The novel corona virus has affected the lives of people in more ways than one. Some people have lost their lives, or near and dear ones to the virus. The pandemic seems to be an ongoing issue, globally.
Another victim of the crisis is the economy of several nations. Many have been stripped of their jobs, while a good number of employees face pay-cuts. This has taken a toll on the budgets of families who have been deprived of two square meals.
With the adverse effects of the pandemic on the economy, people have chosen to enhance their skill-sets. People are generally anxious with the ongoing crisis.
Companies need data for conducting their businesses smartly and smoothly. Data analytics help in drawing conclusions about the information in hand.
Many people now seek courses in data science upon realising its potential in businesses.
Which is the right course?
Job security is one aspect, and in-depth knowledge of the science is another aspect one should keep in mind while choosing a programme to enlist.
While identifying the best course and institute, consider factors such as course content, duration of the course, university or institute, pedagogy, placements, opportunities, Academic projects, external collaboration, popularity, and more. We look at a few institutes based on expert rankings to shortlist the best ones.
We segregate full-time and part-time courses for better clarity.
Part-time courses:
Part-time courses are taken by working professionals and those willing to learn new skills and techniques. These are usually short duration programs and promise quick and efficient coverage of the data skills on weekends while leaving your weekdays unaffected.
Last year’s best 5:
| Institute | Programme | Cities of operation | Duration | Course fees in INR | Subjects covered | Highlights |
| Great Lakes
and McCombs School of Business |
PGP in
Data Science and Business Analytics |
Bombay, Bangalore, Delli Chenai, Hyd, Calcutta, Poona | 12
months |
3,95,000 plus GST (Classroom) and 2,00,000 plus Taxes (Online) | Business foundation, data science and analytics techniques | Academic project of more than 3 months
Assignments, quizzes and group discussions. Solving of real-world business problems using the analytics techniques Tie-ups with more than a thousand experts from top organizations. |
| Jigsaw Academy with University of Chicago Graham School | PGPDM | Bangalore, Delli | Ten m | 3,65,000 plus Taxes | Basics – descriptive and inferential statistics; predictive analytics with Python
in machine learning; deep learning and AI |
Academic projects with over 3 months’ internships
Case studies and industry data sets Upon completion of the course, the students are part of the University of Chicago as well as the Jigsaw Academy alumni network. |
| UpGrad Education Private Limited with IIT-Bangalore | PG Diploma in Data Science | Bombay, Bangalore, Delli, Chenai, Hyd, Calcutta, Poona, Jaipore, all India | Eleven m | 2,85,000 | Data analytics; Machine learning with linear and advanced regression analysis; big data and SQL, along with BFSI; e-commerce; natural language processing; healthcare; deep learning & neural networks | Evaluation through assignments, Multiple Choice Questions, besides online tests.
Group discussions and real time situation Tie-up with IIT-Bangalore |
| XLRI | Postgraduate Certification in Business Analytics (PGCBA) | Jamshedpore | 12 months | 2,70,000 plus Taxes | quantitative techniques; regression techniques and forecasting; data mining; text mining; machine learning | Academic projects plus over 3 months’ internship
Evaluated on assignments, besides quizzes, course-based tests The students are awarded on both the main program and the course-specific project. |
| REVA Academy for Corporate Excellence, REVA University | PGDM/MBA in Business Analytics | Bangalore | 12
months / 24 months |
3,20,000 / 4,20,000 | descriptive, prescriptive predictive and cognitive analytics in real-life scenarios | Academic projects plus over 3 months’ internship
Ongoing assessment and grading on the lines of the University guidelines and regulations, both internally and externally. Collaboration with IBM |
Full-time Courses
The full-time courses run over six months, conducted by an academy / varsity. This is typically taken by working executives or others who have the time to grasp the concepts of data science thoroughly. Most courses are done after graduation, and are considered lucrative in the job market.
Last year’s best five:
| Institute | Programme | Cities of operation | Duration | Course fees in INR | Subjects covered | Highlights |
| Conducted together by IIM C, ISI K, IIT K | Post-Graduate Diploma in Business Analytics | Calcutta, Kharagpore | 2 years (one and a half year – classroom half year – internship) | 20,00,000 | All three institutes invest their expertise in teaching the subjects | Company internship of six months.
