Towards a Standardized Data Science Competence Framework: A Literature Review Approach

Maria Potanin, Maike Holtkemper, Tobias Golz, Christian Beecks

2025

Abstract

Described as the ”sexiest job of the 21st century”, the data scientist profession has attracted a lot of attention and demand over the past decade. The rapid growth of this profession, coupled with high barriers to entry and a lack of standardization, has led to challenges in defining required competencies. This study examines various frameworks and curricula that aim to teach essential data science competencies, with a focus on the needs of the industry. A systematic literature review resulted in 32 relevant articles of which 12 documents were analysed using a qualitative content analysis to synthesise the existing knowledge and integrate it into a unified competence framework based on the EDISON Data Science Framework. The results provide a comprehensive overview of the current relevant literature and propose a grouping of competencies, their knowledge and skills based on current research findings. These findings will be presented transparently to different users from teaching, training and resource planning practice through the visualisation of different levels in a web application. This work serves as a foundation for future research efforts aimed at improving the effectiveness and relevance of data science curricula and frameworks.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Potanin M., Holtkemper M., Golz T. and Beecks C. (2025). Towards a Standardized Data Science Competence Framework: A Literature Review Approach. In Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 2: CSEDU; ISBN 978-989-758-746-7, SciTePress, pages 569-581. DOI: 10.5220/0013364200003932

in Bibtex Style

@conference{csedu25,
author={Maria Potanin and Maike Holtkemper and Tobias Golz and Christian Beecks},
title={Towards a Standardized Data Science Competence Framework: A Literature Review Approach},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 2: CSEDU},
year={2025},
pages={569-581},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0013364200003932},
isbn={978-989-758-746-7},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 2: CSEDU
TI - Towards a Standardized Data Science Competence Framework: A Literature Review Approach
SN - 978-989-758-746-7
AU - Potanin M.
AU - Holtkemper M.
AU - Golz T.
AU - Beecks C.
PY - 2025
SP - 569
EP - 581
DO - 10.5220/0013364200003932
PB - SciTePress