

MSc Data Science
This is an interdisciplinary degree aimed at teaching students the skills required to deal with the analysis of data from Commerce, Astronomy, Physics and Medicine. Students will learn the required statistical and computing skills as well as the domain science. This masters degree has a coursework and dissertation component. Students can choose to do 90 credits of coursework followed by a 90 credit dissertation, or to do 120 credits of coursework followed by a 60 credit dissertation. Core modules will cover Statistical and High performance Computing, Databases, Data Exploration and Visualization, Supervised and Unsupervised Learning. Elective modules include Prescriptive Analytics, Data Science for Industry, Financial Systems Design and modules specific to Finance, Economics, Astronomy, Physics and Medicine.
The degree accommodates both students with honours qualifications in Statistics and students with honours degrees in other disciplines which included a substantial quantitative component. The individual choice of courses will take into consideration the level of Statistical skills with which the students enter the degree program.
Students who opt for smaller dissertation, can complete in shorter period.
Can be done part-time but is residential.
A mark of at least 65% for a HEQSF level 8 qualification (equivalent to the UCT honours degree) in any discipline that included a substantial research component and at least a first year Statistics course and a first year Computing Course. Students may be required to register for and pass STA1000P (the summer term offering of STA1000) before being allowed to register for the degree. Academic transcripts of applicants will be assessed by a selection committee made up of representatives from the participating departments. Applicants may be called for an interview to assess whether they meet entrance requirements.
Students who select the 90 credit dissertation option, are eligible to apply for NRF funding provided they are South African citizens or permanent residents.
Ms Celene Jansen-Fielies
Celene.Jansen-Fielies@uct.ac.za