The Latest rankings for 2020 are out. Please check here.
The part-time data science courses ranking is our annual ranking that identifies the best courses in analytics and data science that are best suited for analytics professionals. The eligibility criteria for this ranking were — should have a part-time program (duration of more than 5 months), the course should be provided by a university or an institute in association with a university (Indian or foreign).
A primary survey which was conducted a few months back was taken into consideration to understand the preferences of candidates, based on their experience. It helped in validating the data and providing a rationale for the ranking, wherever required. Students feedback and expert advice were also accounted for the overall ranking process. Each of these parameters has been ranked on the scale of 1-5 where 1 is for worst and 5 for best.
The ranking has been done on the basis of for key parameters — course content, faculty, student experience and other attributes such as external collaboration. Some of the other details under these parameters were course comprehensiveness, post-completion engagement of students, capstone projects and others.
The courses that have not been mentioned in the ranking either did not participate or were rejected because of incomplete data.
1| PG Program In Data Science And Business Analytics in Association With Great Lakes and McCombs School of Business, UT Austin
(Formerly known as PG Program in Business Analytics and Business Intelligence) By Great Learning
- Year Of Inception: 2013
- Cities Of Operation: Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Pune, Online mode
- Duration Of The Program: 12 months
- Total Number Of Learning Hours: 400
- Course Fees: ₹ 3.95 Lakh + GST (Classroom Mode) & ₹ 2 Lakh + GST (Online Mode)
Great Learning offers programs in career critical competencies such as analytics, data science, AI, cloud computing, cybersecurity, and more. They have taught more than 12,000 professionals over the years and aim to make professionals succeed in the digital economy.
Parameter 1: Course Content (4.9)
- Comprehensiveness: The course curriculum is exhaustive and covers all dimensions of data science and business analytics. PGP-DSBA, formerly known as PGP-BABI, 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.
- Capstone Projects/Internships: More than 3 months
- Frequency Of Course Updation: Regularly, every year
- Assessing Students At The End Of The Course: There is a continuous evaluation where students participate in group projects, individual assignments, quizzes and group discussions. The student’s conceptual understanding as well as the ability to apply various analytics techniques are evaluated by faculty and data science experts. They also have to solve real-world business problems using the analytics techniques learned.
- Learning Resources: Books, videos & downloadable resources, LMS & online webinars, industry guest lectures, on-campus events, hands-on coding and projects, monographs on topics covered which serve as a refresher material.
Parameter 2: Faculty (4.9)
- Total Number Of Faculty Members: 336
- Total Number Of Faculty Members With A PhD (completed): 68
- Percentage of Faculty Members With Industry Experience: 50%
- Student To Faculty Ratio: 15:1
Parameter 3: Student Experience (4.7)
- Percentage Of Students Who Complete The Course: 90%
- Post-completion Engagement: Every graduating candidate becomes a Great Lakes Alumnus and is invited to be part of all Great Lakes alumni and networking events. They also get a chance to mentor candidates in their projects, have continued access to the Great Learning Excelerate platform, get job postings and more.
- Placement Assistance: Assistance through an alumni network, resume designing and sharing with job consultants, career counselling and mock interviews
Parameter 4: Other Determining Factors (4.9)
- Entry Criteria Of Students: Industry experience required
- External Collaboration: They have collaboration with over 1000+ industry experts from companies like Microsoft, Accenture, Deloitte, EXL, WNS, Cognizant, American Express, Absolute Data, HSBC, etc. There is also a corporate partnership with over 200+ companies like HSBC, UBER, MuSigma, Fractal and more.
The overall rating is 4.85.
2| Postgraduate Program In Data Science And Machine Learning (PGPDM) By Jigsaw Academy With the University Of Chicago Graham School
- Year Of Inception: 2011
- Cities Of Operation: Bengaluru, Delhi NCR
- Duration Of The Program: 10 months
- Total Number Of Learning Hours: 450+
- Course Fees: ₹ 3.65 Lakh + GST
Jigsaw Academy offers a range of part-time and full-time courses in new tech field such as data science, analytics, cybersecurity and more. Started by Gaurav Vohra and Sarita Digumarti in 2011, they regard data science as a necessary life skill and they work at constantly improving how it is taught.
