City University of London unveils new undergraduate course for budding data scientists

MSci data science course will begin in 2018

City, University of London, has unveiled a new undergraduate course for budding data scientists, which will begin in 2018.

The University said that it would be the first MSci programme for data science available in the UK. It comes on the back of a successful postgraduate MSc data science course.

"Our application and student numbers have grown steadily. We had a record number of 110 students on the third year of our course, and this year our application numbers doubled," Dr. Cagatay Turkay, a lecturer in applied data science at the university, told Computing.

"We are witnessing a huge demand in the industries and amongst students, so we decided to get together the strengths of our computer science degrees and our MSc in data science to make a new MSci programme," he said.

The four-year course will give students a foundation in computer science in the first two years, followed by the MSc in data science within their third and fourth year.

On its course page, City University said that students will get the opportunity to acquire leading-edge knowledge, skills and techniques required by the data science profession, as well as becoming proficient in a broad range of programming languages and software design techniques.

They will get to work with and learn from active researchers in machine learning, high-performance computing and data visualisation, and have the opportunity to apply their knowledge and skills to develop products within data-intensive application domains.

City University is aiming to attract students by the prospect of earning £60,000-a-year - the median average salary for data scientists according to IT Jobs Watch.

The course, which is subject to final internal approval, requires students to have an A and two Bs at ‘A' level - with computer science, mathematics or physics as preferred subjects. Other programmes such as the international baccalaureate, and a combination of qualifications will also be considered.

The course can be extended to a five year programme if applicants decide they want to take on a professional placement after the third year of studies.

City University said its placement specialists, the Professional Liasion Unit, has experience in helping students to secure placement, with longstanding relationships with organisations that are active in the big data and data science field such as the NHS, Facebook, Amazon, BBC, Tableau, Google, Microsoft and Cancer Research UK.

Dr. Turkay said that the course would put together foundational computer scientist skills such as algorithmic thinking and programming with fundamental data scientists skills such as statistical analysis, machine learning, AI, big data, and visual analytics.

"This is a powerful combination - data scientists having both of these skills will not only master using existing solutions but will also be capable of building innovative data science solutions tailored for the needs of an organisation.

"With data getting complex and expectations from data-driven solutions getting higher, such a multi-dimensional approach to data-intensive problem solving is inevitable and in high-demand," he explained.

Applications will open in September 2017 and close in January 2018.