Stellenbosch University (SU) has officially launched a higher education ‘game-changer’ – a school for data science and computational thinking that spans the entire academic programme, from under- and postgraduate training to research and specialist consultation.

The newly established School for Data Science and Computational Thinking will work across SU’s ten faculties with multi-, inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration, providing a single platform for collaboratively advancing knowledge in the service of society.

“The world is changing fast, and universities have to adapt. For centuries, universities have been organised along distinct disciplinary lines. But data science and computational thinking exceed the boundaries of traditional academic fields of study and look set to revolutionise current academic and professional paradigms,” says SU rector and vice chancellor Professor Wim de Villiers.

The school was established in response to the future world of work amid an explosion of the generation of data, with the university working to set up multidisciplinary teams to tackle shared problems.

The new school, offering platforms for full-time students, as well as online programmes and modules, aims to provide a roadmap for prospective students of what they can study in the field of data science, adds School for Data Science and Computational Thinking acting director Dr Wim Delva.

Delva says the institution will connect people in government, business and nonprofit organisations seeking to use Big Data to address the challenges faced by South Africa and has invited various societal role-players to partner with the school.

“We need to work together [to use] Big Data to the benefit of all South Africans,” he says.

Data science as an academic discipline is driven by the need to develop teams of people to analyse the Big Data that corporations and governments are collecting and analysing.

“In this age of Big Data, information becomes difficult to handle because of sheer quantity,” De Villiers comments.

The current Big Data challenge emanating from the domains of the Internet of Things (IoT) and robotics, besides others, requires a wide range of new skills, policies and practices, technologies and legal frameworks, says Higher Education, Science and Technology Minister Blade Nzimande.

“Our task as government and universities is to prepare our youth and adults for the skills of the future, which include, among others, robotics, artificial intelligence, IoT, autonomous vehicles and three-dimensional printing,” he explains.

In addition, faster and cheaper computers and smartphones, as well as the Internet, have made the gathering, sharing and exploitation of data pervasive in almost all sectors, from finance and commerce to health, biosciences, engineering and many others, De Villiers says.

“The new world of work will be a place where the discovery of useful knowledge from data will become integral to most of what students will do in future,” Nzimande adds.

“Higher education institutions the world over are struggling with the challenges of new technology.

At many universities – including Stellenbosch – new courses have emerged and new degree programmes have been introduced to meet the needs of industry and business,” De Villiers concludes.