LUCKNOW, June 15 -- The Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT Kanpur) has approved the establishment of a dedicated department of statistics and data science, to strengthen education, research, and innovation in one of the most rapidly evolving scientific domains, a communication from the institute read.

The newly established department will bring together IIT Kanpur's existing academic programmes in the field, including the BS-MS programmes in statistics and data science, the MSc programme in statistics, and the PhD programme in statistics.

"A need was felt for a separate department as the institute was running a couple of programmes. The proposal was moved and it was approved by the Senate and the board of governors. Now 12-13 fa...