The potential that analytics holds in reviving businesses as economies reel under Covid-19 impact has led many to take up part-time courses or seek full-time opportunities in higher education in data science. However, with a plethora of options available today, it gets quite intimidating to pick the right program and enrol in the right training institute, suitable for your needs. While short online programs are a good way for many to upskill, longer-term offerings provided by top universities and institutes remain the benchmark for data scientists to assess the depth and breadth of their knowledge in the field.

Annual Rankings By Analytics India Magazine To Help Professionals With Best Courses

To cater students and professionals based on their level of expertise and requirements in terms of upskilling, we bring a list of extensive rankings for full-time courses, part-time courses and training institutes to pick the best program suitable for your requirements. The rankings are carried out considering various factors such as course content, teaching faculty, pedagogy, placements opportunities, capstone projects, external collaboration, popularity, and more. Each parameter is then ranked on a scale of 1-5 where 1 is for worst and 5 for best. 

The rankings which are published annually identify the best courses in analytics and data science as a culmination of the primary research that is conducted in the form of a survey to understand the preferences of candidates based on their experiences. Apart from this, expert advice is also taken into consideration to decide on the overall ranking. These rankings are industry benchmarks and have been referred by data science enthusiasts over the years to pick the best courses for them. 

How To Pick The Right Course For You

This is the most crucial part of the whole process of enrolling for a course best suited for you. While there are several full-time and part-time programs, only you can decide which program is best suited for you. However, to ease the process, we differentiate these rankings based on the duration of the course, university or institute it is offered in association with, and more.

Part-time Courses

The part-time courses considered in our rankings are those which are for a duration of more than 5 months and are provided by a university or training institution in association with a university (Indian or foreign). It includes courses that are offered online or offline and are best suited for working professionals and those willing to upskill themselves in the field by learning new skills and techniques. These are usually short duration programs and promises a quick and efficient coverage of the data skills on weekends while letting your job timings on weekdays remain unaffected. 

Here are the top 5 rankers from last year. 

1| PG Program In Data Science And Business Analytics in Association With Great Lakes and McCombs School of Business, UT Austin 

• Cities Of Operation: Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Pune, Online mode
• Duration Of The Program: 12 months
• Course Fees: ₹ 3.95 Lakh + GST (Classroom Mode) &  ₹ 2 Lakh + GST (Online Mode)

This course offered by Great Learning was formerly known as PG Program in Business Analytics and Business Intelligence. The exhaustive course curriculum uses a combination of learning methods that include classroom teaching, online personalised mentorship, self-learning through video lectures and reading materials. It covers everything from business foundation, data science and analytics techniques while enabling industry exposure. Some of the highlights of the courses are: 

• It has capstone project of more than 3 months
• Assessing students through assignments, quizzes and group discussions. They also have to solve real-world business problems using the analytics techniques learned
• Industry collaboration with over 1000+ industry experts from companies like Microsoft, Accenture, Deloitte, EXL, HSBC, etc. 

2| Postgraduate Program In Data Science And Machine Learning (PGPDM) By Jigsaw Academy With the University Of Chicago Graham School

• Cities Of Operation: Bengaluru, Delhi NCR
• Duration Of The Program: 10 months
• Course Fees: ₹ 3.65 Lakh + GST

The PGPDM is designed to be the most comprehensive program in data science and machine learning in India. It starts from the basics covering descriptive and inferential statistics, covers predictive analytics with Python and continues the participants through a journey in machine learning and finally deep learning and AI. Some of the highlights of the program include:

• It includes capstone projects and internships of more than 3 months
• There is a continuous evaluation of the students throughout the course by using real-life case studies, and industry data sets
• Students post their course completion are part of the University of Chicago as well as the Jigsaw Academy alumni network. 

3| PG Diploma in Data Science from IIIT-B By UpGrad Education Private Limited

• Cities Of Operation: Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Pune, Jaipur, Pan India
• Duration Of The Program: 11 months
• Course Fees:  ₹ 2.85 Lakh

The course broadly focuses on business problem solving using data analysis, machine learning with linear and advanced regression analysis, big data and SQL, along with domain electives such as BFSI, e-commerce, healthcare, natural language processing, deep learning & neural networks. 

