In the Action Plan of the International Open Data Conference, capacity development has become a priority within the international open data movement. After all, the need for training tools is essential for leaders responsible for PSI policies, data producers and reusers, public and private sector, and even citizens. For this reason, providing training tools that allow the different agents to advance in the openness and re-use of public data is a priority task.

To this end, eight training units have been developed within the dissemination, awareness raising and training line of Iniciativa Aporta, aimed at all types of public: from citizens who read for the first time about open data to public employees, responsible for open information initiatives who want to expand their knowledge in the field. 

The training units are designed to understand the basic concepts of the open data movement, to know best practices in the implementation of open data policies and their re-use, methodological guidelines for open data, technical regulations such as DCAT-AP and NTI-RISP, in addition to the use of data processing tools, among other aspects.

In the development of resources, two types of learning have been taken into account. Learning by discovery, oriented to extend the knowledge to solve the doubts and reflections raised, and significant learning based on prior knowledge, through the use of practical examples to contextualize and apply the concepts treated.

In addition, the training modules contain complementary materials through links to external pages and documents to be downloaded without connection. In this way, the student is given the opportunity to enhance his knowledge and familiarize himself with relevant sources to obtain reliable and up-to-date information about the open data sector.

All units are distributed under the Creative Commons Share-Alike Attribution Licence (CC-BY-SA) which allows copying, distributing the material in any medium or format and adapting it to create new resources from it.

The training material developed by Iniciativa Aporta consists of eight didactic units that address the following contents of the open data sector: 

1. Basic concepts, benefits and barriers of open data
2. Legal framework
3. Trends and best practices on the implementation of open data practices
4. The re-use of public data on its transformative role
5. Methodological guidelines for open data
6. DCAT-AP and NTI-RISP
7. Use of basic tools for data treatment
8. Best practices in the design of APIs and Linked Data

Each unit is designed in a way the student expands his knowledge on the open data sector. In order to facilitate their understanding, all of them have a similar structure that includes objectives, contents, evaluation activities, practical examples, complementary information and conclusions.

All the training units can be done online, directly from the datos.gob.es or, in its absence, it is also possible to download them on the user's device and even load it on an LMS platform.

Each unit is independent; enabling the student to acquire the necessary knowledge in a specific subject according to their training needs. However, those students who wish to have a more complete view of the PSI sector have the opportunity to perform the complete series of eight training units in order to know in depth the most relevant aspects of open data initiatives.

The training units are available in the "Documentation" section under the category "Training materials" to be carried out through the online portal or to be downloaded. 

Training materials of the Aporta Initiative

 

Once again, Barcelona City Council is organising the Barcelona Dades Obertes Challenge, now in its fourth year. The aim of this competition is to bring the benefits of open data closer and to promote its use in the city's educational centres.

What does the challenge consist of? This year there are new changes!

Like last year's edition, this is a competition for the city's students to develop real projects of analysis and/or interpretation, based on the use of datasets included in the Open Data BCN portal.

The main objective of this initiative is for students to acquire a critical vision when proposing improvements related to the city and its citizens, while discovering the potential and usefulness of open data.

Un año más, el Ayuntamiento de Barcelona vuelve a organizar el Reto Barcelona Dades Obertes, que cumple ya su cuarta edición. Este concurso tiene como finalidad acercar los beneficios de los datos abiertos y promover su uso en los centros educativos de la ciudad.

What are the differences from the previous edition?

The exceptional circumstances we are currently experiencing mean that the Barcelona Dades Obertes 2021 Challenge has to be adapted to a new context that is committed to digitisation. Therefore, this will be the modality chosen both for the training of the teaching staff and for the presentation of the students' work.

Another novelty is that this year other open datasets can also be used, in addition to those published on the Open Data BCN portal.

Who can participate?

The competition is aimed at students in the 3rd and 4th year of ESO, as well as students in training courses at schools in the city of Barcelona.

In addition, those teachers can take advantage of a specific training plan on open data that focuses on learning general open data concepts, the Open Data BCN portal and tools for processing and representing data.

