2-Term Pathway - Pre-Master's in Science and Health - Continue to Master of Science - Data Science

If students hold a bachelor’s degree or equivalent, but don’t meet the entry requirements for a master’s, a Pre-Master’s can help them gain a place on a postgraduate degree. For progression to the 1st year of a postgraduate degree at the University of Essex. Course length is determined mainly by students English language level (UKVI IELTS score).

Students on all course lengths take a set of common or similar modules to gain a solid base of skills for university. If their course is longer than 2 terms, students will take additional modules designed to improve one or more of their English language level, academic skills, and basic knowledge of particular subjects.

The techniques humans use to model and manipulate data guide the political, financial and social decisions that shape modern society and are the basis of growth of the economy and success of businesses. Technology is growing and evolving at an incredible speed, and both the rate of growth of data humans generate and the devices used to process it can only increase. Data science is a growing and important field of study with a fast-growing number of jobs and opportunities within the private and public sector. The application of theory and methods to real-world problems and applications is at the core of data science, which aims especially to use and to exploit big data.

For students who are interested in solving real-world problems, for those who like to develop skills to use smart devices efficiently, and want to use and to foster their understanding of mathematics, and are interested and keen to use statistical techniques and methods to interpret data, the MSc Data Science at the University of Essex is the right choice. Students study a balance of solid theory and practical application including: computer science, programming, statistics, data analysis, and probability. 

A successful career in data science requires students to possess truly interdisciplinary knowledge, so Essex ensures that students graduate with a wide-ranging yet specialized set of skills in this area. Students are taught mainly within the Department of Mathematical Sciences and the School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, but also benefit from input from the Essex Business School, and the Essex Pathways Department. Data scientists are required in every sector, carrying out statistical analysis or mining data on social media, so the course can open the door to almost any industry, from health, to government, to publishing.

Today’s computer scientists are creative people who are focused and committed, yet restless and experimental. Essex is home to many of the world’s top scientists, and their staff are driven by creativity and imagination as well as technical excellence. Essex conducts world-leading research in areas such as explorative data analysis, classification and clustering, evolutionary computation, data visualization and financial forecasting.

With a predicted shortage of data scientists, now is the time to future-proof careers. Data scientists are required in every sector, carrying out statistical analysis or mining data on social media, so this course opens the door to almost any industry, from health, to government, to publishing.

Essex's graduates are highly sought after by a range of employers and find employment in financial services, scientific computation, decision-making support and government, risk assessment, statistics, education and other areas. Recent graduates have gone onto work as data scientists and data analysts in both the private and public sectors.