Data Scientists are in demand in the information age, where big data is ever changing and ever challenging. Data Science extracts value from data assets, helping us understand the past, better manage the present, and effectively plan for the future. It plays a critical role in advancing industry, commerce, governance and research so graduates skilled in this area are highly sought after.

The Master of Data Science (MDS) teaches you how to explore data and discover its potential – how to find innovative solutions to real problems in science, business and government, from technology start-ups to global organisations. The MDS expands your knowledge of the analytical, organisational and computational aspects of data. You learn to manage data and gain an understanding of its impact on society.

The core coursework covers data science objectives, data analysis, data pre-processing and visualisation. You then select data science electives such as machine learning, learning from semi-structured data like text, and big data handling. Your course electives allow you to build deeper skills in data analytics and machine learning.

Our highly regarded faculty takes great pride in developing the most up-to-date material while maintaining a solid core of established theory and platforms, including Python and R (two of the most popular open-source programming languages for data analysis), Hadoop and Spark (for distributed processing). You also gain hands-on experience with state-of-the-art tools and get exposure to key industry players.

In your final semester, you will take part in an Industry Experience team project, working with industry mentors to develop data-driven IT solutions. Or you will undertake a minor-thesis research project, investigating cutting-edge problems under the supervision of internationally recognised researchers.

Entry level 1 - years

An Australian undergraduate degree, not necessarily in IT, with at least a 60% average, or qualification deemed by the faculty to be a satisfactory equivalent.

Entry level 2 - 1.5 years

An Australian undergraduate degree in a cognate discipline relating to IT, or a business, engineering or science degree with an IT major including programming, databases, and mathematics, with at least a 60% average, or qualification deemed by the faculty to be a satisfactory equivalent.