1-year full-time (15 months with Professional Practice) Data is being collected at an unprecedented speed and scale – but 'big data' is of little use without 'big insight'. The skills required to develop such insight are in short supply and the shortage of skilled workers in the data analytics market is cited as a key barrier. The Data Science and Analytics MSc programme provides these skills, combining a strong academic programme with hands-on experience of leading commercial technology – and the chance to gain industry certification. You will develop both your critical awareness of the state-of-the-art in data science and the practical skills that help you apply data science more effectively in the business, science and social world. The programme is run in conjunction with SAS, a market leader in business analytics software and services, and the largest independent vendor in the business intelligence market.

Our Master's programmes aim to equip you with the qualities and transferable skills necessary for employment. Each course is developed with industry in mind and has one or more industrial advisers who are involved in course development and delivery. The ability to generate effective insight and value from data is increasingly important across all industrial sectors. Data science is thus becoming a feature in a very wide range of industries, including automotive, banking and financial services, energy (e.g. oil and gas), health, management consulting, media and new media, retail and transport. Given the range of vertical sectors that data science is important to, there are a vast number of companies seeking to employ graduates in this area. These include such organisations as Accenture, AstraZeneca, AXA Insurance, British Airways, Capgemini, Experian, FICO, GE Healthcare, HSBC, nPower, Orange, PayPal, Sopra and Waitrose. The roles that our graduates are typically recruited to within these organisations include analytics consultant, big data engineer/scientist, business analyst, clinical data scientist, data design specialist, data scientists, developer/development engineer, enterprise/technical architect, forecast analyst, marketing/customer and/or insight analyst, quantitative analyst and web analyst.