Procedure and deadlines for submission of applications

Participating schools must submit a single project chosen from all those prepared by their students. This will represent them and will be evaluated by the competition jury, according to the established criteria.

The deadline for the presentation of the works will open on 12 April 2021 and will end on 30 April 2021. The finalist projects will be announced on 18 May 2021.

The representatives of the 10 best projects will also be invited to the award ceremony to be held from 24 to 30 May 2021.

Discover some of the finalist projects of the 2020 edition

Those centres that wish to participate can draw inspiration from the work presented in previous years. In the first edition, which dates from 2018, the project "La cohesió social va per barris" (Social cohesion goes by neighbourhoods) was highlighted. This project analysed the social cohesion indices (SCI) of the different neighbourhoods of the city, thus allowing a comparison of inequalities. In the second edition, the first prize went to "La gentrificació als barris a Barcelona" (Gentrification in the neighbourhoods in Barcelona), which showed the process of urban transformation caused by strategic speculative actions.

The third edition of the Barcelona Dades Obertes 2020 Challenge was held virtually because of the exceptional circumstances present at that time. In this case there was no winning project, but rather, as it was a unique edition, all the projects were considered finalists just for the fact of participating. All were evaluated by the jury of experts, whose assessment can be seen in this link.

How can I participate?

Although the deadline for submitting entries will not open until next year - 12 April 2021, as mentioned above -, several centres have already registered to participate in the specific training plan for open data of the Barcelona Open Data Challenge Fourth edition 2021. Registration for the training remains open and is being carried out via the Barcelona Education Consortium. Likewise, the centres can present a project to the competition without previous attendance to the training as it is not an obligatory requirement.

You can follow all the information about the Barcelona Dades Obertes Challenge on twitter under hashtag #OpenDataBCN. Also, if you have any doubt or question you can contact the organization through this form.

In order to continue with the dissemination of geographical knowledge in society and to encourage the study of Spanish geography and the interaction of young people, the National Geographic Institute (IGN) has created a series of educational materials aimed at secondary and high school students. To create these contents, the IGN has used their own geographic data, that are shared openly in its Download Center, and maps from its viewers, such as the Interactive National Atlas of Spain.

With these training materials, the IGN aims to provide interesting and attractive information on Spanish geography in an interactive way for young people to become familiar with cartographic systems, maps, coordinates, etc.

Until now, these materials were available in Spanish, but now they can also be found in English, to continue strengthening materials in bilingual education and, at the same time, contributing to their dissemination beyond our borders.

Specifically, these 4 contents have been translated:

1. Territorial inequalities

The activity on territorial inequalities is focused on students between 16 and 18 years old (Bachillerato). The objective is to show in a synthesized way and from different perspectives how human occupation, communication infrastructures or the physical environment (north/south, inland/coast, lowlands/mountains, mainland/islands...) generate a series of differences that characterize the current Spanish society and that are manifested at different scales.

This interactive and educational resource will analyse the territorial inequalities of Spain as a historical process in which economic, political, social and geographical factors come together. For this purpose, data and maps are used not only from the IGN, but also from different entities such as the INE.

2. Economy and urban features

This new activity aimed at high school students is especially focused on knowing the economic characteristics that define 5 Spanish towns (Villablino, Benidorm, El Ejido, Avilés and Zaragoza). In order to study each of them and know their main economic activity, the student must answer several questions by researching through different resources such as: maps, photographs, orthoimages, graphics...

The aim of this exercise is for young people to obtain all the information through the Internet and the different platforms, such as the Geoportal of the National Atlas of Spain, in addition to the topographic resources offered by the National Geographic Institute. What is the ultimate goal? To show students, in the most interactive way, the endless documentation and public information available to citizens and through which they can recognize the characteristics of Spanish populations and learn to distinguish them according to their predominant function.

3. Physical environment and settlement

The third activity is a new exercise in which students between 12 and 16 years old (Secondary) must look for information in several maps to solve the issues raised in the activity.

