Our MSc is part of a £30m Government initiative to address the shortage of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data specialists. Open to students from a wide variety of backgrounds, it draws on our internationally recognised research. You'll learn about the underlying principles and concepts of AI and data science, including areas of mathematics, data analytics, programming, system design, cloud computing, machine learning, visualisation and more.<br>Digital skills have a crucial role to play in helping to drive growth, productivity and innovation across the rest of the economy, yet one in three businesses say their workforce currently lacks the advanced digital skills they need.<br><br>This MSc offers a postgraduate pathway to progress and excel in a career as a data scientist, providing digital skills and knowledge so you can support a diverse range of industries, including medicine, transport, social sciences, biosciences and sports business, to take advantage of the efficiencies and insight new technology can generate.<br><br>To ensure course content meets employer needs, the curriculum has been developed with feedback from companies who sit on our Employer Steering Group, local businesses like Synectics Solutions Ltd and Powelectrics, as well as multinationals, such as Santander.<br><br>Blending theory, practical teaching and industry experience, it has been purposefully designed to attract students from all walks of life by tackling some of the common barriers facing non-STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) graduates and underrepresented groups. Future diversity in the AI workforce is considered vital, not least to reflect the needs and make-up of society as a whole.<br><br>This course aims to support students, by providing the foundations of areas such as programming and mathematics, so that you can then quickly progress to more advanced areas such as machine learning, data analytics, cloud computing, and intelligent systems.<br><br>As part of our focus on providing industry-relevant experience, for your final assessment you have the choice of taking either an industrial placement or tackling an industry-related problem as part of an MSc project. You also have the option to gain more real-world experience by participating in the University's AI and Data Science Ambassador Scheme.<br><br>One of the first UK universities to teach Computer Science back in 1972, Keele takes pride in being at the forefront of computer science education and research today. The School of Computer Science and Mathematics offers an inclusive, dynamic community of experts with access to world-leading research and cutting-edge areas of industry, such as cloud computing, data mining and web technologies.<br><br>Each year, we help students transition into a range of science and non-science related careers, including data science, web development, software engineering and computer science, as well as progression to related PhDs.