Four years or five years including a professional placement
Full-time: £9,250 *
Full-time: £16,250 **
G102
From September 2018
Until 15th January 2019
Northampton Square
This degree is suitable for those who would like to develop creative computational solutions to derive the data-intensive transformation that is reshaping the way our society operates. It will build your foundational skills within computer science, such as algorithmic thinking and programming, and develop the specialist data scientists skills needed for the extraction of actionable insight from complex data collections.
You should have a strong interest in technologies that produce and analyse data and will need to develop computational solutions for the acquisition and analysis of data, and use creative problem-solving skills to extract knowledge that can answer challenging questions in a domain of investigation.
Data Science is a multidisciplinary domain that requires training in a wide-range of skills from programming to visualisation, to data analysis. The demand for data scientists in the UK has grown more than ten-fold in the past five years *. This programme aims to equip you with both strong foundational computer scientist skills and specialised data scientist skills. This powerful combination of computing and analytics will provide you a skill set that will be widely applicable not only within the computing industry but also in various application domains, from retail to health.
As a student on this course you will have to opportunity to:
This course is pending accreditation by the BCS: The Chartered Institute for IT for the purposes of fully meeting the further learning academic requirement for registration as a Chartered IT Professional.
We do accept applications from students who are completing a combination of qualifications. For this course, this would be something like: D* in IT with a grade B in ‘A’ Level Computer Science and a grade B in another ‘A’ Level. We may also take ‘AS’ Level grades into consideration.
In addition, the following is required:
If you do not qualify for direct entry, you may wish to take a foundation programme first. These programmes are designed to prepare students for entry to City's undergraduate courses.
INTO City, University of London offers an International Foundation programme in Computer Science. This course offers a route to City, University of London through an excellent teaching and learning experience located in purpose-built study facilities. Successful completion of the International Foundation programme at INTO City, University of London to the standard required provides guaranteed progression to this degree.
IELTS: 6.0 overall with a minimum of 6.0 in writing and 5.5 in all other components.
PTE Academic: 58 overall with a minimum of 51 in each component.
Don’t meet the English language requirements? INTO City, University of London offers English language programmes to help prepare you for study at university. These intensive and flexible courses are designed to improve your English ability for entry to degree courses.
If you are not from the European Economic Area / Switzerland and you are coming to study in the UK, you may need to apply for a visa or entry clearance to come to the UK to study.
The way that you apply may vary depending on the length of your course. There are different rules for:
For more information see our main Visa page.
Applications for degree courses must be made through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). You can apply through your school or college using the Apply system, which enables you to submit your application directly to the UCAS website.
You can apply to up to five universities or institutions on the form. The UCAS code for City University London is C60.
Please take care to enter the correct course code when applying, particularly for subjects with a Foundation year or with BEng (Hons) and MEng (Hons) or BSc (Hons) and MSci (Hons) options.
UCAS has implemented an ‘invisibility of choices’ policy so that, on the initial application and while you are receiving decisions, each institution can see only their entry and not those of other institutions you have chosen. This ensures that your application for a course at City is considered solely on your academic and personal qualities.
You should submit your completed application form to UCAS with a £23 application fee. If you want to apply to City, University of London only, you can make a single choice application at a reduced rate of £12.
Your application for entry in September 2019 should arrive at UCAS between September 2018 and 15th January 2019. Applications that arrive after 15th January 2019 will be considered only at City’s discretion.
When your application is acknowledged by UCAS, you will be sent a personal identification number so that you can access your records via Track on the UCAS website.
For general enquiries about the admissions process at City, please contact our Admissions Office:
Email: ugadmissions@city.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7040 8716.
If your enquiry is about admission to a particular course, please use the contact details provided on the course page.
Website: www.ucas.com
Address: Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), Rosehill, New Barn Lane, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL52 3LZ
Telephone: from inside the UK 0871 468 0468; from outside the UK +44 (0)871 468 0468
For callers with hearing difficulties: from inside the UK use the Text Relay service on 18001 0871 468 0468; from outside the UK dial +44 151 494 1260 (text phone) and then ask the operator to dial 0871 468 0468.
* The fee for this course will be £9,250 for each year of study for the duration of your studies.
** The fee for your first year of study will be £16,250. The institution reserves the right to increase your tuition fees annually to take account of the institution's increased costs of delivering educational services. The increase will normally be 2% but this is kept under review with reference to the RPI. If the institution intends to increase your tuition fees you will be advised of this alongside the published entry fee.