Parameter 1: Course Content (4.8)
- Comprehensiveness: 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. Students also have the option to opt for domain electives in finance, marketing, HR, supply chain, and e-commerce.
- Capstone Projects/Internships: More than 3 months
- Frequency Of Course Updation: Frequently, every new batch
- Assessing Students At The End Of The Course: There is a continuous evaluation of the students throughout the course by using real-life case studies, and industry data sets. Each module has multiple assessments to test the students understanding of the concepts. In addition, there is a capstone project with external SME and viva voce.
- Learning Resources: Videos & downloadable resources, LMS & online webinars, industry guest lectures, on-campus events, hands-on coding and projects.
Parameter 2: Faculty (4.8)
- Total Number Of Faculty Members: 20
- Total Number Of Faculty Members With A PhD (completed): 10
- Percentage of Faculty Members With Industry Experience: 100
- Student To Faculty Ratio: 2:1
Parameter 3: Student Experience (4.8)
- Percentage Of Students Who Complete The Course: 95%
- Post-completion Engagement: Students are part of the University of Chicago as well as the Jigsaw Academy alumni network. They are continued to be offered job, internship and project opportunities. In addition, some students take classes, interview and mentor future batches.
- Placement Assistance: Assistance through an alumni network, resume designing and sharing with job consultants, career counselling and mock interviews
Parameter 4: Other Determining Factors (4.7)
- Entry Criteria Of Students: Entrance exam
- External Collaboration: They have academic collaboration with the University of Chicago. IBM is an industry partner.
The overall rating is 4.77.
3| PG Diploma in Data Science from IIIT-B By UpGrad Education Private Limited
- Year Of Inception: 2015
- Cities Of Operation: Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Pune, Jaipur, Pan India
- Duration Of The Program: 11 months
- Total Number Of Learning Hours: 400
- Course Fees: ₹ 2.85 Lakh
Founded by media stalwart Ronnie Screwvala, upGrad prides itself in bringing together quality content, cutting-edge technology and a services-oriented approach on one platform, to provide an engaging learning experience.
Parameter 1: Course Content (4.7)
- Comprehensiveness: The PG Diploma in Data Science in association with IIIT-Bangalore is designed in collaboration with some of the most influential data science leaders and top academicians. Broadly, the focus areas are 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.
- Capstone Projects/Internships: No capstone projects or internships offered
- Frequency Of Course Updation: Regularly, every year
- Assessing Students At The End Of The Course: 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.
- Learning Resources: Books, videos & downloadable resources, LMS & online webinars, industry guest lectures, on-campus events, hands-on coding and projects.
Parameter 2: Faculty (4.8)
- Total Number Of Faculty Members: 85
- Total Number Of Faculty Members With A PhD (completed): 15
- Percentage of Faculty Members With Industry Experience: 90%
Parameter 3: Student Experience (4.8)
- Percentage Of Students Who Complete The Course: 95%
- Post-completion Engagement: Career assistance for 6 months post completion, alumni networking activities, mock interviews, alumni connect platform, placement opportunities, chance to become a part of the upGrad community as experts/graders/TAs.
- Placement Assistance: Assistance through an alumni network, resume designing and sharing with job consultants, career counselling and mock interviews, mentorship from industry experts, dedicated career mentors for 6 months after the program completion, specialized career tracks depending on experience
Parameter 4: Other Determining Factors (4.6)
- Entry Criteria Of Students: Eligibility Test
- External Collaboration: IIIT-Bangalore
The overall rating is 4.72.
4| Postgraduate Certification in Business Analytics (PGCBA) By XLRI
- Year Of Inception: 1949
- Cities Of Operation: Jamshedpur
- Duration Of The Program: 12 Months
- Total Number Of Learning Hours: 300
- Course Fees: 2.7 Lakh + GST
Founded in 1949, it aims to bring a change in the economy and society at large. The institute always strives to be a management school with a difference. It also offers courses in emerging technologies such as analytics and data science to keep the workforce updated.
