Harper Adams University: Online delivery opens up Data Science postgraduate course to students across the world.
Starting this September, Harper Adams University will be offering a fully online postgraduate certificate course in Data Science for Global Agriculture, Food and Environment – and is offering financial support to overseas students.
The PgC course can be taken as a stand-alone or built upon – via further study at the Harper Adams campus – to level up to a Postgraduate Diploma or by also completing a Masters’ Research Project to qualify with a full Masters’ degree.
The PgC in Data Science comprises four bespoke modules – all of which will be open to students across the global thanks to digital delivery – in Statistical Analysis for Data Science; Techniques in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence; Data Visualisation and Analytics; and Experimental Design and Analysis.
The Harper Adams postgraduate Data Science suite of courses was a UK first when launched in 2020, when programme leader, Dr Edwin Harris, explained: “The agriculture, food and environment sectors are experiencing a radical shift in demand for data scientists, thanks to applications in agri-tech, and smart farming and a large surge in demand for general skills using big data and open data across the sector through 2030.
“At the same time, there is a huge demand for data-driven solutions for best-practice solutions for conservation and environment issues that are compatible with the future of farming. This new course, the first and only of its kind in the UK, seeks to address these challenges.”
The course has attracted global interest, but overseas students have faced challenges in accessing the learning, particularly during the pandemic.
Now, having moved fully online the postgraduate certificate is open to all. And in the courses’ inaugural year, Harper Adams University is offering scholarships of £2,500 to overseas applicants to support the global drive to create more data scientists specialising in agri-food and environmental management.
The Data Science curriculum at Harper Adams University is designed to meet the requirements of two types of potential students.
The first are individuals who have an undergraduate or technical background in some aspect of data science and are looking to obtain the necessary agriculture and food experience and the second group are individuals who have a background in agriculture and/or food and wish to undertake training in data science.