La Salle-URL, an internationally prestigious campus with four university centers, launches a new Bachelor Degree in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science for the 24-25 academic year. The program arrives at a time of full technological revolution, in which artificial intelligence (AI) is shaping the beginning of a new era of profound changes. This new Bachelor is born thanks to the long experience of La Salle-URL in university training and research of excellence in technology and engineering, areas in which it is a benchmark with an innovative offer that adjusts to the needs of the labor market and helps to provide response to the social challenges of the present and future.
Society, aware of the impact of artificial intelligence, already needs the existence of expert professionals in the field, natively trained to understand all its aspects, its countless applications and, at the same time, its implications. The Bachelor in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science responds to this demand and, based on the humanistic base of the La Salle-URL campus, to educate professionals in AI and data science who will promote its responsible use from a perspective of ethical responsibility. The program will educate students in technological skills and knowledge, but will also teach best practices for understanding the moral considerations of implementing these technologies in any field.
“We want to help overcome the challenges that arise with the emergence and unstoppable influence of artificial intelligence. With a critical and creative mindset, graduates of our Bachelor in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science will promote ethical use of AI and will be its best ambassadors and experts,” explains Guiomar Corral, director of the La Salle Digital Engineering School, the center that will teach the program. Graduates will have a solid foundation in computer science, machine learning, natural language processing, computer vision, algorithms, deep learning, data mining, statistical methods and many other techniques, while developing skills to understand related ethical considerations with bias, privacy and accountability.
The only university program in Catalonia that combines AI and data science
The Bachelor in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, in the process of being accredited as an official degree, is the first university program in Catalonia that will simultaneously train in artificial intelligence and data science, two technologies closely linked based on algorithms, the machine learning and data processing. Data science is a critical component in the development of AI and, therefore, students will have the training to be able to combine both areas to improve the application of artificial intelligence.
The program will be taught 100% in English and over four years, and will include two study trips to two world technology capitals to help understand the dimension of the sector on a global scale. This global approach is typical of all La Salle-URL studies, which trains experts capable of operating in an interconnected world and of being successful in any cultural and professional environment. Graduates will be able to develop their careers in sectors such as health, energy, commerce, finance, administrations, marketing and logistics, among many others, and will have dozens of possible career opportunities: AI experts, engineers in machine learning, AI scientists and researchers, AI consultants, data scientists, data analysts, data engineers, AI developers and analysts for companies and many others.
During their training path, students will learn from day one from real practical cases and working on transversal projects —some of them based on the Sustainable Development Goals— with students from other disciplines on campus. The program is taught in small groups to encourage personalized support for the student and brings them closer to the reality of the company with visits and special sessions with leading companies in their sectors, some of them members of the Corporate Board Council of La Salle-URL, a business council formed by more than thirty top-level institutions that works to promote entrepreneurship and economic-social cooperation to positively impact society as a whole.