MSc (Data Science Program at UCT)

The interdisciplinary master's course with a specialisation in data science, is offered in collaboration with the departments of statistical sciences, computer science, astronomy, the computation biology group (faculty of health sciences) and the departments of finance and tax, economics and aifmrm (commerce faculty). 

Masters of Science (coursework and minor dissertation)

Entrance Requirements

• A mark of at least 65% for a HEQSF level 8 qualification (equivalent to that of a UCT 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.

Prescribed Curriculum

• Courses should be selected subject to meeting entrance requirements and consent of Programme convenor.

Core Courses:

• Databases for Data Scientists CSC5007Z 12 credits
• Visualization CSC5008Z 12 credits
• MIT: Programming in Python CSC5011Z 12 credits
• Multivariate Analysis STA5069Z 15 credits
• Data Science for Industry STA5073Z 15 credits
• Statistical and High-Performance Computing STA5075Z 12 credits
• Supervised Learning STA5076Z 18 credits
• Unsupervised Learning STA5077Z 12 credits
• Exploratory Data Analysis STA5092Z 12 credits

Elective Courses:

• Data Science for Astronomy AST5004Z 12 credits
• Data Science for Particle Physics PHY5007Z 12 credits
• Bioinformatics for high-throughput biology IBS5004Z 15 credits
• Data Science for Industry STA5073Z 12 credits
• Decision Modelling for Prescriptive Analytics STA5074Z 12 credits
• Bayesian Decision Modelling STA5061Z 15 credits
• Data Analysis for High-Frequency Trading STA5091Z 15 credits
• Data Visualization CSC5008Z 12 credits
• Programming in Python CSC5011Z 12 credits
• Advanced Regression STA5090Z 15 credits
• Machine Learning STA5068Z 15 credits
• Advanced Portfolio Theory STA5086Z 15 credits
• Simulation & Optimization STA5071Z 15 credits
• Longitudinal Data Analysis STA5067Z 15 credits
• Survival Analysis STA5072Z 15 credits
• South African Financial Markets FTX5040F 15 credits
• Risk Management of Financial Instruments FTX5051S 15 credits
• Financial Systems Design INF5006S 15 credits
• Topics in Financial Management FTX5028W    30 credits
• Capital Markets & Financial Instruments    FTX5043F 30 credits
• Empirical Finance FTX5044H 30 credits
• Fintech & Cryptocurrencies ECO5037S 24 credits
• Applied Time Series Analysis ECO5096S 15 credits
• Microeconomics ECO5070S 15 credits
• Advanced Econometrics ECO5046F 15 credits

There are two programme configurations:

• Coursework component (90 credits), followed by a minor dissertation (90 credits)
• Coursework component (120 credits), followed by a minor dissertation (60 credits)