Assessment based on both classroom and practical knowhow. Executives from several big companies address participants during the introductory days. |
| MAHE Jigsaw Academy | Postgraduate Diploma in Data Science | Bangalore, Hyd | Full-Time Weekdays program | 4,95,000 plus Taxes (minus hostel) 6,15,000 plus Taxes (including hostel) | Python, statistics, database management system, data analysis, data visualization, etc. It provides in depth knowledge on subjects like data scraping, machine learning, big data analytics | The students do a six months internship on an analytics project in a business organization.
The students are assessed through both academics and industry exposure. In the orientation week, new students are greeted with talks by top analytics executives of companies like Adobe, PwC, Aditya Birla Finance and ITC.
|
| Praxis Business School | PG Program in Data Science | Bangalore, Calcutta | 9 months | 5,95,000 | Python, R, SAS, Hadoop, SQL, Spark, MongoDB, analytical skills such as statistics, data mining, machine learning | Academic project of over three months.
Lessons designed and taught in collaboration with PwC and ICICI Bank. Minimum passing score of 4.00 on a scale of 8.00 to qualify for certification. |
| Great Learning | Post-Graduate Program in Data Science and Engineering | Bombay, Bangalore, Delli, Chenai, Hyd, Poona | 5 months | 3,50,000 | 70% of classroom teaching hours dedicated to hands-on through in-class faculty-led lab sessions; includes problem-solving with real-time use cases | Àssessments done via various activities.
Tie-up top Bschool for lessons. Tie-ups with several big corporates in the industry.
|
| M Patel School of Technology | Masters in Data Science and A I | Bombay, Bangalore, Hyd, New Bombay, Indaur, Shiripore | 2 years of full-time weekdays program | 5,00,000 each year | 3-semesters – data gathering, probability, statistics, programming for analytics, operation research, visual analytics, a research project, and electives such as marketing analytics financial analytics. 1 semester – industry internship | Academic project of more than 3 months.
Sponsors students to attend industry events. Internship of six months in several big companies
|
Training institutes
The top 5 Institutes that have multiple programmes have been covered here. Only the flagship programme is highlighted in the table below.
These institutes have programmes of at least 5 months or more. The list includes both part-time and full-time courses for analytics and data science.
Last year’s best five:
| Institute | Mode Of Delivery | Cities of operation |
Subjects covered |
Highlights |
| Jigsaw Academy | Blended (Online + Classroom) | Bangalore, Delli, Hyd | Python, statisticsdata scraping, , data analysis, machine learning and more | Guaranteed job placement on successful course completion.
Content support from big companies for specific subjects. Classes of some core subjects taught by professionals in the field. |
| AnalytixLabs | Blended (Online + Classroom) | Bangalore, Delli | Courses are designed and crafted to cater to the requirements of various analytics job roles. Each of the courses is further divided into modules which are supplemented with assignments and real-life project work for experiential learning | Assessment through both tests and case studies.
Personal interview sessions. Tie-up with a top Analytics Exchange in the far east.
|
| Simplilearn | Online (Instructor-led) | Bombay, Bangalore, Delli, Hyd, Poona | Python; machine learning; hands-on labs and project work; a combination of self-paced videos and live virtual classes | Job-Assist program in partnership with IIMJobs.com upon successful completion of the course.
The course is part of a tie-up with Purdue University IBM. |
| IMS Proschool | Blended (Online + Classroom) | Bombay, Bangalore, Delli, Chenai, Hyd, Poona, Cochin |
divided into three modules — business analytics; advanced ML; and AI data tools and projects. additionally: regression; forecasting; data mining techniques like clustering; TensorFlow; recommender system; neural networks; Microsoft Azure |
Placement Assistance.
Basics covered intensively.
|
| Edvancer | Blended (Online + Classroom) | Bombay, Delli, Hyd, |
predictive analytics, machine learning, deep learning, big data development and data visualization in tools like R, Python, Tensorflow, Keras, Tableau, Hadoop, Spark and SQL |
Learners work on 10 different projects based on which they are assessed.
Collaborated with TCS to conduct a final exam through TCS iON and provide Edvancer’s students with the TCS iON Procert certification. Tie-ups with a top university. Tie-up with state government departments and top institutions. |
You need to get a clear picture of the situation before you sign up for a programme. If you are in a position to invest some good time and money, a full-time programme is what you need.
In case you cannot give up your current job, you might look for a part-time course. Another option is to enlist in a training institute.
Some of them can give you a good exposure to data science, and many even guarantee a job placement. Ultimately, you select the one that suits your current requirements and wallet.
All the very best!
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