They must answer questions about why the city has a certain organization, how it is oriented, the layout of its streets and what the reasons are that justify its urban morphology. To answer the questions, they have a series of IGN geolocation services to make the search. These are: CartoCiudad to search for postal codes, streets or house numbers, and the Basic Geographic Nomenclature of Spain for population entities, municipalities and all the toponyms of the country.

4. Spain, 8,000 kilometres of coastline

The following activity delves into the study of the Spanish coastal landscape through definitions, photographs, geographic displays and the use of maps using the National Geographic Information System of Spain (SignA) of the IGN. The exercise, aimed mainly at high school students, tries to show students the different geographical features that are characteristic of the Spanish coast (estuaries, deltas ...), through the management of coordinates in the application SignA.

The "Practical Guide to Publishing Open Data using APIs" is the second document in the series, which began in March with the publication of a first volume dedicated to the publication of tabular data in CSV files. In the coming months we will continue publishing content in our effort to facilitate the opening of data and its reuse.

The adoption of innovative technologies could bring great competitive advantages for companies, optimizing processes, improving the customer experience and even creating new products and services. Therefore, an increasing number of organizations demand professionals with knowledge in areas such as data analytics, business intelligence or Deep Learning, but where can we find qualified personnel who can lead and execute these initiatives?

According to a report elaboreted by the consulting firm B-Talent, 87% of surveyed companies think that there is a lack of qualified personnel to implement digital transformation in Spain. In the specific case of Big Data, we have already written about the lack of talent, highlighted in Generación de talento Big Data en España report: on 2015 the number of vacancies for Big Data professionals grew by 93%, but there were only seven candidates, on average, per vacancy. In addition, the situation is expected to get worse. In the next two or three years (2020-2021), Big Data analyst will be the most difficult position to fill in Spain.

The fact that there is no personnel prepared to face the new professional challenges is due, among other reasons, to the scarcity of educational offer. As COTEC indicated in the report, education is the main pillar to generate talent. Therefore, in order to avoid steps that could inflame the situation, it is necessary to adapt academic programs, so the new generations would have the required training in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, known as STEM.

Universities and schools are trying to quickly update their offer to face this situation. In our country, training related to new technologies is beginning to emerge, such as the Degree in Science and Data Engineering of Carlos III University of Madrid or the Master in Artificial Intelligence at the University of Barcelona. But the lack of specialized teachers, as well as documentation related to these subjects, hinders the creation of new courses.

MOOC, the alternative to traditional training

In this context, MOOC courses (Massive Online Open Courses) are positioned as a good academic alternative for those professionals who want to acquire or improve their skills. A MOOC is an online course that allow free and unlimited access to content.

Usually accessible from mobile devices, tablets and computers, MOOCs allow a personalized and flexible training through a mix of different specialized courses. The wide offer includes different duration courses, both for beginners and experts who want to delve a little deeper into their abilities.

Two types of platforms can be differentiated: those belonging to academic centers, with their own digital training offer, such as HarvardX, and general-purpose platforms, with agreements with different university centers, foundations and companies, such as edX, Coursera or Udacity. The objective of these platforms is to democratize access to quality training for free or at competitive prices.

The main characteristics of each of these platforms are described below:

• Coursera

Founded in 2011 by Stanford academics, Coursera offers more than 2,000 general programs, more than 180 specializations and 4 online degrees, all of them focused on business, computer science and data science, through nearly 150 partner universities. Those courses include video lectures previously recorded with subtitles in more than 30 languages, real business cases projects, self-assessments and community discussion forums. A strength point is the academic and technical support by dedicated community of course mentors and the knowledgeable learner support team.

• EDX

EDX was created in 2012, thanks to Harvard University and MIT collaboration, as a non-profit organization based on open standards. EDX offers almost 2,000 courses in IT, languages, engineering, psychology, writing, electronics, biology or marketing, with specialties in Data Science or Deep Learning. They highlights MicroMasters programs, offered by prestigious universities and recognized by relevant companies such as IBM or Volvo.