Future Finance offers students loans of between £2,500 and £40,000 to help cover tuition fees and living expenses. All students and courses are considered. All loans are subject to credit checks and approval for further details please visit the City Finance website.
Find out how UK/EU students can receive £2,000 in their first year of study.
MSci Data Science at City, University of London
The four-year undergraduate MSci course brings together foundational computer scientists skills such as algorithmic thinking and programming with fundamental data scientist skills such as statistical analysis, machine learning, artificial intelligence, big data, and visual analytics.
The School has its own dedicated placements team that provides on-hand placement and internship support and guidance for you throughout your studies. You can undertake one of the following placement schemes:
Our dedicated team of placement specialists, the Professional Liaison Unit, has extensive experience in helping students to secure placement employment across a range of industries. The team also has longstanding relationships with an impressive and diverse range of companies spanning both large and small organisations including start-ups in Tech City and in particular organisations that are active in the big data and data science area such as: NHS, Facebook UK, Amazon UK, BBC, Tableau Software, Google, Microsoft, Cancer Reseaech UK, to name a few.
Placements are highly encouraged at City; students that complete a placement year benefit from gaining professional experience working on real-life projects and are also more likely to; achieve higher grades, secure a graduate-level job and earn a higher salary.
In recent years students from our computer science courses have been able to obtain placements at leading companies within their chosen field such as Amazon, AT&T, BBC, Facebook, Google, Oracle and Unilever.
The School's computer science laboratories are equipped with modern and up-to-date hardware and software required for you to progress through your studies and acquire skills and knowledge that will form basis for your future career within IT.
From Oracle’s leading commercial object-relational database server to PCs with state-of-art NVidia GPUs, used for computer graphics, you will have access to all necessary tools required for your studies across all computer science disciplines.
This programme offers three dedicated computer servers for the Big Data module, which you can also use for your individual project to analyse large data sets. We give you the opportunity to undertake training in MATLAB, the most popular numerical and technical programming environment, while you study.
As part of the University of London you can also become a member of Senate House Library for free with your student ID card.
We operate a Guarantee Scheme for first year undergraduates which means you will be offered place in one of City's affiliated Halls if you meet the Scheme's criteria.
Read more about our undergraduate halls.
Our Accommodation Service can also help you find private accommodation.
We offer a free language course for City, University of London students.
Course timetables are normally available from July and can be accessed from our timetabling pages. These pages also provide timetables for the current academic year, though this information should be viewed as indicative and details may vary from year to year.
Please note that all academic timetables are subject to change.
We offer an extensive support network during your time here at City, University of London – from Learning Support (including disability support) and counselling to financial and career advice – leaving you free to enjoy every opportunity campus life has to offer.
Find out more about the different types of student support available.
The teaching and learning methods used will build on your ability to learn independently and develop your specialist knowledge as you progress through the programme. This is reflected in the programme structure which begins with fundamental concepts and skills followed by core knowledge preparing you for advanced Data Science focused electives and a large individual project in Stage 3 and 4. Your progression will be guided by active researchers in Computer Science and in particular those in Machine Learning, Pattern Recognition, Data Visualisation, and High Performance Computing, with the culminating individual project conducted largely independently with appropriate academic supervision and, where appropriate, in collaboration with industrial partners.
The programme is delivered and assessed through a combination of
Taught modules are usually delivered through a series of 20 hours of lectures and 10 hours of tutorials/laboratory sessions. You are expected to undertake independent study and complete substantial coursework assignments for each module, amounting approximately to 120 hours per module.
The coursework includes programs, theoretical work, and essays, and is primarily formative. Project work plays an important part in computing undergraduate programmes. The Team Project provides you with experience of the issues involved in software development projects as well as enhancing team-working and related transferable skills.
In the Individual Project you are expected to carry an independent investigation of a significant computing problem allowing you to apply what you've learnt through the programme. Our academic staff will supervise you through a series of supervision sessions to solve a real world problem or develop techniques that primarily involve the analysis of using complex data from industry, academia or government, e.g. collecting and processing real data, designing and implementing data analysis methods and tools, applying and evaluating big data, machine learning and visualisation techniques to solve a real problem, e.g. in the areas of security, health, transport, energy, retail, online learning, or the creative industries
Most modules are assessed with examinations and coursework. Details can be found in the individual module specifications. Typically, modules are mainly assessed through written examination, and coursework also contributes to module assessment. The written examinations will contain theoretical questions, including mathematical aspects, as well as writing and analysing small amounts of code and small essays on the applications of computational techniques. As you move over to the more specialised modules as part of your Programme Stage-3 and Programme Stage-4, you will be expected to demonstrate how well you can synthesise various pieces of knowledge and be also assessed on how well you can critically reflect on the solutions you are suggesting.
