The term has been in use for several decades but has gained currency as enterprises have become awash in a sea of data, funneled into databases by a wide variety of new customer-facing applications, particularly mobile apps. Data science, though, can be applied to small data sets as well as the “big data” generated by mass-scale applications. Advertisement One of the newest data science programmes in sub-Saharan Africa is the School for Data Science and Computational Thinking at Stellenbosch University (SU) in South Africa, opened in July 2019 with the goal of “blazing new trails in what is still largely uncharted territory,” according to Wim Delva, who was acting director at the school at the time. The programme highlights a multidisciplinary approach embracing subjects including mathematics, computer science, mathematical statistics and AI.