• Students are evaluated throughout the course with 5 different assessing components — assignments, graded MCQs, online exams, class participation judged through discussion forums, case study assignments
• They have external collaboration with IIIT-Bangalore

4| Postgraduate Certification in Business Analytics (PGCBA) By XLRI

• Cities Of Operation: Jamshedpur
• Duration Of The Program: 12 Months
• Course Fees: 2.7 Lakh + GST

This course covers all the important aspects of the analytical world viz. quantitative techniques, regression techniques and forecasting, data mining, machine learning, text mining. At the end of the program, the students get two certificates, one for the core program and the other for the project work done in the domain-specific area. Some of the highlights of the program are:

• It includes capstone projects and internships of more than 3 months
• The evaluations of students are done mostly on the basis of assignments. Apart from this, there are also quizzes and exams based on the requirement of the course

5| PGDM/MBA in Business Analytics  By REVA Academy for Corporate Excellence, REVA University

• Cities Of Operation: Bengaluru
• Duration Of The Program: 12 Months/24 Months 
• Course Fees: ₹ 3.2 Lakh/  ₹4.2 Lakh

This course is specially designed for working professionals and provides in-depth knowledge and skill-sets in analytics and data science. The program covers descriptive, predictive, prescriptive and cognitive analytics in real-life scenarios. Some of the highlights are: 

• Capstone projects and internships of more than 3 months
• This program follows the continuous assessment and grading pattern (CAGP) as per the University guidelines and regulations. The students are evaluated internally and externally
• This program is conducted in association with IBM

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ALSO READ: Top 10 Part-Time Data Science Courses In India – 2019 Ranking

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Full-time Courses

The eligibility criteria set out for full-time courses for our rankings are that it should firstly be a long-term and full-time program with a duration of more than 6 months. Secondly, the course should be offered by the institute or university. This program is more suited for professionals and students who want to invest their time in thorough understanding of the data science and analytics concepts. Most of the full-time courses are offered as post graduation degrees and are considered highly valuable for placements and setting a foot in the industry. 

Here are the top 5 rankers from last year. 

1| Post-Graduate Diploma in Business Analytics Jointly offered By IIM Calcutta, ISI Kolkata, IIT Kharagpur

• Cities Of Operation: Kolkata, Kharagpur
• Duration Of The Program: 24 months (18 months of classroom 6 months of internship)
• Course Fees: ₹ 20 Lakh

Students visit the three institutions – ISI, IIT Kharagpur and IIM Calcutta. ISI brings its expertise in statistical and machine learning theories for analytics, and faculty at IIT Kharagpur engage with the technical aspects of analytics. Some of the highlights of the program are:

• It requires students to do an internship of six months 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 at companies like Adobe, PwC, Aditya Birla Finance and ITC

2| Postgraduate Diploma in Data Science (Full-time) with MAHE by Jigsaw Academy

• Cities Of Operation: Bengaluru, Hyderabad
• Type Of Full-Time Program: Full-Time Weekdays program
• Course Fees: ₹ 4.95 Lakh + GST (without hostel); ₹ 6.15 Lakh + GST (with hostel)

This course covers a deep foundation of subjects like programming for data science in 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 and more. Some of the highlights are:

• There is a thorough assessment throughout the program, 50% of which is internal assessment and the other 50% is in the form of term-end examination
• It includes capstone project and internships of more than 3 months
• It also conducts seminars, guest lectures, workshops, & hackathons are arranged for students with the support of industry experts

3| PG Program In Data Science By Praxis Business School

• Cities Of Operation: Bengaluru, Kolkata
• Duration Of The Program: 9 months Full Time
• Course Fees: ₹ 5.95 Lakh

The Course aims at equipping students with the tools, techniques and skills to enable a seamless absorption into the analytics domain. It provides a wide range of technical skills such as Python, R, SAS, SQL, Hadoop, Spark, MongoDB, analytical skills such as statistics, data mining, machine learning and more. Some of the highlights are:

• It includes capstone project of more than 3 months
• The program is co-created and co-delivered with Knowledge Support from PwC and ICICI Bank
• The students need to score a minimum of 4.00 on a scale of 8.00 to qualify for certification

4| Post-Graduate Program in Data Science and Engineering (PGP – DSE) By Great Learning

• Cities Of Operation: Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune
• Duration Of The Program: 5 months
• Course Fees: ₹ 3.5 Lakh

The program is designed as an intensive Boot-Camp format and has been engineered to build great theoretical foundations as well as practitioner’s skills. Over 70% of classroom teaching hours are devoted to hands-on through in-class faculty-led lab sessions. It includes problem-solving with real-time use cases. Some of the highlights are:

