Course overview

Machine learning is becoming an increasingly important analytical tool, enabling businesses to extract meaningful information from raw data, offering accurate analyses and complex solutions to data-rich problems. The Machine Learning: Practical Applications online certificate course from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) focuses on the practical applications of machine learning in modern business analytics and equips you with the technical skills and knowledge to apply machine learning techniques to real-world business problems.

Divided into two parts, the first part of the course explores how to learn from data, introducing you to the core principles of machine learning. During the second part of the course, you’ll gain an in-depth understanding of a variety of machine learning techniques that you can apply when analysing big data including regression, variable selection and shrinkage methods, classification, tree-based methods, ensemble learning, unsupervised learning, and an introduction to neural networks. Over the course of eight weeks, you’ll learn how to match a suitable machine learning technique to a particular problem to make accurate predictions and inform business decisions.

Understand how these methods can help data scientists, business leaders, analysts, and professionals problem-solve and innovate through informed, data-driven decision-making.