• With the increasing, international focus on evidence based policy formulation and investigative analysis, national policy-makers and the regional and international development community have become increasingly aware that good statistics and relevant research are part of the enabling environment for development.
• Strengthening statistical capacity is essential to support the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of research and development strategies, and pursuit of the millennium development goals.
• Few things are as important for development as the availability of data. Without data there can be no needs assessments and research. It will scarcely be possible to design effective policies or to implement, monitor and evaluate them. Data are not important only for governments. Democracy implies transparency of government actions and the accountability of governments to society. The availability of data from reliable sources is a step towards achievement of these ideals.

Course Outline

This programme is designed for a graduate on completion  to  be able to:

 ·         Design and conduct independent  surveys and  experiments and Prepare research reports.

·         Identify appropriate statistical methods of data analysis to solve various practical problems.

·         Carry out operations research and optimization.

·         Advise on improving the quality of products and services in business and industry.

·         Collect and make available national income statistics and other aspects of the economy from  individual businesses through to national   economies.

• • Design and analyze clinical trials and epidemiological studies.
  • Serve as a tool to carry out environmental monitoring, water quality control, species management etc.
  • Design investment strategies and managing risks.
  • Analyze and produce official statistics for decision making and policy formulations.
  • Capable of conducting studies of the financial sector

 Why Should I Study Statistics?

Statistical Thinking will one day be as necessary for efficient citizenship as the ability to read and write. - H.G. Wells

Who needs statistics in the 21st century?

1. Anyone who wants to be able to look critically at  numerical information and not be misled.

2. Anyone who has problems to solve, and but   not be able to solve them until they find out a little more about the world and how it operates.

Such problems include finding ways to make a business more profitable right through to improving living standards and fighting cancer. Investigative questioning, designing ways to collect data to answer these questions, collecting data itself and making sense of what that data says to produce reliable answers, this is the subject matter of statistics.

Entry  Requirements:

Grade 12 with FIVE (‘0’) levels including Mathematics and English or

Diploma in  Statistics or Mathematics major from a recognized  Institution or  the equivalent to (1) or (2) above.

Entry Point

 candidates in (1) above enter as Year I

 Candidates in (2) above enter in Year II

 Target Group

Grade 12 school leavers, low to middle professional staff at National statistical offices, in Government Ministries, Central Banks and other institutions within the National Statistical System going beyond, SADC member states could also become the main beneficiaries of this programme.