Data Science

Data science is one of the defining skills of the contemporary economy, bringing together statistical reasoning, computational methods and domain knowledge to extract insight from the vast quantities of data that modern organisations generate and collect. It encompasses data collection and cleaning, exploratory analysis, statistical modelling, machine learning, data visualisation and the communication of findings to people who need to act on them. Data scientists work across every sector that generates data and wants to understand it better, which now includes virtually all of them.

At the University of York, this four-year full-time programme, which includes a year in industry, aims to produce multi-skilled, highly competent graduates who are equipped to make significant contributions to their career field and who understand the implications of their work, both for themselves and for society as a whole. You will develop strong mathematical and statistical foundations alongside programming skills and the domain knowledge needed to apply data science methods in real contexts. The year in industry gives you the opportunity to work as a data scientist or analyst in a professional environment, developing the practical judgement and commercial awareness that employers value and building a portfolio of real-world experience to complement your academic qualification.

A typical entry tariff of 152 points reflects the mathematical preparation the programme demands, and the four-year structure, including the industry year, gives you a particularly thorough preparation for the data science labour market.

Graduates work as data scientists, data analysts, machine learning engineers, business intelligence analysts and quantitative researchers across technology, finance, healthcare, retail, logistics, the public sector and beyond. The demand for data science skills is consistently strong and shows no sign of abating as organisations continue to invest in their analytical capabilities. Some graduates pursue postgraduate study in data science, statistics, machine learning or artificial intelligence, while others progress quickly into senior technical or leadership roles.