Course details

Summary

Programme highlights:

• Provides insight into how to get the most out of the data within your organisation.
• Brings together a range of expertise to provide a unique combination of courses.
• Projects are supervised by research staff and can be related to real world problems in industry.

Programme overview:

The last decade has seen an explosion in the amount of data available. Data has evolved into the most important asset for many companies and people. The ability to turn data into information, knowledge and innovative products often separates success from failure. Data scientists have the skill set to drive innovation and affect the success of start-ups, established businesses and organisations, governments, science projects, as well as media, broadcast and cultural events.

The new specialization for the MProfStuds draws together courses from Computer Science, Statistics and Information Systems to address a need for professionals with a specific skill set. The qualification enables graduates to be readily identifiable as holding the skills to participate in the field and to contribute to its advancement.

The specialization has three components:

• A data management stream and a data science stream, consisting of at least two courses in each area.
• The development of particular specialist strengths alongside the core knowledge, such as entrepreneurial and business skills, or further depth in Statistics or Computer Science.
• A research project under supervision by an academic and/or practitioner from industry.

Career opportunities:

Graduates of the programme will have a unique combination of skills in data science and data management. These skills allow them to comprehend, process and manage data effectively and efficiently, to extract value from data, to visualise it and to communicate it. The programme serves increasing demands from industry which relies upon massive volumes of data. Companies such as IBM, Infosys, Oracle and Orion increasingly need specialists in this field. Analysts, data administrators, software developers, managers, programmers and scientists could all benefit from the programme to further their careers.

Programme structure

The Master of Professional Studies in Data Science is a taught masters programme which can be taken full-time or can take up to four years part-time. It is based around a core of at least four advanced Computer Science and Statistics courses. Courses are offered at the City campus during the standard University of Auckland semester period. Courses can be selected from:

At least 30 points from COMPSCI 751, 752, 753, 760

At least 30 points from STATS 762, 769, 782, 784

Up to 30 points from courses relevant to the area of study from SCIENT 701, 702, COMPSCI 705, 711, 720, 732, 734, INFOSYS 720, 722, 726, 727, 737, 740, OPSMGT 760, 762, 764, STATS 779, 783

30 points from COMPSCI 791 Dissertation

Entry criteria

In order to be admitted to this programme, applicants needs to have completed: either the requirements for a four-year Bachelors degree or the requirements for a Bachelors (Honours) degree or the requirements for a Bachelors degree and have at least a B- average grade in the 90 points (or equivalent) of the most advanced courses of the degree and either a professional qualification equivalent to one year’s advanced study or at least three years of professional experience deemed relevant to this programme by Senate or its representative and any prerequisites for the courses in the subject area in which they wish to enrol. Applicants who do not have the background to take the core 700 level Computer Science courses should first take some relevant computer science courses as part of a Certificate of Proficiency programme. Applicants who do not have the background to take the core 700 level Statistics courses should also first take some relevant statistics courses as part of a Certificate of Proficiency programme. Applicants must also fulfill any one of the following English language requirements: overall paper-based TOEFL score of 575 plus essay (TWE) of 4.5; Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE) score of 58 or higher, no individual language skill below borderline; Cambridge English Proficiency (CPE) score of 45 or higher; Pearson Test of English (PTE) academic overall score of 64 and no PTE communicative skills score below 58; Michigan English Language Assessment Battery (MELAB) score of 85.