IIT Kanpur establishes department of Statistics, Data Science; to offer BS-MS, MSc, PhD programmes

The Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT Kanpur) has established a new Department of Statistics and Data Science to strengthen education, research, and innovation. The proposed department will offer BS- MS, MSc and PhD programmes in statistics and data science.

There will be a total of 60 seats for the MSc programme and around 30 seats for the BS-MS course, according to the official statement.

“The Department has been established with the goal of becoming the leading voice of Statistical Sciences in the country. The need for a distinct academic identity for the discipline has been under consideration for several years, and the success of the BS–MS Programme in Statistics and Data Science has further established the need for a dedicated academic unit,” IIT Kanpur said in the statement.

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The new academic block will be established along with global and national trends driven by the increasing growth of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machines Learning (ML), where statistical foundations are important for building trustworthy, reliable, and interpretable systems, the engineering institute said.

“A key challenge globally remains the shortage of highly trained faculty in statistical sciences, and this initiative aims to contribute in addressing that gap,” it added.

“Globally, leading universities such as Harvard, Stanford, Oxford, and UC Berkeley have well-established departments dedicated to Statistics and Data Science. While such dedicated departments have been limited in India, outside specialised institutes, IIT Kanpur is uniquely positioned, given its strong academic legacy in statistics, to take this step and set a benchmark for similar developments in the country,” IIT Kanpur said.