Parameter 1: Course Content (4.6)
- Comprehensiveness: The course is offered by XLRI in collaboration with its technical partners of the virtual classroom. 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.
- Capstone Projects/Internships: More than 3 months
- Frequency Of Course Updation: Frequently, every new batch
- Assessing Students At The End Of The Course: The evaluations are done mostly on the basis of assignments. Apart from this, there are also quizzes and exams based on the requirement of the course.
- Learning Resources: Books, videos & downloadable resources, LMS & online webinars, industry guest lectures, events, hands-on coding and projects.
Parameter 2: Faculty (4.6)
- Total Number Of Faculty Members: 18
- Total Number Of Faculty Members With A PhD (completed): 15
- Percentage of Faculty Members With Industry Experience: 90%
Parameter 3: Student Experience (4.6)
- Percentage Of Students Who Complete The Course: 98%
- Placement Assistance: Assistance through the alumni network
Parameter 4: Other Determining Factors (4.7)
- Entry Criteria Of Students: Mathematics or statistics as a subject in Class XII or graduation with at least 50% marks, minimum of 3 years of work experience, formal education in and knowledge of at least 1 programming language, followed by personal interview conducted through video conferencing
- External Collaboration: The external collaborations are in the form of lectures from industry experts and experienced Professors from other premier institutes.
The overall rating is 4.62.
5| PGDM/MBA in Business Analytics By REVA Academy for Corporate Excellence, REVA University
- Year Of Inception: 2012
- Cities Of Operation: Bengaluru
- Duration Of The Program: 12 Months/24 Months
- Total Number Of Learning Hours: 640/1040
- Course Fees: ₹ 3.2 Lakh/ ₹4.2 Lakh
REVA Academy for Corporate Excellence (RACE), is an initiative of REVA University, which offers a range of specialized, techno-functional programs, custom-designed to suit the needs of working professionals to enhance their careers. These programs bring in the latest tools, techniques and skill-sets which are in sync with the futuristic demands of the industry.
Parameter 1: Course Content (4.6)
- Comprehensiveness: 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. It also has intense training on Python, R, TensorFlow, Advanced Excel, Power BI, Solver, Rapid miner, Tableau, QlikView, IBM SPSS, IBM SPSS Modeler, IBM Watson Studio, Hortonworks and more.
- Capstone Projects/Internships: More than 3 months
- Frequency Of Course Updation: Frequently, every new batch
- Assessing Students At The End Of The Course: This program follows the continuous assessment and grading pattern (CAGP) as per the University guidelines and regulations. The students are evaluated internally and externally. Internal assessment is based on n-class quizzes, projects, discussions, participation in the discussion thread, whereas external assessment is based on end module exam.
- Learning Resources: Books, videos & downloadable resources, LMS & online webinars, industry guest lectures, on-campus events, hands-on coding and projects.
Parameter 2: Faculty (4.5)
- Total Number Of Faculty Members: 12
- Total Number Of Faculty Members With A PhD (completed): Three
- Percentage of Faculty Members With Industry Experience: 12
- Student To Faculty Ratio: 40:5
Parameter 3: Student Experience (4.6)
- Percentage Of Students Who Complete The Course: 90%
- Post-completion Engagement: Research and consulting projects are extended to all the alumni, LMS access, alumni are involved in capstone projects, library access with remote login and more.
- Placement Assistance: Guaranteed job placement with the corporate, guaranteed job interview with hiring partner, assistance through an alumni network, resume designing, career counselling and mock interviews, sponsoring students to attend industry events and conferences
Parameter 4: Other Determining Factors (4.5)
- Entry Criteria Of Students: Industry experience required
- External Collaboration: This program is conducted in association with IBM. Two global mastery certifications with IBM on Predictive Modeler and Big Data are included in the program. Other partners include Jigsaw Academy (online partner).
