Big Data
Award
MSc
Duration & study mode
1 year full-time, typically 2 years part-time
School
Computing, Engineering & Physical Sciences
Location
Paisley
Additional information
Course starting dates
-
Paisley: January, September
Our MSc Big Data course addresses the growing importance of big data in business, and society at large.
Our modules will prepare you to make notable contributions in modern day organisations with Big Data technologies. Equipped with necessary knowledge and hand-on experience you will enhance your employability within UK and internationally.
Unique and challenging modules are introduced, including Mobile networks and smartphone applications, Data mining and visualisation in addition to Ethics for IT professionals and Object oriented analysis and design that provide the foundation for Big Data.
We welcome Scottish, UK and international students and consider all applicants on an individual basis.
You will normally possess an appropriate undergraduate qualification: Honours Degree (2.2 or above) in Computing/ Engineering (or relevant disciplines) from a UK academic institute or an equivalent 4-year international degree qualification.
You may also be considered with other academic, vocational or professional qualifications deemed to be equivalent.
If you are applying with an EU or non-EU qualification, please check our Postgraduate Entry Requirements page which gives more information about country-specific entry requirements.
For applicants whose first language is not English, the University sets a minimum English Language proficiency level. The qualifications below must have been gained within two years of the start of your course.
General English language requirements at UWS: International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Academic module (not General Training)
Exceptions to this level of IELTS scoring exist for some accredited or professionally-recognised courses (see section below for more details).
SOCIAL WORK DEGREES
For our BA (Hons) Social Work and MSc Social Work programmes, applicants are required to have an IELTS score as follows:
All stated English tests are acceptable for admission for both home/EU and international students for this programme:
For our research degrees (MRes, MPhil, PhD, DBA, DProf) applicants are required to have an IELTS score as follows:
For Health, Nursing & Midwifery courses that lead to, or require professional registration with the Nursing & Midwifery Council, applicants are required to have an IELTS or Occupational English Test (OET)*.
For such courses, the IELTS score is as follows:
* Note that the Occupational English Test (OET) will now be accepted in addition to IELTS as proof of a Nurse's English Language Competence (Nursing & Midwifery Council, 2019).
For our BSc (Hons) Applied Biomedical Science, BSc (Hons) Biomedical Science and MSc Advanced Biomedical Science programmes, applicants are required to have an IELTS score as follows:
For our Certificate of Higher Education courses, applicants are required to have an IELTS score as follows:
TOEFL IBT*: 78; no sub-test less than:
* Please note that TOEFL is still acceptable for admission to this programme for both home/EU and international students.
For international students, the Home Office has confirmed that the University can choose to use TOEFL to make its own assessment of English language ability for visa applications to degree level courses. We therefore still accept TOEFL tests taken in the last two years for admission to this programme.
West African Senior School Certificate of Education (WASSCE) including acceptance of WAEC Scratchcard*
*UWS will accept a WAEC scratchcard confirming that an applicant has achieved C6 or above as evidence of meeting English language requirement from Nigeria if the student graduated within the last 5 years. After 5 years applicants would be required to provide the WAEC Certificate.
Applicants who do not meet the minimum English language requirements have the option to study one of our preparatory and pre-sessional English courses. The UWS courses available are:
This highly specialist programme focuses on the growing importance of making use of Big Data technologies within enterprise, government sector and social media.
You will study the latest trends and technologies in Big Data in the following modules together with a master's dissertation to obtain the MSc degree:
*Specialist modules
All modules are designed to respect the themes of Big Data, delivering research informed teaching via:
Our assessment methodology is influenced by the learning outcomes to be tested and employs a range of methods including:
LEARNING AND TEACHING
ASSESSMENT
Our Programme Leaders have recorded videos to help you discover all there is to know about our courses. From professional accreditation to programme modules and career opportunities, our Programme Leaders will help answer all your questions. You can view the video for this course by clicking the link below.
BIG DATA PROGRAMME LEADERGraduates are currently working in roles including:
Successful completion of our course prepares you for advanced research studies in related technology areas. You will have the priority to be admitted to the MPhil/PhD degree courses.
Our MSc Advanced Computing, MSc Big Data and MSc Artificial Intelligence have been awarded four fully-funded tuition fee scholarships by The Data Lab for the 2023/24 entry. This means that for selected Scottish students, further to successful individual scholarship application, there will be no tuition fees for this course.
To be considered for this scholarship, you should indicate this in your Personal Statement of the online application. Scholarships are competitive and are awarded on a first come, first served basis to applicants who have an offer (conditional or unconditional) for the course and are normally eligible for SAAS funding. SAAS residency eligibility criteria applies.
All students should apply directly to the University through our online application system. Before you apply, you should check that you meet our entry requirements and you should have all your supporting documents ready.
The first stage of the process is to complete the initial application form. You will then receive a follow-up email with further instructions relating to your application including documents that you will need to forward to support your application, e.g. degree transcripts and certificates etc.
Most courses don't have a formal closing date, but they will close when they are full; apply early to avoid disappointment. There may also be funding deadlines that apply to you.
The Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) applies to all international students and researchers (apart from exempt nationalities) who are subject to UK immigration control and are intending to study or research at postgraduate level in certain sensitive subjects.
Students and researchers who are nationals of EU countries, the European Economic Area (EEA), Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland or the United States of America do not need an ATAS certificate.
An ATAS certificate may be required for certain taught postgraduate master's degrees for international students at UWS.
For the latest information on ATAS and details of eligibility and how to apply for a certificate check the UK Government's dedicated ATAS web pages.
Do you have a question about applying for this course? Get in touch. We are here to help!
We will always try to make sure that we publish accurate course information but we do not accept responsibility for any mistakes or omissions. We will also try to make sure that we deliver our courses in line with our published information. However, we may not always be able to do so and you can find further information about this in our enrolment terms and conditions.