• Udacity

Founded in 2012 by professionals previously linked to universities such as Stanford and companies like Google, it has eight million students worldwide. Udacity offers value training through free courses and its Nanodegree program: small masters oriented to avant-garde skills that have been designed together with leading companies in global innovation, such as Google, IBM, Facebook or Amazon. Udacity even has a Nanodegree Plus program, which guarantees a job (if a student does not get a job after six months after, the registration fee is refunded). Among its courses, there is a Data Science, Analytics or Virtual Reality Offer.

These are just three examples of the possibilities offered by this type of training platform, but there are more - some examples are included in the aforementioned report. Among other factors such as flexibility, its success is due to the fact that they can provide deeper specialization, difficult to find nowadays in other scenarios.

Even when universities and study centers expand their offer in data analysis and innovation technology, this kind of courses will not disappear: they just will be part of those new plans or an alternative to complete knowledge through micro-courses, accessible from any corner of the planet.

Based on the idea that “the future reusers are, nowadays, in schools”, the Barcelona City Council organizes, once again, the Barcelona Dades Obertes Challenge, a contest with a high social impact whose main objective is to bring open data benefits closer to students and thus increase the number of people with open data knowledge and skills, taking advantage of all the benefits that entails. And it is aimed at the youngest citizens, from very soon.

What does it consist of?

The Barcelona Dades Obertes Challenge Third edition 2020 is a contest where students will have to develop real analysis and / or interpretation projects, using data sets from the Open Data BCN portal. It is intended that students apply their critical vision to suggest improvements that affect the city and the lives of its inhabitants, while discovering the potential of open data.

In addition to the Barcelona City Council, other organism that participate in the organization of the Barcelona Dades Obertes Challenge are: the Consorci d'Educació de Barcelona, ​​the Center for Specific Pedagogical Resources for Support to the Innovation and Educational Research (CESIRE) and Barcelona Activa S.A.

Who can participate?

The contest is aimed, mainly, at students from the 3rd and 4th grades of the E.S.O., and students from formative courses, prioritizing public funding centres. Participation takes place through their teachers, without restrictions by the subject they teach.

Teachers who wish can take part in a volunteer training program. There are currently 12 centers enrolled in this course, which includes training on general open data concepts, the Open Data BCN portal and tools for the treatment of data.

What is the deadline for submitting projects?

The deadline for submitting applications will open on February 17 and close on April 17, 2020.

Each centre will participate with only one project which will be evaluated by the jury of experts in the field. This jury will select a maximum of 10 projects from all the proposals received.

The students of the selected centers will have to defend their project before the jury in a final act that will be held on May 7, 2020, where the 3 finalists will be chosen.

Are you looking for inspiration? Discover the finalist projects of the 2 previous editions

The previous editions of the Barcelona Dades obertes Challenge were a success. 14 educational centers participated, more than 40 teachers and about 500 students who demonstrated their ability to acquire new knowledge and the educational opportunities offered by open data, presenting all projects of high quality and interest.

The first year, the winner was the Institut Ferran Tallada, with a work titled "Social cohesion goes by neighborhoods" that analyze social cohesion indexes (ICS) to measure and compare the city inequalities by districts. You can watch the video summary here.

The second year, the Institut Vila de Gràcia won the main award, thanks to the project “Gentrification in the neighborhoods in Barcelona”. This project showed the process of urban transformation caused by the phenomenon of gentrification, using datasets such as the number of inhabitants who leave their neighborhoods or the rent variation in € / m2. The projects of the EAT Institut Lluïsa Cura and the Institut Joan Brossa won a deserved second and third prize. You can watch the video summary here.

How can I participate?

The registration period is not yet open although the rules will be published shortly and then the call. From Barcelona City Council and datos.gob.es we will inform you of all the news that may arise.

You can follow all the information about the Barcelona Dades Obertes Challenge on twitter under the #OpenDataBCN hashtag.

