Program Overview

The Harvard Business Review has called the data scientist ‘the sexiest job of the 21st century’*. Our BSc (Hons) Computing (Data Analyst) course offers a route into this exciting career, along with global opportunities in a huge range of sectors. Data analysts provide up-to-date, accurate and relevant data analysis for organisations, making recommendations to improve business performance. Throughout this course, we’ll guide you as you develop technical knowledge and applied skills with a range of data structures, software development procedures and analytical tools.

Our expert and dedicated team will cover managing, cleansing, abstracting and aggregating data, a wide range of standard and custom analytical studies, as well as data visualisation techniques. We’ll support you as you learn how to provide insight and analysis through clear visual, written and verbal communication. The department’s strong links with business mean you’ll have the chance to work on ‘live briefs’ in your coursework assignments, so you’ll have the opportunity to enjoy real-world context and application for the skills and knowledge we’ll help you develop.

With intentionally small class sizes, we can offer you meaningful and personalised interaction with our dedicated and enthusiastic lecturers – many of whom are active researchers and come with extensive industry insights and experience. Meanwhile, guest speakers and lecturers give you access to highly relevant and up-to-date input from industry settings.

All of this is backed by our well-equipped IT suites, where you’ll get to apply and develop your learning individually and in groups, with expert guidance and support.

* https://hbr.org/2012/10/data-scientist-the-sexiest-job-of-the-21st-century visited on 07/01/2019

Highlights

• The department  and the wider University provides a warm and friendly environment for your studies, with relatively small class sizes, purpose-built teaching facilities, and excellent student support and library services.
• Your teaching and tutorial team brings an impressive range of professional experience and technical prowess to the course, so you’ll have the chance to explore and evaluate a range of perspectives relating to your studies.
• A big part of our commitment to your progress is helping you develop your employability and industry networks. So we’ll encourage you to attend guest lectures that give your learning context, offer industry contact, and contribute to your underlying professional development.
• By underpinning our content and assignments with a strong industrial focus, we foster a keen understanding of the role and value of data analysis in the business environment, and help you develop essential skills such as attention to detail, communication and time management.
• We’ll focus on your individual needs, and provide personalised support to help find the learning strategies that best support your learning and ultimate success.

Key Features

• Our dedicated laboratories, servers and end-hosts feature high-specification hardware and the latest software, so you’ll have industry-equivalent hands-on experience.
• You’ll also get to experience the latest technologies, such as OpenStack – developed by Rackspace and NASA.
• As you’d expect, many of our computing facilities are accessible online, so you can work on your assignments wherever you are, and whenever inspiration kicks in.
• We’ll support you to develop sought-after skills such as background research, critical reasoning and problem solving, as well as professional communication, time management, teamwork, and lifelong learning.
• We’ll also encourage you to build a portfolio of evidence representing the projects and tasks you’ve completed during your studies, ready to impress potential employers.
• We continually monitor and update the course to reflect current and ever-changing issues in computing, and to keep your learning in line with technological advances and innovations.