• Students are assessed through quizzes, class presentations, code reviews, projects, lab exercises, exams, Hackathons, class participation, Capstone projects etc.
• They have academic collaboration with Great Lakes Institute of Management. 
• It also has industry collaboration with over 400 industry experts from companies like Microsoft, Accenture, Deloitte

5| M.Tech Data Science & Artificial Intelligence By NMIMS’s Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management & Engineering

• Cities Of Operation: Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Nabi Mumbai, Indore, Siripur
• Duration Of The Program: 2 years of full-time weekdays program
• Course Fees: ₹ 5.0 Lakh per year

This program consists of 3-semester classroom teaching and one-semester industry internship. It includes subjects like data gathering, probability, statistics, programming for analytics, operation research, visual analytics, a research project, and electives such as marketing analytics, financial analytics and more. Some of the highlights are:

• It includes a capstone project of more than 3 months
• It sponsors students to attend industry events
• Every student go through a 6 months industry internship in various industries like Morgan Stanley, AXIS, HDFC

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ALSO READ: Top 10 Full-Time Data Science Courses In India – 2019 Ranking

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Training Institutes

The eligibility criteria for analytics and data science training institutes to be included in the ranking are that it should have multiple programs in analytics and data science, and that the flagship program should be a long duration, i.e more than 5 months. The training institutes considered in the ranking include both part-time and full-time courses for analytics and data science. For the purpose of ranking, we include one flagship program from these training institutes. 

Here are the top 5 rankers from last year. 

1| Jigsaw Academy

• Cities Of Operation: Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Online 
• Mode Of Delivery: Blended (Online + Classroom)

The courses at Jigsaw are aimed at providing high-level exposure in the field of study. There are in-depth sessions on data science concepts such as Python, statistics, data analysis, data scraping, machine learning and more. Some of the highlights are:

• Guaranteed job placement on successful course completion
• Academy has tie-ups with the industries for content support in the specialized fields. The academy also engages with external practitioners to deliver niche subjects in the field of data science

2| AnalytixLabs

• Cities Of Operation: Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, Global through instructor-led online and e-learning mode
• Mode Of Delivery: Blended (Online + Classroom)

Courses are meticulously 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. Some of the highlights are:

• The students are assessed based on case studies, testing students conceptually as well as practical knowledge. Personal interview sessions are also conducted as the last stage
• One of their biggest collaborations is with Asean Data Analytics Exchange, Malaysia which is recognized with the HR Ministry of Malaysia

3| Simplilearn

• Cities Of Operation: Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Pune
• Mode Of Delivery: Online (Instructor-led)

The flagship course exposes to key concepts and tools from Python to machine learning and more. It includes hands-on labs and project work to help clear the concepts. The program is co-developed by Purdue University and IBM that equips learners with required skills. Learners get to use a combination of self-paced videos and live virtual classes. Some of the highlights are:

• They also offer a JobAssist program in partnership with IIMJobs.com. Learners are eligible to apply for this program upon successful completion of the course
•  This program is co-developed with Purdue University and in partnership with IBM. It includes Purdue’s academic excellence and IBM’s content, tools and certification

4| IMS Proschool

• Cities Of Operation: Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Kochi
• Mode Of Delivery: Blended (Online + Classroom)

 The flagship program by Proschool is divided into three modules  — business analytics, advanced ML and AI, data tools and projects. Topics that are collectively covered in these modules are regression, forecasting, data mining techniques like clustering, TensorFlow, recommender system, neural networks, Microsoft Azure, and more. 

• Proschool has introduced an innovative “Active Learning” method for teaching data science where students get the awareness of concepts by watching pre-recorded lectures and solving problem statements in class
• They have collaborated with MSTB Govt. of Maharashtra, NSE Academy for certification, National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and academic collaboration with institutions such as ST Joseph (Bengaluru), Loyola College (Chennai),  Symbiosis college (Pune) MMCC College (Pune)

5| Edvancer

• Cities Of Operation: Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, online 
• Mode Of Delivery: Blended (Online + Classroom)

The course covers everything from predictive analytics, machine learning, deep learning, big data development and data visualization in tools like R, Python, Tensorflow, Keras, Tableau, Hadoop, Spark and SQL. Some of the highlights are:

• There is project-based assessment plus final exams where learners have to work on 10 different projects based on which they are assessed
• Edvancer has collaborated with TCS, India’s largest IT company to conduct a final exam through TCS iON and provide Edvancer’s students with the TCS iON Procert certification. It also has partnerships with the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES) 

ALSO READ: Top 10 Data Science Training Institutes In India – 2019 Ranking