OVERVIEW
The department of Statistics and Actuarial Science started as part of the then Mathematics Department from 1960 until 1980 when funding was secured for the construction of the Statistics Block. In 1980, the Statistics Department moved to the Complete Building adjacent to the Mathematics Block and started running many courses for students.
Currently, programmes are offered to students at all levels from diploma through to Ph.D and programme structures are reviewed regularly to respond to the current needs of Ghana, Africa and the rest of the world. The department has moved from the traditional Statistics programme to some non-traditional programmes in Actuarial Science.
The department of Statistics and Actuarial Science currently runs four (4) undergraduate programmes in Statistics and two (2) in Actuarial Science.
The undergraduate programmes in Statistics include:
1. Diploma in Statistics
2. Single Major in Statistics: the student will read majority of courses in Statistics in conjunction with few University required courses
3. Major – Minor in Statistics: the student will read more (Major) Statistics courses and less (Minor) courses in Mathematics,
Computer Science, Economics,
Finance.
4. Combined Major in Statistics: Statistics courses (Major) can be combined with any course (Major) in Mathematics, Computer Science, Economics, and Finance.
The undergraduate programmes in Actuarial Science include:
1. Single Major in Actuarial Science: the student will read mostly Statistics and Actuarial science courses in conjunction with few University required courses.
2. Major-Minor in Actuarial Science: the student will read more Actuarial Science courses (Major) and fewer courses (Minor) in Mathematics, Computer Science, Economics and Finance.
The department also offers masters’ programmes (MSc, MPhil) in Actuarial Science and MPhil in Statistics, and PhD programme in Statistics. The mission of the department is to provide excellent training in scientific data collection, data management, methods and procedures of data analysis. The philosophy is to concentrate learning and training activities on the art of probabilistic reasoning, that is, the logic and principles that should guide rational decision making under conditions of limited information and uncertainty. This philosophy equips our students with skills that all employers consider desirable. The expectation is that excellent training in Statistics will inspire rational decision making in all areas of social, commercial and scientific pursuits and minimize if not eliminate superstitious explanation.
Short courses are also run regularly for non-statisticians who use statistics regularly in their workplaces. Some beneficiaries of such courses are Medical Doctors, Pharmacists, Physicists, Chemists, Psychologists, Researchers, Bankers, Nurses, project officers, Lecturers, Teachers and many more.
The current research focus of Faculty and Postgraduate students are in Applied Times Series Analysis, Image Processing/ Facial Recognition, Biostatistical Modelling, Extreme Value Modelling, Statistical Inference on Complex Networks, Mathematical Statistics, Demography, and Large Deviation Theory and its applications in Finance, Risk Management, Insurance, Information Science and Decision Science.
The graduate from our undergraduate programme can fit into the following:
• Developing econometrics, time series and forecasting models for determining the cause and effects of various socio-economic variables on society.
• Measuring and managing risk and uncertainty; and advising on investment.
• Designing financial contracts
• Teaching
• Serving as a pollster, demographer and market researcher.
• Developing theories in conjunction with psychologists.
• Consulting in design of experiments and analyses of data in the fields such as medicine, agriculture, environmental science, energy related studies, evaluation of new drugs in pharmacy, among several other fields.
• Proceed for graduate studies in order to increase their career opportunities.