The University of Virginia is one step closer to opening its School of Data Science. Yesterday, the school’s Faculty Senate approved the school’s general structure. Consequently, the next step is to gain approval from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV).
After that, assuming SCHEV approves the proposal of course, the Faculty Senate can create the specific degrees the new school will award. Currently, we expect the data science school will award both undergraduate and graduate degrees. The school will commence operations in the 2021-2022 school year.
Data science is a hot field. Employer demand is well documented. While the school plans to start with only 25 undergraduate students, the current plans are to ramp up to 100 by 2023-2024. We anticipate this new school will have a low acceptance rate once it opens.