The overall rating is 4.55.
6| Post-graduate Diploma in Business Analytics & Intelligence By Careers of Tomorrow – Amity University Online
- Year Of Inception: 2018
- Cities Of Operation: Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, Chennai, Hyderabad, Enrollments are open for all cities.
- Duration Of The Program: 12 Months
- Total Number Of Learning Hours: 450+
- Course Fees: ₹ 1.35 Lakh
Careers of Tomorrow by Amity University Online is an online education platform that prepares individuals for careers of tomorrow. It provides intensive online education experience, corporate interaction, industry-oriented teaching delivered by eminent corporate experts and world-class faculty. Some of its popular programs are in data science, blockchain, machine learning, cybersecurity and more.
Parameter 1: Course Content (4.5)
- Comprehensiveness: This course has been curated by a panel of veterans from academia and industry. The whole program is divided into eight Modules and one capstone project. The program starts from the basics of programming, statistics and basic mathematics and moves towards a smooth transition to advanced analytics topics like forecasting techniques and big data analytics.
- Capstone Projects/Internships: Less than 3 months
- Frequency Of Course Updation: Frequently, every new batch
- Assessing Students At The End Of The Course: Every module has ungraded practice quizzes, assignments, hands-on, case studies and examination. The UGC demands a ratio of internal and external assessment to 40:60, which is expected of every candidate.
- Learning Resources: Books, videos & downloadable resources, LMS & online webinars, industry guest lectures, analytics/data science events in-campus, hands-on coding and projects, 24*7 academic support.
Parameter 2: Faculty (4.4)
- Total Number Of Faculty Members: 6
- Total Number Of Faculty Members With A PhD (completed): 4
- Percentage of Faculty Members With Industry Experience: 66.67%
- Student To Faculty Ratio: 20:1
Parameter 3: Student Experience (4.5)
- Percentage Of Students Who Complete The Course: 100%
- Post-completion Engagement: Newsletter, alumni membership, and events. Students are invited to all alumni activities across the country. Career Assistance is provided up to 12 months after completion of the program. Free access to all the guest lectures.
- Placement Assistance: Guaranteed job interview with hiring partner, assistance through an alumni network, resume designing and sharing with job consultants, career counselling and mock interviews, sponsor students to attend industry events and conferences.
Parameter 4: Other Determining Factors (4.4)
- Entry Criteria Of Students: Personal interview is conducted by the counselling team and the program team to check the eligibility and willingness to learn the program.
- External Collaboration: Partnership with Thunderbird School of Global Management of Arizona State University, that provides students with data mining and predictive analytics modules along with partnered instruction on the primer of big data and AI. They also have a partnership with Hiration, IIM-Jobs and various HR consultancies.
The overall rating is 4.45.
7| Post Graduate Certificate in Data Analytics & Business Intelligence By the Bombay Stock Exchange Institute
- Year Of Inception: 1989
- Cities Of Operation: Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata
- Duration Of The Program: One year
- Total Number Of Learning Hours: 144
- Course Fees: ₹ 1.1 Lakh + GST.
The BSE Institute Ltd. (BIL) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the BSE Ltd. BSE Institute Ltd. has expanded its horizon beyond financial markets and is offering courses that intend to equip future leaders with the competence and character to address emerging global business and social challenges.
Parameter 1: Course Content (4.5)
- Comprehensiveness: The PGC- DABI program has an industry-aligned unique pedagogy that offers the right set of statistics, analytical and business knowledge to working professionals. Over the course of 2 semesters, the program enables one in handling complex technologies & strategies that allow end-users to analyse data using statistical & analytical tools thus helping in improved decision-making. Being an online driven program, the course is feasible to attend from anywhere causing minimum disruption of work.
- Capstone Projects/Internships: We do not offer capstone projects/internships
- Frequency Of Course Updation: Regularly, every year
- Assessing Students At The End Of The Course: The admission committee reviews the candidate’s attendance for all sessions & carefully evaluates the semester exam results. On successful evaluation, candidates are considered to receive a course completion certificate.
