SLASSCOM launches program with Uni of Colombo for data science and AI

Sept 18, 2018 (LBO) - The Center for Data Science, Department of Statistics, University of Colombo will launch a training program in fundamentals of data science, establishing it as the third pillar within Sri Lanka’s ICT Exports. The course fee of this program is subsidized through the National Export Strategy (NES) initiatives through the Export Development Board (EDB) and Sri Lanka Association for Software and Services Companies (SLASSCOM). Currently - Sri Lanka’s IT Exports are estimated to be over USD 1.2 billion and is the fifth-largest export earner offering Software/Product Development and Business Process Management (BPM) services. The industry is growing rapidly with the potential to reach USD 5 billion by 2022 with a workforce of 200,000 employees. Due to multiple technological advancements, the ability to capture data generated by various processes has become more viable and inexpensive. With the availability of data, computation power and evolving data analytics, organizations are rapidly moving towards data driven decision making. This trend has created new career opportunities for Data Scientists, for those with skills in statistical data analytics, big data analytics, computer programming and a passion to extract information from data. The ICT sector in Sri Lanka which had previously focused more on software development and BPM can now explore new ventures by combining programming and database management experience with data analysis to emerge as data analytics companies. Data Scientists are very much in demand around the globe and has increasing career prospects in Sri Lanka as well. This has been highlighted in multiple studies including the LinkedIn 2017 Emerging Jobs Report, where Machine Learning Engineers and Data Scientists top the list. However, there is a considerable shortage in Data Scientists in Sri Lanka which has hindered the expansion of data analytics industry. This is mainly due to the lack of combined knowledge in Statistics, Computer Science, Mathematics and the knowledge of the industry domain. This program is targeted towards professionals who already have skills in computer science such as programming and database management, those who have industry domain knowledge seeking to familiarize with data analytics or STEM graduates seeking a career as Data Scientists.