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Graduate Certificate in Fundamental Data Science and Analytics

Optimize your career with a 4-course certificate taught by the University of Calgary’s top data scientists.

Application Portal Information


Fall 2024

  • November 1, 2023:  Application start
  • March 26, 2024:  Deadline for International applicants
  • May 1, 2024:  Deadline for Canadian/Permanent Residents

Lunch and Learn

Join our next Lunch and Learn to hear more about our professional programs in the rapidly evolving fields of Quantum Computing, Data Science and Analytics and Information Security. 

Our one hour session will cover all three of our professional programs and a complimentary lunch will be provided. Faculty members will also be on hand to meet prospective students and answer questions.

Please stay tuned for details about our next Lunch and Learn


Why a Graduate Certificate in Fundamental Data Science and Analytics?

The demand for professionals trained with deep data and analytical skills is disrupting the job market. There is an incredible need for data scientists and business analysts to make sense of the large amounts of data that are collected, to uncover hidden solutions to messy business problems and to present useful insights to business leaders.

With the Certificate in Fundamental Data Science and Analytics, you gain the necessary knowledge base and useful skills to manage large data sets and present real-world data analytics challenges with the use of statistical modelling and data visualization tools.

The Certificate in Fundamental Data Science and Analytics will count for credit toward the Diploma in Data Science and Analytics, where you may choose to specialize in business analytics, data science or health data science and biostatistics. The diploma program is for students who have completed the certificate and will add 4 courses of specialized study.

Certificate Courses

An introduction to fundamental data science concepts including basic data organization, data collection, and data cleaning. Provides a review of basic programming concepts in Python, as well as an introduction to problem solving concepts including algorithmic complexity, recursion, vectorization, and regular expressions.  Covers the fundamentals of data visualization for exploratory analysis and critical thinking.

An introduction to the foundations of statistical inference including probability models for data analysis, classical and simulation-based statistical inference, and implementation of statistical models with R.

An introduction to the creation of complex statistical models, including exposure to multivariate model selection, prediction, the statistical design of experiments and analysis of data in R.

Explores the progression of data storage and processing, beginning with small, simple files and continuing to big, cloud-based databases. Data representation and simple file structures. An introduction to core database concepts with a variety of underlying data models, with a practical introduction to both SQL and NoSQL systems. Parallel and distributed storage and processing, including an introduction to cloud computing. Practical implications of storing and manipulating data at scale, with emphasis on ethics, privacy, and security.

NOTE: Once you have initiated your application, be sure to choose "Fundamental Data Science and Analytics-Certificate" from the list of programs offered.

The program in Data Science and Analytics is a unique graduate-level program as the curriculum for this program was developed by an interdisciplinary group of faculty members from the Faculty of Science, the Cumming School of Medicine and the Haskayne School of Business. As a student, you take full advantage of the expertise from all of these disciplines across campus. Furthermore, you have the flexibility to take specialized courses if you decide to ladder into the diploma program. Students progressing through the laddering pathway will receive full course and tuition credit for the four courses they completed in the certificate program and will need to complete four additional courses to obtain the diploma in Data Science and Analytics with a specialization in either Business Analytics or Data Science.

Another unique feature of the program in Data Science and Analytics offered by the University of Calgary is the experiential learning component of the program. As a student, you will get hands-on experience with data from the industry made available through our network of company contacts. This learning experience plays a critical role in knowledge construction and understanding the crucial role of data within organizations.

  • The certificate program will expose you to all phases of the Data Science and Analytics Pipeline:            
  • Data Collection – Applying automated, manual, and hybrid approaches to elicit, sense, simulate, or otherwise capture data.
  • Data Cleaning – Transforming raw, noisy, incomplete, or otherwise dirty data into forms that can support further analysis.
  • Exploratory Analytics – Using visualization, statistics, and other techniques to examine new data and identify possible opportunities for analysis.
  • Statistical & Computational Analytics – Applying computational, mathematical, or statistical techniques and models to make sense of and extract knowledge from data.
  • Presentation – Using visual, oral, and written approaches to communicate analysis processes, observations, and results.

The certificate program consists of four intensive courses and will expose you to all phases of the Data Science and Analytics Pipeline.

To be considered for admission to the certificate program in data science and analytics, you must meet the requirements outlined in the academic calendar.

In case of discrepancies between this page and the Academic Calendar, the Academic Calendar shall prevail. The minimum requirements are the same for all three credentials in the Data Science and Analytics graduate program, as such we recommend that students apply to the highest credential they are interested in.

Tuition information can be found here.

This certificate will give you the foundational knowledge needed to begin work related to data science and analytics. As a data scientist you will analyze data from across a company, spot trends and use your business acumen to recommend what problems to tackle and how to tackle them.  Your skills will be transferable to many sectors – business, retail, e-commerce, advertising, healthcare, etc.

Graduates of the certificate program also have the opportunity to ladder into the Diploma in Data Science and Analytics. Students progressing through the laddering pathway will receive 12 units (4 HCE) of advanced course and tuition credit toward the 24-unit (8 HCE) diploma program, for the work they complete in this certificate.

Four months for full-time students with a maximum completion time of three years for part-time students.