- Learning Resources: Videos & downloadable resources, LMS & online webinars
Parameter 2: Faculty (4.2)
- Total Number Of Faculty Members: 5
- Total Number Of Faculty Members With A PhD (completed): 2
- Percentage of Faculty Members With Industry Experience: 80
- Student To Faculty Ratio: 20:1
Parameter 3: Student Experience (4.5)
- Percentage Of Students Who Complete The Course: 100%
- Post-completion Engagement: On course completion, participants become part of BIL alumni network, actively participating in annual meet.
- Placement Assistance: Assistance through an alumni network
Parameter 4: Other Determining Factors (4.4)
- Entry Criteria Of Students: STEM background required
- External Collaboration: This course is provided in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology Patna (IITP). It is considered to be one of the foremost institutes of the nation, has 10 academic departments and a few advanced research centres in various disciplines of engineering and pure sciences, with nearly 50 laboratories organized in a unique pattern of functioning.
The overall rating is 4.40.
8| Post Graduate Certification in Data Science By Edureka
- Year Of Inception: 2011
- Cities Of Operation: Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, New Delhi & international reach across 100+ countries through live, online, instructor-led and self-paced programs
- Duration Of The Program: 9 Months
- Total Number Of Learning Hours: 450+
- Course Fees: ₹ 3,25,000
A global e-learning platform, Edureka offers more than 200 courses in trending technologies. They are a pioneer of the live, instructor-led learning model and offer short and long-term courses supported by online resources and 24×7 lifetime support. They boast of a strong learner community in more than 100 countries.
Parameter 1: Course Content (4.4)
- Comprehensiveness: The Postgraduate Program in Data Science by Edureka in association with the E&ICT Academy, IIT Guwahati covers all aspects of data science right from the foundations to advanced subjects. It starts with an introduction to the basics starting from data science using Python, statistical foundations, machine learning and NLP. It also covers advanced machine learning, AI, deep learning, data mining and more. Individuals are mentored by IITG professors and on course completion, they will receive a PGP certificate making them an alumnus of the E&ICT Academy, IITG.
- Capstone Projects/Internships: Less than 3 months
- Frequency Of Course Updation: Regularly, every year
- Assessing Students At The End Of The Course: Assessment is done on multiple levels. Level 1 includes tests and quizzes. Level 2 consists of a live and industry-standard project, whereas Level 3 comprises the final test and a capstone project after completion of the program.
- Learning Resources: Videos & Downloadable Resources, LMS & Online webinars, Hands-on coding and projects, PDFs, Presentations, Mobile App, Blogs, YouTube Videos, and Community of Experts for Discussions
Parameter 2: Faculty (4.2)
- Total Number Of Faculty Members: 15
- Total Number Of Faculty Members With A PhD (completed): 9
- Percentage of Faculty Members With Industry Experience: 80%
- Student To Faculty Ratio: 15:1
Parameter 3: Student Experience (4.4)
- Percentage Of Students Who Complete The Course: 85%
- Post-completion Engagement: Placement assistance, the alumni network of IITG and Edureka, and thriving community of experts
- Placement Assistance: Assistance through alumni network, resume designing and sharing with job consultants, career counselling and mock interviews, resume building, interview preparation, mock interviews, access to the alumni network, community discussions, floating of job openings in corporate clients and partner companies in learner groups, referring relevant learners to corporate partners as and when requirements arise
Parameter 4: Other Determining Factors (4.3)
- Entry Criteria Of Students: Based on merit & eligibility determined through an interview
- External Collaboration: Edureka has corporate partners such as Cisco, TCS, Infosys, VISA, Wipro, KPMG etc. and educational institutes to promote post-graduate IT training such as with NIT, Warangal and Rourkela and IIT, Guwahati.
The overall rating is 4.32.
