BSc Data Science and Analytics
University of Essex
Key Information
Campus location
Colchester, United Kingdom
Languages
English
Study format
On-Campus
Duration
Request info
Pace
Full time
Tuition fees
Request info
Application deadline
Request info
Earliest start date
Request info
Introduction
BSc Data Science and Analytics
Data is the lifeblood of our society. From medicine to government offices, and market research to the environment, the collection and analysis of data is crucial to understanding how to improve, create and guide products and services across the globe.
Harvard Business Review recently described the job of Data Scientist as “the sexiest job of the 21st century”. Data science is about doing some detective work and carrying out the investigations needed to inform important decisions and to predict new trends. Technology is growing and evolving at an incredible speed, and both the rate of growth of data we generate and the devices we use to process it can only increase.
At Essex, we help you to understand how utilising the speed and processing-power of computers can assist in using data to make better decisions. You discover the new methods and the smart, unusual questions needed to make sense of both structured and unstructured data.
Your course balances solid theory with practical application through exploring topics including:
- Mathematical skills
- Computer science and programming
- Statistics and operations research
- Artificial intelligence, databases and information retrieval
- Ethical issues around the use and processing of data
- Specialist skills in the areas of big data, data analytics and data science
A successful career in data science requires you to possess truly interdisciplinary knowledge, so we ensure that you graduate with a wide-ranging yet specialised set of skills in this area. You are taught within our Department of Mathematical Sciences and our School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering.
Data scientists are required in every sector, carrying out statistical analysis or mining data on social media, so our course can open the door to almost any industry, from health, to government, to publishing.
Admissions
Scholarships and Funding
Several scholarship options are available, please visit the university website for more information.
Curriculum
Year 1
- Team Project Challenge
- Discrete Mathematics
- Statistics I
- Introduction to Programming
- Object-Oriented Programming
- Introduction to Databases
- Calculus
Year 2
- Team Project Challenge
- Databases and Information Retrieval
- Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
- Statistics II
- Optimisation (Linear Programming)
- Data Structures and Algorithms
- Matrices and Complex Numbers
- Mathematics Careers and Employability
Year 3
- Capstone Project: Mathematics
- Modelling Experimental Data
- Applied Statistics
- Information Retrieval
- Stochastic Processes
- Mathematics Careers and Employability
Program Tuition Fee
Career Opportunities
Demand for skilled graduates in the areas of big data and data science is growing rapidly in both the public and private sector, and there is a predicted shortage of data scientists with the skills to understand and make commercial decisions based on the analysis of big data.
Essex is bridging the gap between academia and business, and we are at the forefront of helping the UK grasp the big data opportunities to get ahead in the global race. Our graduates in data science have been very successful in finding employment in the public sector, consulting, technology, retail, and utilities, while a number have gone on to postgraduate study or research.
Our recent graduates have gone on to work for a wide range of high-profile companies including:
- Aviva
- AXA
- BT
- Profusion
- EDS
- Mondaq
- IBM
- Royal Bank of Scotland
- Accenture
- Buck Consultants
Our Schools have a large pool of external contacts, ranging from companies providing robots for the media industry, through vehicle diagnostics, to the transforming of unstructured data to cloud-based multidimensional data cubes, who work with us and our students to provide advice, placements and eventually graduate opportunities.
Program delivery
BSc Data Science and Analytics: 3 years
BSc Data Science and Analytics (Including Year Abroad): 4 years
BSc Data Science and Analytics (Including Placement Year): 4 years
- Courses are taught by a combination of lectures, laboratory work, assignments, and individual and group project activities
- Group work
- A significant amount of practical lab work will need to be undertaken for written assignments and as part of your learning