The balance of assessment by coursework (assessed essays and assignments) unseen examinations and a final year project will to some extent depend on the optional modules you choose.
The approximate percentage of the course assessment is as follows:
The programme covers computer science starting with core foundational skills such as programming, and progressing to cover a range of computing topics with a focus on data science as a practice. The course covers the study and integration of advanced methods and techniques from knowledge representation and reasoning, statistical machine learning, high-performance computation, pattern recognition, service-oriented computing, computer programming, data warehousing, and data visualisation. A 450 hour individual project will allow you to carry out an extended piece of work under the supervision of one of our specialist academic and research staff, at the cutting edge of data science, in an industrial or academic context and will enable you to specialise in an application area of data science working often on a real-world problem.
All Computer Science courses at City share a common first year. Students can select their final degree course at the end of the first year.
In year one, you will study six core modules:
In year two, you will take a further six core modules, each worth 15 credits, and undertake a team project worth 30 credits.
Progression from year two to year three is subject to satisfactory performance.
In year three, you take five core modules and three electives, building the specialist Data Scientist skills.
Each module is worth 15 credits
Each module is worth 15 credits unless otherwise specified
In year four, you take four core and one elective modules in addition to a large individual project (45 credits), researching and developing solutions in a data-intensive area of your own specialist interest.
Each module is worth 15 credits
Each module is worth 15 credits
The programme specification contains more information on how the course is organised, the requirements for progression for each part and credits required for awards.
Most contact hours will take the form of lectures, interactive sessions, practical workshops and small group classes, supported by a personal tutorial system. The number will decrease as you progress and you become more able to direct your own learning.
Approximate study time is as follows:
Data scientists are employed in a range of businesses, from health to retail, or in government. The emphasis of the MSci (Hons) Data Science on areas that City has renowned research expertise, machine learning and visual analytics, and City’s internships and links with many industrial partners will particularly enable you to gain appointments as specialists in data science, data analysis and visualisation in the security, health, transport and energy sectors, the creative industries, and a host of organisations within Tech City.
Graduates starting a new business can benefit from City’s London City Incubator and City’s links to Tech City, providing support for start-up businesses. Find more information on the Careers support available at City.
City’s Department of Computer Science hosts the Data Bites series of talks on data topics. The Data Bites series regularly features employers in the data science market presenting their companies and job opportunities.
Data Science
UCAS code: G102
15th January 2019
Applications for degree courses must be made through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). You can apply through your school or college using the Apply system, which enables you to submit your application directly to the UCAS website.
You can apply to up to five universities or institutions on the form. The UCAS code for City University London is C60.
Please take care to enter the correct course code when applying, particularly for subjects with a Foundation year or with BEng (Hons) and MEng (Hons) or BSc (Hons) and MSci (Hons) options.
UCAS has implemented an ‘invisibility of choices’ policy so that, on the initial application and while you are receiving decisions, each institution can see only their entry and not those of other institutions you have chosen. This ensures that your application for a course at City is considered solely on your academic and personal qualities.
You should submit your completed application form to UCAS with a £23 application fee. If you want to apply to City, University of London only, you can make a single choice application at a reduced rate of £12.
Your application for entry in September 2019 should arrive at UCAS between September 2018 and 15th January 2019. Applications that arrive after 15th January 2019 will be considered only at City’s discretion.
When your application is acknowledged by UCAS, you will be sent a personal identification number so that you can access your records via Track on the UCAS website.
For general enquiries about the admissions process at City, please contact our Admissions Office:
Email: ugadmissions@city.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7040 8716.
If your enquiry is about admission to a particular course, please use the contact details provided on the course page.
Website: www.ucas.com
Address: Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), Rosehill, New Barn Lane, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL52 3LZ
Telephone: from inside the UK 0871 468 0468; from outside the UK +44 (0)871 468 0468
For callers with hearing difficulties: from inside the UK use the Text Relay service on 18001 0871 468 0468; from outside the UK dial +44 151 494 1260 (text phone) and then ask the operator to dial 0871 468 0468.
Find out more about City and all our undergraduate degree programmes.
