MSc in Data Science

Who is it for?

This programme is for students who have a numerate first degree or can demonstrate numerate skills. Students are often at the early stages of their careers in diverse professions including economics, statistics and computer science.

Students will have a curiosity about data, and will want to learn new techniques to boost their career and be part of exciting current industry developments. The MSc in Data Science includes some complex programming tasks because of the applied nature of the course, so many students have a mathematics or statistics background and enjoy working with algorithms.

Objectives

The demand for data scientists in the UK has grown more than ten-fold in the past five years *. The amount of data in the world is growing exponentially. From analysing tyre performance to detecting problem gamblers, wherever data exists, there are opportunities to apply it.

City’s MSc Data Science programme covers the intersection of computer science and statistics, machine learning and practical applications. We explore areas such as visualisation because we believe that data science is about generating insight into data as well as its communication in practice.

The programme focuses on machine learning as the most exciting technology for data and we have learned from our own graduates that this is of high value when it comes to employment within the field. At City, we have excellent expertise in machine learning and the facilities students need to learn the technical aspects of data analysis. We also have a world-leading centre for data visualisation, where students get exposed to the latest developments on presenting and communicating their results – a highly sought after skill.

*From IT jobs watch

“What is happening with data? Who is in control of it? Who owns data? I don’t think we have even started to fully understand these questions. This is part of what we cover on this programme: the bottom line is with great power comes great responsibility.”

Senior lecturer, Dr Tillman Weyde

Accreditation

Accredited by BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT for the purposes of partially meeting the academic requirement for registration as a Chartered IT Professional and partially meeting the academic requirement for registration as a Chartered Engineer.

Entry requirements

Applicants should hold an upper second-class honours degree or the equivalent from an international institution in computing, engineering, physics or mathematics, or in business, economics, psychology or health, with a demonstrable mathematical aptitude and basic programming experience, or a lower second-class honours degree (or international equivalent) with a demonstrable mathematical aptitude and relevant work experience.

Other suitable qualifications

If you do not qualify for direct entry, you may wish to follow a Graduate Diploma pathway to the programme through one of our partners.

English requirements

For overseas students whose first language is not English, the following qualification is required:

• IELTS: 6.5 (minimum of 6.0 in all four components)

Due to changes in the UKVI's list of SELTs we are no longer able to accept TOEFL as evidence of English language for students who require a CAS as of April 2014.

City, University of London is a special place. With skill and dedication, we have been using education, research and enterprise to transform the lives of our students, our community and the world for over a hundred years.

Academic excellence for business and the professions

We are a leading international institution and we are committed to academic excellence and focused on business and the professions.

A highly rated institution

We are proud of the quality of our education, research and enterprise and of our high rankings in recent surveys. City is:

• in the top 15 in the UK for graduate prospects ( The Times and Sunday Times University League Table 2017 )
• 27th in the UK in the ( Times Higher Education ) 'Table of Tables' alongside leading Russell Group universities

World-leading research

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 , an exercise to assess research quality at all UK higher education research institutions, rated 75.7% of City's submissions as being of world-leading 4 (23.3%) and internationally excellent 3 (52.4%) quality.

A vibrant international community

Our outlook is truly global. We welcome students, academics and professional staff from all around the world, work to international levels of research excellence and cultivate a growing network of international research partnerships.

Central London location

We are located in the heart of London , within easy reach of several central Underground stations and just a few stops from the British Library and the West End. We are minutes away from the Square Mile - London's world-famous financial district - and the headquarters of financial and professional institutions, major arts complexes and media offices, teaching hospitals and specialist medical research centres.

Since our foundation over a century ago, we have always enjoyed deep-rooted links with the City of London. The Lord Mayor of London is the Rector of City and many City of London livery companies are long-standing supporters of City.