression
As this is a new course we do not have any formally agreed articulation pathways but the following are suggested progression routes for candidates.
- HND Software Development
- Entry to a data-related degree program
- Progression within your job role
Career opportunities
- This is an ideal course for CPD for those already in employment that need to upskill in data science, computer programming for data, data visualisation or data analytics
- Entry-level data science, data analytics or business analysis roles
Course options
Course Type: Distance learning
Details
Venue details
OL - Open Learning/Cross Campus
Edinburgh
Course provider
Edinburgh College
OL - Open Learning/Cross Campus
Edinburgh