Artificial Intelligence and Data Science

Entry requirements

As a conversion MSc, this programme has been specifically designed to be accessible to students with a wide variety of non-computational backgrounds.

A minimum 2.1 undergraduate honours degree is required. As the course has a strong numerical component, applicants must have studied a course or module in mathematics (pure or applied), statistics, computing, or data analysis as part of their degree programme.

A personal statement outlining these competencies is required from all applicants to evaluate their suitability for the course.

A more detailed personal statement outlining their eligibility for the scholarship will be required for students applying for scholarship funding.

Months of entry

January, September

Course content

Whether you want to enhance your existing knowledge or change career, this master’s-level conversion course offers a fast track to career success by teaching you how to extract value from data in domains of interest to you.

The power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data science can be seen in almost every walk of life and at every level of society, from improving diagnosis and treatment in healthcare, to offering new creative tools for artists. Nationally, there is a recognised shortage of qualified data practitioners to meet the growing needs of employers, and this demand extends across business sectors.

Our students come from a broad range of academic and professional backgrounds, including English Literature, Maths, Music, Politics, Psychology, Physic, Marketing, Biology, Computer Science and more. Through lectures, hands-on workshops and a self-led research project, you will widen your existing skills and knowledge with current data science and AI techniques to help you launch a career in these rapidly-growing fields.

You will learn Python coding, so experience in programming is not required.

Plus, you'll be based in our £4.5 million Data Science, Artificial Intelligence and Modelling (DAIM) building, which houses the largest computational teaching space on campus.

Using these brand new facilities, you’ll cover topics such as programming, statistics, machine learning, big data, data visualisation, computer vision and the ethical and legal responsibilities of using data. Learning is delivered online and on-campus through a series of bespoke taught modules. In the third semester, you will do an academic dissertation, which can be a project linked to industry, where you will apply your knowledge to real-world problems, using data science and AI solutions. We have teamed up with a range of employers who may be able to offer project opportunities to students.

At the end of the course, graduates will have developed key competencies in AI and data science, including programming, data visualisation, problem-solving and data interpretation.

You will be able to apply AI and data science techniques to real-world problems; critically evaluate AI and data science methodologies; plan, design and carry out empirical research, and interpret, present and communicate the outcomes of data science and AI solutions.

Information for international students

Fees and funding

To support widening participation students undertaking full-time study in 2023/24, we are pleased to announce a one-off round of scholarships. Applications for these bursaries will open to prospective new students who have applied to join the course in September 2023 and have paid their fee deposit.

Applications for this round of scholarships will be launched in late April 2023 once we have received information from the UK Government.

The scholarships will be prioritised for women, black, disabled or low-income background students, and are being funded by the Office for Students (OfS), Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Office for Artificial Intelligence (OAI).