True to form, we have resisted the glitter and glam of the Data Science profession, refusing to stop at teaching our students how to fit models and draw actionable insight, and rather go two steps further in helping them gain a solid understanding of the fundamentals at play to support a balance in their ability to create value for all would be employers. Indeed, after months with world class lecturers exposing them to; Statistics problem solving, statistical inference, machine learning fundamentals, and most recently a world class data analysis course co-delivered by the University of Warwick’s Jane Hutton and Julia Mortera of Rome Tri, we this week are returning to the fundamentals of Mathematical Statistics with a five-day intensive workshop with Patrice Takam of the University of Yaounde 1. Renowned for his mathematical regor, Patrice Takam arrived at AIMS-CAMEROON this week to drill the students on Estimation Theory and expose them to advanced notions in parametric and nonparametric Statistics. Promising to enhance their understanding of the origins of the formulas and Mathematical thinking applied in the data churning process, and giving them the recipe for innovative data science practices.

We as an institution committed to solving problems on our continent are not indifferent to either the need for data scientists nor the potential of the field to transform our economies. Yet we must, and we do, insist on the quality of the training of these scientists and not only the quantity.
When we close this academic year, we shall thus send with confidence fifteen data scientists who can design and monitor statistical studies, as well as extract and report actionable insight from the data collected. It will not be surface science, it will be substance and yes, it will be AIMS.