• As students prepare their applications for the new academic year, ExploreAI Academy has opened up for its data science and engineering courses. 
• The courses are 12 months long and can be taken full-time or part-time. 
• The courses begin early next year, kicking off on 16th January 2023.

It is that time of year again when students start scrambling to ensure their tertiary studies for the 2023 academic year are sorted. For those looking at careers in data science, ExploreAI Academy has opened up applications for its full-time and part-time courses, with specialisation in data science or data engineering on offer.

The institution notes that the courses are designed to offer, “talented and ambitious young people from across Africa the opportunity to turbocharge their careers in one of the most in-demand sectors of today’s business.”

“The 12-month full-time and part-time courses begin on January 16, meaning that potential candidates need to start preparing their applications immediately. For many, this will prove to be a life-altering decision,” it adds in press release sent to Hypertext.

Unpacking some of the logistic requirements for the courses, ExploreAI Academy explains that the full-time course option involves approximately 50 hours of course-related content and activities per week, while the part-time course involves about 15 hours per week.

“The full-time course, suitable for students able to make a bigger time commitment, includes more facetime with facilitators through tutorial classes and weekly discussion group meetings. Students also have the opportunity to work in a team on larger projects,” it continues.

“The part-time course requires around 15 hours per week of course content and related activities and takes into account the fact that students may be working or have other responsibilities,” notes ExploreAI

Furthermore these students will have access to a discussion forum where facilitators will offer assistance, as well as bi-weekly webinars to cover more difficult concepts and offer more in-depth explanations of complex topics.

Looking at what the courses will cover in terms of material, the data science course tackles training on data visualisation, fundamentals of Python programming, and working with SQL to use databases for storing, reading, and updating data. There is also a machine learning phase where students solve real-world problems by building regression, classification, and unsupervised learning models in Python.

As for the data engineering course, it gives an overview of data-related fundamentals and advanced big data techniques. The data engineering fundamentals phase teaches learners how to identify and state problems clearly, how to code effectively in SQL and Python, and uses a variety of Amazon Web Services (AWS) tools to work with data in the cloud, specifically storing and moving big data.

If you are considering one of these courses, ExploreAI has also explained some of the tuition payment options. Here the institution says three options are available to prospective students.

• “Pay up front: fees are paid in full before the course starts, offering a discount.

• Pay as you learn: fees are payable in advance each month for the duration of the course.

• Pay off a loan: starting from the first month of the course, fees can be paid off over a 36-month period.”

To find out more about the courses, as well as what else ExploreAI Academy offers, head to its website here.

[Image – Photo by Behnam Norouzi on Unsplash]