University of Salford's Masters in Data Science leading to top jobs

IT'S THE SEXIEST job of the 21st Century, according to the Harvard Business Review.

So little wonder graduates are finding themselves in great demand – even before they finish their course!

The Master's in Data Science was Ambreen Khurram’s first choice after her MBA and she says it “improved her prospects of a job tremendously”. While on the 12-month course at the University of Salford, the Birmingham-based mum was offered two jobs before landing a post with Catapult Energy Systems in her home town. 

Computer Engineering student Lakshmi Lineshah, from India, who was was offered FOUR jobs in the UK before accepting a £32k post at the University of Anglia Ruskin, and described the course choice as "the best decision I've ever made".

John Galloway – a jobbing programmer – was propelled into a £55k post after thriving on the Master's course, and is now a fully-fledged data scientist at digital firm SopraSteria, one of the top 5 technology consultancies in Europe. 

John explained: “I approached SopraSteria during my final semester at the University of Salford, and they took me on whilst I was still studying, which was great.”

“Prior to my MSc I was a programmer who wanted to do more, and the Salford course has given me the confidence to move into the analytics and visualisation space.”

“It’s a massively growing field, and people from a wide range of backgrounds are finding the skills complement their discipline"

Plenty more graduates from the programme have landed top jobs, hardly a surprise given that Government figures show the UK needs 70,000 more data scientists to analyse the welter of information driving everything from the NHS and biotech to banking and the Civil Service.

The University of Salford is the most popular place to study the programme in the UK, sweeping up more than 20% of the market last year and taking a further 30 students onto the full-time/part-time Master's in October 2017. The course is also recruiting in January 2018.

The course was set up and run by Dr Mo Saraee, a reader in data mining and bioinformatics, who recently chaired the IBM-sponsored Big DataAnalytics conference in London.

”It's a massively growing field, and people from a wide range of backgrounds are finding the skills complement their discipline," explained course leader Dr Saraee. “Whatever field you specialise in it will be data reliant, so we teach our students how to manage data pertinent  to  their  own field.

Recruits include graduates from mathematics, physics, geography,pharmaceutical science, biomedicine, sport science, psychology, and social care.

Business graduate Ambreen believes the Masters, which includes a placement and ‘live’ project with Mizuho Bank Ltd, gave her the knowledge and confidence to return to the business world as an analyst: “This has been a great experience for me. We received tremendous support from  the  course  leader and his team and the partner organisations.”

Every student completes a live project with an industry partner, which this year included Eurostar, London Borough of Camden, Cross Channel Marketing and UMG Universal Music Group, whose stars include Imagine Dragons, Eminem and Katy Perry.

“Data science is very well paid and roles are virtually cropping up everywhere all over the world so there are many opportunities available."

Graduates earn an industry recognised certification from SAS, a University partner organisation.

Anthony Barnett, another graduate from the 2017 cohort, is working as a statistical programmer at PRA Health Sciences in Swansea. He says: “Data science is very well paid and roles are virtually cropping up everywhere all over the world so there are many opportunities available."

With a background in biological sciences, including a master’s degree in biotechnology, Anthony came to the course with no stats background but found the course provided experience across a broad array of skills that employers value.

Christina Matsiafa, a mathematics graduate, was amazed how fast the field is growing: “It’s allowing people to extract data and results that you would never expect. It really helped me find a job. Christina, a former maths tutor, was offered a post back in October as a statistician at  scientific  research  firm Envigo, which has 50 offices in 14 countries.