Diploma in Official Statistics

Outline: Studies towards this diploma have been initiated, starting in 1996. The programme, run jointly by the Hebrew University's Department of Statistics and by the Central Bureau of Statistics, aims at imparting knowledge and expertise in the fields of collection and analysis of data which characterises the statistical work performed in both the governmental and public sectors. It is open to undergraduate students and to graduates in statistics, economics and sociology. It includes required and elective courses in a variety of topics relating to official statistics, including methods of collection and processing and analysis of large data sets, national accounts, price indices and presentation of data. Students must complete a final practical project.

Admission requirements: The diploma studies are open to all those with a B.A. in Statistics, Economics or Sociology and to students registered in these departments' undergraduate studies. The latter are eligible for the diploma only on completion of their B.A.

Programme structure: The programme comprises required and elective courses which are additional to the student's undergraduate programme in statistics. Required courses include 13 credit points (weekly semester hours) in addition to the final practical project. Electives will include at least 7 credit points from a list of courses to be published each year. Students who have taken a required course within their regular undergraduate studies will substitute another required or elective course, in order to complete the credit point quota.

Required courses (total of 13 credit points):

  1. First year:
    2.  (includes: the Statistical Ordinance, confidentiality of individual data, professional ethics, methodology, research and development, statistical analysis, geostatistics, demographic and social statistics, micro-economic and macro-economic statistics, population censuses, data dissemination). - 2 credit points.
  2. Core Courses:
    3.
  3. Supplementary courses (for a total of 13 credit points):
    4.
  4. After completion of courses from the above of at least 6 credit points:
    5.

Electives: (7 credit points or more, of which at least 3 credit points from courses 2-5)

  1. Any of the courses above not taken as a required course
  2. Data Collection Methods (1 credit point)
  3. Processing of Data Files (2 credit points)
  4. Price Indices (1 credit point)
  5. The System of National Accounts (2 credit points)
  6. The Demography and Population of Israel (2 credit points)
  7. Economic and Demographic Characteristics of the Family in Israel (2 credit points)
  8. Other courses in Statistics, Demography or Economics approved by the advisor
Required courses from the students departmental studies:

Every diploma student is required to include in his regular B.A. studies the following courses:

  1. For Statistics students:
  2. For Economics students (who are not Statistics students):
  3. For Sociology students:
These courses will not be counted for the total of credit points required for the diploma

Prerequisites:

  1. In general the prerequisites for each course are those designated by the department giving the course
  2. Economics students can to take all the above third year statistics courses (Analysis of Time Series, Advanced Sampling and Analysis of Categorical Data) if they have passed all first and second year required courses in economics
  3. Sociology students can to take all the above third year statistics courses (Analysis of Time Series, Advanced Sampling and Analysis of Categorical Data) if they have passed all first and second year required courses in sociology and the course Applied Statistical Methods

General Notes:

  1. The studies programme of each student will be approved by the advisor to be appointed by the Statistics Department
  2. The final project cannot be started before the second semester of the second year of diploma studies and after completion of required courses of at least 6 credit points with a grade of 60 at least in each of them
  3. To obtain the diploma students must pass each of the courses, obtain an average grade in all the programme courses of 60 at least, complete the BA with a major in Statistics, Economics or Sociology and complete the final project with a grade of 75 or more
  4. The diploma will be awarded jointly by the Hebrew University and the Central Bureau of Statistics
  5. For students who have completed their B.A. or who are in their second or third year of undergraduate studies, a course of studies requiring at most two years (excluding the project) can be arranged.

Tuition and scholarships:

Jerusalem, June, 2001