The European Open Data Portal (data.europa.eu) academy makes an online training programme available  to citizens for those interested in developing their skills in open data. These free access materials allow you to become familiar with the ecosystem from different angles: basic concepts, legal frameworks, emerging trends, success stories or good practices of publication and reuse. These free access materials allow you to become familiar with the open data ecosystem from different angles: basic concepts, legal frameworks, emerging trends, success stories or good practices of publication and reuse.

Who are they for?

The data.europa academy courses are aimed at professionals and organisations working with public data in Europe – especially administrations, academic institutions and entities that publish, manage or reuse open data – but also anyone interested in understanding how data can drive transparency, innovation and decision-making.

In addition, they are designed for different levels of experience, from those who are new to the basics to specialists who seek to delve into legal, technical or quality aspects, which allows very diverse profiles to find a training path adapted to their needs.

How are the courses organized?

The training materials are organized by theme:

• Policy
• Legal
• Quality
• Business
• Impact
• Communication
• Portal

Figure 1. Training materials from the European open data portal. Source: data.europa.eu.

For each subject, various materials are available:  readings, videos, tools, webinars, quizzes, etc. that seek to help understand, use, and share open data effectively. 

As mentioned previously, courses are divided by experience level (beginner, intermediate, or advanced). Users can also filter by the audience they are targeting (data providers, developers, journalists, etc.), as well as subject matter or format.

Users can choose to follow an entire theme or select specific content based on their interests. This flexibility allows training to be adapted to different professional needs.

In addition, from 2026 a series of learning paths are available designed as structured training paths that group content from various subject areas in a logical and progressive order for different purposes.

Digital Certificates & Badges

One of the most valued aspects of the training itineraries is the possibility of obtaining official certificates that allow the skills acquired to be formally accredited. These certificates are available for the various itineraries. To achieve them, all you have to do is complete all the modules of the course, pass the final evaluation and download the certificate generated at the end.

Along with these recognitions, the platform also offers digital badges that are unlocked as the content progresses. These badges can be incorporated into professional profiles and serve as clear and verifiable evidence of mastery in different areas related to open data.

Figure 2. Free training process in open data via data.europe.eu. Source: data.europa.eu.

The training offer does not stop in summer. Those who want to take advantage of their holidays to continue acquiring knowledge have a large number and variety of courses that cover all imaginable topics, from languages or technology tools, to theater or workshops related to social aspects. And among these issues, we could find data.

Each year, summer courses related to open data, data science or analytics grow, which demonstrates citizens interest to be trained in these subjects; something that is not surprising considering the high demand of professional with these capabilities. This year we see that courses leaves general topics to focus on more specific aspects: the importance of geographic data, the use of specific analysis and programming tools, the impact of data in specific sectors, or the advantages of data journalism to fight against false news.

In datos.gob.es we have selected some examples to illustrate this trend:

• The Summer School of the Complutense has launched the 6th edition of its course on Big & Open Data. Analysis and programming with R and Python. To attend this course, no prior knowledge is necessary. The syllabus begins with basic aspects related to Big Data, open data and open government, in order to deepen in key aspects of the development of this type of projects: the collection and integration of massive data, NoSQL databases, Paradigm MapReduce, Big Data architecture or data analysis with R or Python, among other issues. The course takes place from July 8 to 26.
• For its part, the Public University of Navarre organizes, together with the City Council of Pamplona and the Government of Navarra, a course on Geographic Information Systems and Open Data, from June 19 to 21. The course is divided into two clearly differentiated parts: a first part aimed at general public interested in open data policies and their implications; and a second part more practical aimed at professionals with basic knowledge of programming skills, interested in Geographic Information Systems tools.
• The Polytechnic University of Valencia has launched a new edition of the Summer School of Transparency and Data Management Chair. During three days, from June 19 to 21, a series of workshops will be focused on fake news. Through examples and case studies, students can learn to detect false information in different contexts: social networks, news or visualizations. In addition, the influence of these contents among public opinion will be discussed.
• The International University of Andalusia offers, from 10 to 12 July, a Journalism on research, data and reporting workshop, organized together with El Confidencial and Unicaja Banco. The course will discuss transparency, combative journalism, and also post-truth and fake news. It is aimed at students of journalism and communication, but any citizen interested in the subject can also participate.
• The University of Malaga organizes a course entitled Data protection and transparency: conflicts and balance. The course will take place from July 17 to 19, and will analyze the regulation on data protection contained in the General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union and the Law of transparency, access to public information and good governance. The objective is to address the conflicts between data protection and the right of access to information, to offer some guidelines that help achieve a balance between both rights.
• The Autonomous University of Madrid has launched the Big Data course in the agri-food sector. Fundamentals and applications, from July 22 to 24. The course aims to show a complete view of the competitive advantages that Big Data brings to the sector, as well as to teach students to exploit and extract value from data obtained through remote sensor or IoT devices.
• Finally, the University of Barcelona offers, from July 1 to 5, the course Lights and shadows of the massive data, where the role of data in the health sector is analyzed. Among other questions, the course will try to respond to the following statements: What are massive data and how do they originate? How do they affect society and innovation? Is privacy a problem to work with massive data in the health sector? What is Deep Learning?

