According to a recent report, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology has decided to launch a new undergraduate programme specialising in data science, which uses scientific techniques and theories to extract knowledge from data.
During the four-year bachelor of science in data science and technology course, students will learn to hone their skills in statistics and coding, among other things, to solve complex data problems.
A 19-year-old student from the university stated that many industries, both public and private organisations, are using more data; they will need more professionals to sort the data and to find useful information from it, making for great career prospects.
Jointly run by HKUST’s maths and computer science departments, the programme – introduced this year – is the first in the city to cater to undergraduates and to have a strong tech focus, according to its associate director.
The professor explained that while there may be abundant data science programmes in Hong Kong, they are designed by business faculties. Thus, they lack a technical basis and a solid theoretical foundation, and their focus is more on commercial decisions and application.
HKUST has created the course as more universities worldwide offer degree courses in data science and big data analytics, fuelled by growing demand for such skills. Big data is increasingly being used to improve decision-making within companies and also drive artificial intelligence initiatives to offer better customer service, for example.
The Hong Kong government has been trying to turn the city into an innovation and technology hub, including by handing the Science Park HK$40 billion to invest.
The university realised there was a “pressing demand” for data scientists around the world, with more companies owning a huge amount of data and needing professionals to do real-time analysis.
A senior consultant from a boutique financial services executive recruitment firm said financial institutions used to be the main sector relying heavily on data analytics, but many other sectors in recent years were starting to seek those skills.
Everything from media, fast-moving consumer goods to retail banks are looking at customer data, to analyse and draw conclusions that help make business decisions – the demand is massive.
Experts state there is a special demand for data cleansing — the process of removing inaccurate and irrelevant records for analysis — and data management, which includes looking after the structure of data systems.
A report by a major inter-governmental forum, published last July, identified a skills shortage in data science and analytics across its 21 member economies. It said China was short of more than 1.5 million data scientists in 2015.
Earlier this year, a professional networking site released its list of the 10 most promising jobs, with data scientists on the list. The site said workers in the sector could expect a median base annual salary of HK$882,530 and job openings increasing 45 per cent year on year.
The professor said that HKUST plans to offer 40 places for the data science and technology degree programme annually. Students can only choose it in their second year – hopefuls will need to qualify for either the science or engineering faculties, complete an introductory course on computer science and then compete for a place on the specialised programme.
This year, 149 students applied and the course eventually took on 41, whose average cumulative grade point average was 3.3 out of 4.3.
A manager with a recruitment agency predicted graduates from the programme would find it easy to get a job.
While salaries for entry-level data analysts in Hong Kong with no experience ranged between HK$15,000 and HK$18,000 – similar to graduates in other fields – experts are positive that those with data science degrees could see their pay packets expand more quickly once they had worked for about three years.
Data science graduates are being urged to remain in the Hong Kong workforce and be part of the changes taking place in the business world, with more firms tapping the power of big data.
