Seven institutes to offer data science courses: MDeC

• Currently only 80 data scientists in local industry, targeting 1,500 by 2020
• Funds provided to five local businesses, including Fusionex and N2N Connect

MALAYSIA’S national ICT custodian Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) said that seven public and private institutes of higher learning in country will be offering data science courses to university students, graduates and working professionals for careers in data analytics.
 
The institutes are Asia Pacific University, Malaysia Multimedia University, International Islamic University Malaysia, Sunway University, Monash University, University Institute Technology Mara (UiTM) and University Teknologi Petronas (UTP).
 
MDeC, also the lead agency for the country’s National Big Data Analytics (BDA) Initiative, said the universities will be offering undergraduate and post-graduate data science and computer science courses with data and business analytics specialisations, starting July onwards.
 
“There are currently 80 data scientists in our local data analytics industry,” said MDeC chief executive officer Yasmin Mahmood (pic above).
 
“To meet our target of 1,500 data scientists by 2020, we need more support from IHLs (institutes of higher learning) in Malaysia to offer courses that will encourage young people in the country to explore a highly demanded career as this.
 
“We need to ensure consistent and sustainable supply of skilled workforce to drive the adoption of BDA technologies, cultivate a culture of innovation and essentially, build a BDA ecosystem that will impact all sectors of the Malaysian economy,” she said on the first day of ‘Big Data Week 2015’ on April 21.
 
Big Data Week, organised by MDeC and partner Data Storage Asean, is a two-day conference and exhibition.
 
MDeC said it has also introduced a Data Science specialisation using Massive Online Blended Learning Approach, an online course using content from Johns Hopkins University, in collaboration with Coursera, leader in providing universal access to education.
 
This data analytics course is an extension to MDeC's existing MyProcert, a government-subsidised professional certification programme.
 
MDeC has also awarded product development and commercialisation funds (PCF) to five local businesses to encourage development and commercialisation of BDA solutions: Fusionex, Datamicron, MDT Innovations, Verve and N2N Connect.
 
“Big data is one of those technologies whose contribution is more than the sum of its parts,” said Fusionex managing director Ivan Teh (pic).
 
“Whilst companies often associate big data with the amount of data they acquire, the different sources of data and speed at which data is coming at you, the true business value is from the insight that you can derive from the analysis of the data, and the competitive advantage it brings through differentiation,” he added.
 
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