A new era of statistics and data science education in Japanese universities

Abstract

In April 2017, Shiga University launched an undergraduate program in the new faculty of data science. This faculty emphasizes the study and application of statistics and is the first of its kind in Japan. Shiga University also plans to launch a master’s program in data science starting in April 2019. The inauguration of the faculty marks a new era of statistics and data science education in Japanese universities, in view of the fact that there were virtually no statistics faculties in Japanese universities before that of Shiga University. In April 2018, Yokohama City University will follow Shiga University with the opening of a new school of data science. We discuss the background of these developments and the prospects of statistics and data science in Japan.