The College of Professional Studies is introducing a six-month program to teach data science and analytical skills to working professionals.

CPS partnered with Trilogy Education Services to launch the GW Data Analytics Boot Camp because of the increasing value of data skills in the world’s digital economy, officials said in a University release Thursday. Classes for the program, which begins in September, will be offered on evenings and weekends to accommodate students with jobs.

Cyrus Homayounpour, the associate dean of CPS, said this program will teach students “job-ready skills” to prepare them for the digital economy.

“Based on our previous successes working with Trilogy to implement coding boot camps, we are looking forward to rolling out this new program together,” he said in the release.

Students who participate in the non-credit program will spend an additional 20 hours a week working on outside projects to compile a professional project portfolio. Businesses in the surrounding area will provide input on the curriculum, according to the release.

Professionals in the program will also learn technical and specialized skills in the data science field, including experience in Python, JavaScript, Advanced Excel and SQL Databases, according to the program’s website.

Dan Sommer, founder and CEO of Trilogy Education Services, said that in the coming years there will be a dramatic increase in data science job openings. There will be 1.5 million more data science job openings than there are candidates to fill those positions by 2018, he said.

“The GW Data Analytics Boot Camp is one more example of the power of continuing education to help provide students with job-ready technical skills while providing a much-needed talent pipeline to employers,” Sommer said.