Consortium for Training Experts in Statistical Sciences

The Consortium for Training Experts in Statistical Sciences comprises the Institute of Statistical Mathematics of the Research Organization of Information and Systems (hereinafter referred to as “ISM”; Location: Tachikawa City, Tokyo, Director-General: Hiroe Tsubaki) as its core institution; departments and institutes from 21 universities as its participating institutions; and five universities that will cooperate in the project as its cooperating institutions. The consortium serves as the basis for promoting the Project for Training Experts in Statistical Sciences, which promotes the training and development of statistics professors and experts in statistical sciences, primarily through graduate school education.

Through the activities of the consortium as well as the human resource development at each university to which these university statistics professors will belong, we aim to develop at least 30 university statistics professors^*1 in the next five years and approximately 500 experts in statistical sciences^*2 in the next ten years.

• *1. Human resources holding a doctoral degree in their respective fields of specialisation and having advanced knowledge and skills in the field of statistics, who are capable of delivering lectures on statistics at the master’s level and supervising research utilising statistics.
• *2. Human resources who can contribute to academic research and industry by utilising statistics. The participating institutions (e.g., universities) in this project will train and develop experts in statistical sciences at the master’s level.

To utilise data in the post-COVID society, human resources capable of analysing a massive amount of data using statistical methods are essential. In addition, among other requirements, there is an increasing demand for real-time big data analysis, which cannot be addressed without sufficient grounding in statistics.

Although other countries have already established educational systems to develop human resources specialising in the field of data science, Japan has only started its efforts. In particular, there is a serious shortage of specialised professors in the field of statistics at universities. Thus, the training of several high-quality, specialised professors is an urgent issue (as of 2019, there were 177 universities with departments of statistics in the United States, and only five universities with departments of statistics in Japan).

To respond to this exigency, it is necessary to promote research in interdisciplinary fields, using statistics that contribute to innovations in big data and artificial intelligence, which are essential for achieving Society 5.0. In addition, it is necessary to establish a system (ecosystem for training experts in statistical sciences) in which trained expert human resources (university statistics professors) play a central role at universities and in other settings to develop and disseminate education and research activities related to statistics and interdisciplinary fields.

To this end, the Basic Policy for Economic and Fiscal Management and Reform 2020 (approved by the Cabinet on 17 July 2020) states that the government should “develop a system for the early training of specialist professors in data science education and statistics.” Thus, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) has established a public recruitment project, “FY2021 Project for Training Experts in Statistical Sciences” (FY2021 Grant-in-Aid Project for Research Hubs for the Social Implementation of Artificial Intelligence and Other Related Technologies).

In collaboration with universities and other organisations throughout Japan, ISM has prepared to establish a consortium and have applied for this project, which was accepted on 22 June 2021.

ISM, as the core institution, will conduct three two-year “Statistics Professors Training Programs,” during the five-year project period to train young researchers (e.g., assistant professors and post-doctoral fellows) in various academic fields to become university faculty members, who can provide the latest statistical education and statistical research guidance. ISM will also develop and provide a system for training experts in statistical sciences to produce master-level experts in statistical sciences.

Participating universities and other institutions will send young researchers to this training program. In addition, with the support of the core institutions and in collaboration with the young researchers concerned, a system to foster experts in statistical sciences within the participating institutions will be established and operated.

Through these efforts, over the next five years, the consortium aims to train at least 30 university statistics professors to teach statistics and approximately 500 experts in statistical sciences over the next ten years (including the next five years), at each university to which these university statistics professors would belong.

Self-inspection is intended to improve the quality of Consortium activities by self-inspection of the Consortium for Training Experts in Statistical Sciences activity status centered on the initial project period (July 2021 to September 2022). They will also be reflected on the future initiatives, such as the second-term program for training statistics professors (April 2023) and consortium management. This will contribute to examining measures for the smooth and effective achievement of the objectives of the Consortium.