9| Executive PGDM in Business Analytics By Vignana Jyothi Institute of Management (VJIM)
- Year Of Inception: 1993
- Cities Of Operation: Hyderabad
- Duration Of The Program: 15 months including Capstone project
- Total Number Of Learning Hours: 560
- Course Fees: ₹ 4,50,000
A business school based out of Hyderabad, VJIM offers Post Graduate Diploma in Management with successful placement record for the last 27 years. The need for insights-based decision making has made it imperative to stay competitive in the market place and the importance to know business analytics. To accomplish the new age requirements, the executive programme by VJIM aims to prepare business leaders in the area of Business Analytics.
Parameter 1: Course Content (4.2)
- Comprehensiveness: The course is suitable for working professionals with a minimum of 2 years of experience. The course content includes various topics such as data visualization, statistics for analytics, various regression, classification, and optimization algorithms to find insights from the data to make critical business decisions.
- Capstone Projects/Internships: Less than 3 months
- Frequency Of Course Updation: Frequently, every new batch
- Assessing Students At The End Of The Course: Every course has a comprehensive assessment scheme that includes, quizzes, assignments, term papers etc.
- Learning Resources: Books, Videos & Downloadable Resources, LMS & Online webinars, Organize industry guest lectures, Analytics/Data Science events in-campus, Hands-on coding and projects
Parameter 2: Faculty (4.1)
- Total Number Of Faculty Members: 12
- Total Number Of Faculty Members With A PhD (completed): 8
- Percentage of Faculty Members With Industry Experience: 80%
- Student To Faculty Ratio: 7:1
Parameter 3: Student Experience (4.0)
- Percentage Of Students Who Complete The Course: It is their first batch
- Post-completion Engagement: Access to the resources via online medium
- Placement Assistance: Resume designing and sharing with job consultants, career counselling and mock interviews, placement opportunities are also provided
Parameter 4: Other Determining Factors (4.2)
- Entry Criteria Of Students: Personal interview
- External Collaboration: They have collaboration with industry experts who visit them periodically to share experiences from the field and various business functions.
The overall rating is 4.12.
10| Post Graduate Certificate Program in Big Data with SAS By N. L. Dalmia Institute of Management Studies & Research
- Year Of Inception: 1995
- Cities Of Operation: Mumbai
- Duration Of The Program: 11 months
- Total Number Of Learning Hours: 480
- Course Fees: ₹ 4.5 Lakh
N. L. Dalmia Institute of Management Studies and Research (NLDIMSR) was established in 1995 by the Late Shri Niranjanlalji Dalmia with the vision to become a world-class management institute. Adhering to its long-term vision and looking at the ever-expanding role of data to make better organizational decisions, they are now offering 11-month PG programme in Big Data and Advanced Analytics with SAS.
Parameter 1: Course Content (4.1)
- Comprehensiveness: The course encompasses SAS programming, introductory statistics, data management & manipulation, data quality, hive & pig, Hadoop, Apache Spark, My SQL, MongoDB, data visualization, ML & AI.
- Capstone Projects/Internships: Less than 3 months
- Frequency Of Course Updation: Regularly, every year
- Assessing Students At The End Of The Course: In-house module base case studies and exams to assess students. Students also go through SAS-2 levels of global examination.
- Learning Resources: Books, videos & downloadable resources, industry guest lectures, in-campus events in-campus, hands-on coding and projects.
Parameter 2: Faculty (4.2)
- Total Number Of Faculty Members: 7
- Total Number Of Faculty Members With A PhD (completed): 3
- Percentage of Faculty Members With Industry Experience: 100
- Student To Faculty Ratio: 10:1
Parameter 3: Student Experience (4.1)
- Percentage Of Students Who Complete The Course: 100%
- Post-completion Engagement: We connect them with our Alumni portal
- Placement Assistance: Guaranteed job placement with the corporate, guaranteed job interview with hiring partner, assistance through an alumni network, resume designing and sharing with job consultants, career counselling and mock interviews, sponsor students to attend industry events and conferences.
Parameter 4: Other Determining Factors (3.9)
- Entry Criteria Of Students: Entrance exam
- External Collaboration: They have a collaboration with SAS Institute for this program.
The overall rating is 4.07.
