University of the Witwatersrand
Bachelor of Science with Honours in Big Data Analytics
The Bachelor of Science with Honours in Big Data Analytics in Mathematics is offered by University of the Witwatersrand.
Program Length: 1 YEAR.
Bachelor of Science with Honours in Big Data Analytics offered by the University of the Witwatersrand
The BSc with Honours in the field of Big Data Analytics is a 1 year full-time degree. It was established in response to the needs of both industry and of the scientific community, where massive demand for highly skilled data scientists has emerged.
“Big Data” captures the idea of managing vast amounts of data using a variety of modern computing technologies and infrastructure from a variety of different sources. To manage, develop and understand the required technologies, people trained in the intersection of subjects ranging from statistics, information and computer science, system design and social sciences are needed. There are individuals who are able to leverage emerging technologies and interact with interdisciplinary teams of specialists.The “BSc Honours in Big Data Analytics” programme is designed by the School of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics at Wits to blend multi-disciplinary subjects together and to provide students with the research and professional skills to master and design smart technologies.The course will introduce postgraduate computer science students to the field of big data analytics. The course has a focus on strong computational and mathematical foundations embedded in practical application. Students having completed the course would have been exposed to all facets of the big data analytics pipeline from technology deployment, through machine learning, to optimisation and multivariate statistics.As part of the programme, students are required to complete an applied research project with a focus on a real world/industry big data analytics problem. Students are encouraged to find mentorship within industry and additional cohort supervision is provided by subject matter experts from within the school.The research project takes the student through all aspects of research design methodology from proposal through literature review to implementation and analysis of results. The skills acquired in learning how to do research – critical thinking, written and oral presentation skills, collation, and analysis of large amounts of new information, and the actual conducting of research – are invaluable in industry as well as for further academic pursuit.ApplicantsAs students will be required to program, you should be proficient in at least one procedural or object oriented programming language. Being able to use R or Matlab may be beneficial, but unless you have used the control flow constructs of these languages this will not be sufficient.The BSc(honours) in Big Data Analytics is offered full-time only. It does not include an internship. However, the programmes includes a research project that should have real world application and will be guided by a supervisorThere is currently no bridging programme available.If any bursaries become available for this programme, they will be advertised on the school website.
CurriculumThe programme comprises eight lectured topics, five of which are compulsory and three of which are elective. The five compulsory courses are specifically chosen to give students a broad introduction to big data analytics with the electives being subjects the students can use to specialise their skills. The final component is a compulsory Research Project in Big Data Analytics.Compulsory Courses:
- Research Project: Big Data Analytics
- Introduction to Research Methods
- Adaptive Computation and Machine Learning
- Data Analysis and Exploration
- Introduction to Data Visualisation and Exploration
- Discrete Optimisation
Elective Courses:
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