In addition to these courses, in datos.gob.es you can also find a series of training materials that will help you acquire more knowledge about open data.

Analytical skills, data management, or knowledge of business intelligence tools ... These are just some of the terms that we surely find repeated if we perform a quick search in the most popular job portals.

Data has become a fundamental element of our economy, and it is not surprising that companies increasingly demand more profiles with these capabilities. Specific profiles are searched (as data scientists), as well as multidisciplinary professionals that encompass different areas of knowledge. One of these areas is data. In addition, even if you are already a professional with knowledge in this area, data is a constantly evolving field, so updating your knowledge is necessary to be up-to-day of new trends and techniques.

A few months ago, datos.gob.es made a compilation of some degrees, masters and courses to acquire or improve data management and analysis capabilities. In the article, we talked about the shortage of talent in these areas. As we commented, the offer does not stop growing, reason why we have considered appropriate to make a new compilation:

• Carlos III University of Madrid has been one of the pioneers in training options for data analysis. The University offers two masters (Master in Big Data Analytics and Master in Statistics for Data Science) that are taught entirely in English, aimed at people with knowledge of Computer Science, statistics or mathematics who want to improve their knowledge. In addition, it also offers two degrees: Degree in Data Science and Engineering and Degree in Statistics and Business. While the fist one emphasizes new digital technology tools, including statistics, artificial intelligence or machine learning, the second one is more focused on the business sector and the training of professionals with quantitative skills, capable of transforming data into useful information for decision making in sectors such as finance, banking, insurance or business consulting.

• The Universitat Oberta de Catalunya also offers a Degree in Applied Data Science, with the aim of training experts in the capture, analysis and visualization of data. Students will acquire knowledge of programming, mathematics, statistics, and management, essential to creatively develop their activity as a data scientist. This center also offers a Master's Degree in Data Science, to train expert professionals in data analysis, whether in big data environments, word processing, analysis of social networks or data in geolocalized environments. Its offer of shorter courses also highlight: specialized in specific subjects such as Python Programming for Data Science or Fundamentals of Business Intelligence.

• The University of Deusto has a Big Data and Business Intelligence Program aimed at a heterogeneous audience: 50% of its students come from t business area and the remaining 50% are technical profiles. Its objective is to train professionals capable of completing complete data analysis cycles (extraction, management, processing (ETL) and visualization) to offer business intelligence services to organizations, companies and individuals.

• The University of Valencia has developed a Data Science Degree and a University Master in Data Science. Both courses cover from the exploratory analysis of data to techniques of advanced visualization or machine learning.
• In addition, business schools specializing in Big Data, Data Science and Artificial Intelligence technologies such as MBIT School are emerging. Its training offer is divided into Master Executive Programs, for people seeking a change through new knowledge, Expert Programs, to acquire knowledge in a specific area through their business application, and specific Programs designed to provide concrete knowledge in a reduced time and in a practical way. Some examples are the executive master in data science for professionals or the expert program in artificial intelligence for the company. The methodology that follows is the “learning by doing”: the students have theoretical-practical classes whit sets of real data to apply the different algorithms / concepts that are taught during the classes.

