Harvard University has announced a set of free online data science courses, giving learners an opportunity to build skills from one of the world’s leading institutions.

According to a report in NDTV, the courses are delivered online and typically run for eight to nine weeks, requiring a study commitment of one to two hours per week. Interested candidates can apply through the official website, with the last date for application set for June 17, 2026.

The university is offering a range of data science courses covering core statistical concepts, modeling techniques, and practical applications. The available courses include Visualization, Inference and Modeling, Causal Diagrams: Define Your Hypotheses Before Drawing Conclusions, Capstone, Digital Humanities in Practice: From Research Questions to Results, Probability, and Linear Regression.

Among the offerings, 
Data Science: Inference and Modeling focuses on using statistical inference and modeling techniques to develop methods useful for conducting effective opinion polls.

The course Causal Diagrams: Define Your Hypotheses Before Drawing Conclusions is divided into two parts. The first consists of five lessons explaining the principles of causal diagrams and their role in causal inference, while the second part uses case studies to show how these diagrams are applied in real-world health and social science scenarios.

Data Science: Capstone is a short, intensive course lasting two weeks and requiring 15 to 20 hours of study per week. It allows learners to apply their R data analysis skills and knowledge gained throughout the course series to a practical project.

In Digital Humanities in Practice: From Research Questions to Results, students work on elements of a search engine designed for academic research and learn basic text analysis techniques that form the foundation of digital humanities.

The Data Science: Probability course introduces key statistical concepts, including random variables, independence, Monte Carlo simulations, expected value, standard error, and the central limit theorem.

Finally, Data Science: Linear Regression teaches learners how to implement linear regression using R, with a focus on managing confounding factors in real-world data analysis.

These free courses aim to make high-quality data science education accessible to a global audience.