Strong start for government trainees with UU data programme

Commissioned by the Ministry of the Interior, the Faculty of Science developed a training programme for central government trainees in co-creation with the ministry. These young professionals are being prepared for a career as data professionals within the government. After a tender, Utrecht University was selected to provide this programme four times in 2023.

The programme is made up of three clusters of three to four course days each. The first cluster is all about onboarding. Programme coordinator Georg Krempl explains: “The group of trainees is very diverse. Some have a master’s degree in data science, AI, mathematics or statistics. Others followed elective courses in this field and a third group is coming into real contact with data for the first time.”

The course starts with an introductory day, followed by four half-day sessions, each covering a different topic: programming in R and Python, extracting data from databases with SQL, statistics and machine learning, and using large language models such as Chat GPT. ‘For those who cannot yet program, interacting with these models is particularly instructive,’ says Krempl. “Shortly after the launch of ChatGPT, we included it in the programme. It’s important that participants learn how to use this tool and what the pitfalls are. If you don’t ask the right question, you get bad code.”

The second cluster - called Nurturing - forms the core of the programme. In it, trainees receive in-depth modules on computer science, ethics, methods and statistics. In the third cluster - called Inspiring - trainees delve even deeper into the subject matter, covering related topics such as data-intensive systems, cloud computing and natural language processing. On the last day, they discuss a self-chosen issue with experts from the university. Krempl: “We ensure a strong link between theory and its application. The trainees are interested in good examples from practice. That is why we share plenty of best practices in the programme, so they can immediately apply them in their work.”

Is the above course also of added value for you and your colleagues? We would be happy to discuss the possibilities with you, for more information contact Georg Krempl.