• Highlight also the training offer of organizations such as the Barcelona Open Data Initiative, the ODI node in Catalonia, which offers degrees in open data with internationally recognized certification. Through Open Data School Barcelona, ​​2 certificates are offered: Higher Certificate in Governance, oriented to the application of open data in public administration, and the Professional Degree in Data Journalism, aimed at journalists who want to learn how to transform data into information of public interest.

This is just a selection, but there are many more options. We encourage you to share in the comments other courses, masters or degrees related to data that you consider of interest.

Data is one of the main forces that move our economic and social environment. The data allow us to make better decisions at the right time and place, make predictions about how a market will change or know the impact of the last measures . Therefore, more and more companies and organizations seek to develop a strategy based on data, but they find a problem: they need professionals who know how to capture, integrate, analyze and extract value from different sources of information, both public and private.

The shortage of talent is one of the main challenges that organizations have to face when talking about data management and analysis. As the report Generation of Big Data talent in Spain, carried out by the Fundación Cotec para la Innovación,already indicated, there is a growing demand for professionals specialized in fields such as big data, data science or data architecture, among others. In addition, organizations need professionals who know open data environment. The main solution to this challenge lies in education.

The educational centers are aware of this situation. Universities and schools have increased the offer around data. Many of these courses, degrees and postgraduate have included subjects focused on open data, as a key source of knowledge that, just alone or integrated with private data, can help better explain and understand the environment, or be used as a basis to generate new value-added services and products. Here we have some examples:

• The Technical University of Cataluña offers the continuous blended learning course Maps and Open Data: programming, organization and analysis of Geodata. This course, whose next edition begins on December 12, is part of the itinerary of the Master's Degree in Geographic Information Systems and the postgraduate GIS Technologies. During the course, students could learn about formats, visualization techniques and the treatment of geometries and geodata in web applications. The course is aimed at any professional who wants to work with data, from social areas such as economics, politics or journalism to scientific and technological fields.
• On October 26 the Complutense University of Madrid starts its own Master´s degree in Big Data and Business Analytics. This master is focused on the design, management, analysis and exploitation of large volumes of data for its implementation within the business strategy and decision making. Among topics such as machine learning, Python, Hadoop or Spark, they include a module focused on open government trends, as well as data sources and open algorithms. Unlike the previous example, this master is aimed at a technical profile audience.
• The University of Alcalá also dedicates a module of the Master´s degree in Business Intelligence and data science and of the Master´s degree in Data Science to the different models of databases and the obtaining of information from public sources. Aimed to technical students, both masters seek to create professionals who want to acquire knowledge of Big Data, Business Intelligence, Machine Learning, Business Analytics and data visualization as a competitive advantage.
• For its part, the University of Salamanca has launched the Master's Degree in Big Data with a module called Introduction to Big Data. Storage and Open Data, where the importance of open data and their world of possibilities and applications are pointed out. It starts on October 15.
• Open data has also leaked into online training. In addition to the well-known MOOCs, nowadays we can find national masters such as the Master´s degree in Business Intelligence and Big Data offered by Escuela de Organización industrial. This course address the reuse of public open data, the opening of business data, the use of APIs and the development of strategies based on open data.
• Finally, training in specific vertical areas that use data, such as journalism, is also increasing. An example is the Master's degree in research, visualizations and data journalism, from  Internacional University of La Rioja or Master's degree in data journalism from University Center Villanueva. Its objective is learning how to transform data and information into visual stories by applying statistics, data mining, infographics, design and visualization.

All these courses show how universities are adapting their programs to the current technological changes, but the reform in education must go further. The experts also demand the increase of these subjects in the previous stages of education, both in primary and secondary education. In this way, it will help even more to boost the generation of the talent that the market demands.