Data Analytics Practice Committee now Data Science Practice Committee
There has been growing demand for knowledge of modern statistical techniques amongst actuarial students, qualified actuaries, and their actuarial employers.
To meet this demand, the Actuaries Institute introduced the following subjects into the actuarial curriculum:
- Data Analytics Principles (DAP): introduced in 2020, this is a compulsory subject taught by universities as part of the Actuary Program (previously Part II); and
- Data Analytics Applications (DAA): introduced in 2021, this is an optional subject taught by the Actuaries Institute as part of the Fellowship Program (previously Part III).
The Data Analytics Practice Committee (DAPC) provided significant input into the syllabus development of these subjects. As such, the names ‘Data Analytics Principles’ and ‘Data Analytics Applications’ seemed fitting at the time.
Recently, the Data Analytics Education Faculty (DAEF) – which now oversees the DAP and DAA subjects – proposed that these subjects be renamed to ‘Data Science Principles’ and ‘Data Science Applications’ respectively. This proposed change by DAEF was agreed to by DAPC.
The content and learning objectives of these subjects plus the holistic approach that actuaries take to solve problems is better aligned to widely used definitions of data science than to data analytics.
Therefore, the DAP and DAA subjects will be renamed to Data Science Principles and Data Science Applications respectively from Semester 1 2023. There is no planned change to the syllabi or content of these subjects as a result of the subject name changes.
From Semester 1 2023, the Institute will also be launching a new Data Science Applications microcredential. This microcredential provides qualified actuaries with access to all the materials contained in the Data Science Applications Fellowship subject.
CPD: Actuaries Institute Members can claim two CPD points for every hour of reading articles on Actuaries Digital.
