The BSc (Hons) Data Science degree at the University Hertfordshire is designed to equip students with the skills to thrive in the fast-growing field of data-driven decision-making. Combining programming, machine learning, and big data technologies, this course emphasises hands-on experience with real-world applications. Through industry-aligned modules and cutting-edge tools in our new state-of-the-art home of computer science, you'll learn to extract valuable insights from complex datasets. Graduates are prepared for roles in data analysis, business intelligence, and AI development, with strong career prospects in sectors where data is reshaping industries.
Data drives the modern world, shaping industries and everyday life, from healthcare to global finance. Our data science degree equips you with advanced skills in programming, IT, and machine learning, preparing you for a dynamic career in the tech industry.
State-of-the-art facilities: On this degree you will access Spectra, our new home for the School of Physics, Engineering, and Computer Science, fully equipped with industry-standard software, hardware, and simulators for an immersive tech experience.
Work placement opportunities: Our dedicated Careers and Employment team will guide you through securing the right placement to gain industry experience. Recent students have held placements with major organisations such as Apple, BT, IBM, Intel, GSK, Microsoft, and Xerox, while others have chosen smaller, family-run companies closer to home. These experiences provide invaluable hands-on learning and industry connections.
Strong employment prospects: 93% of Herts graduates are in work or further study 15 months after graduation (Graduate Outcomes, 2021/22).
BSc (Hons) Data Science graduates from Herts are well-prepared for careers in the tech industry, equipped with highly sought-after programming, data analysis, and visualisation skills. An impressive 93% of Herts graduates are in employment or further study 15 months after graduation (Graduate Outcomes, 2021/22).
Typical areas of work for data science graduates include:
After completing the data science degree, you’ll hold a versatile skill set that leads to career opportunities spanning various sectors. You will also benefit from CV enhancing opportunities such as employer competitions, insight days, digital programmes, volunteering, student leadership roles, and achievement awards.
Data Science and Analytics Advisor at GHD
Heather hadn’t planned to go to university straight after A-Levels as she lacked the confidence. However six years ago she lost the majority of her sight and wanted to find her independence again. This was when she decided she needed a challenge and a new qualification. Her journey has led her to achieving a first-class degree in Mathematics, winning a school prize from the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications.
Heather says, ‘I can’t believe how far I have come. I have grown so much, and the future is brighter than I ever imagined it to be. When I started at Herts I would never have dreamt of being able to commute to London. Herts has given me the confidence to achieve more and provided me with the skills and ambition I needed to equip myself for a professional career in a fascinating sector!’
Heather chose to study at Herts as it was her local university and because she knew she would be able to get the support she needed.
‘Being new to having a disability, I needed some extra help and guidance along the way. The Wellbeing Team at Herts provided me with lots of support and resources. Before I started, I was taken on a tour to familiarise myself with the campus so I could learn the best routes between my lectures. This was very useful, as I can get anxious in new places. I also had help in the lectures because I couldn’t see the board! My lecturers were very accommodating and changed timetabled classrooms to improve access for me if required. I was able to claim the Disabled Students' Allowance, which enabled me to buy a specialist laptop with assistive technology and a magnifier.’
‘I stayed closely connected with my lecturers and the Wellbeing Team through my studies, and I was able to help improve the experience of other disabled students on campus. For example, working with university staff on signage and communication around building sites to enhance safety measures. The university staff were always happy to help improve the safety of all their students.’
‘I really benefited from the support I received from my school careers advisor. Through this service, I had help to secure both a placement and graduate job. I received expert practical advice to help me apply for jobs, they helped improve my confidence with job interviews, and showed how I could disclose my disability to employers in a covering letter.’
Heather had a brilliant student experience and got involved with lots of extra-circular activities.
‘I really enjoyed my course, I found the lecturers extremely friendly, knowledgeable, and approachable, something which I really valued. I also enjoyed meeting and working with people from all different backgrounds. Herts is a truly diverse and inclusive place to study, and I benefited from collaborating with so many different people.
‘My favorite place on campus was the library. It has such a good atmosphere, and this was where I could concentrate on course work with friends.’
‘I also got involved with the Physics, Astronomy and Maths Society (PAMsoc) and in my final year, I was the society chair. Through PAMsoc activities I was able to learn and make friends with like-minded people, enriching my student experience. We did quizzes, pub nights, discussion groups, and invited our lecturers to speak to us about their personal career paths and the cutting-edge research they are doing.’
Heather is passionate about Maths and says, ‘You can do so many different things with a Maths degree, and not just teaching. You learn transferable skills, critical thinking, elements of computer science, and physics.’
‘I was introduced to the data sector in my placement year at Sainsbury's Digital, where I got to work on interesting projects like using data analysis to improve the experience of customers at the supermarket checkout. I now work for an Engineering Consultancy, GHD, a company who are committed to solving global challenges in the areas of water, energy and urbanisation, values which align to my own. I do a job that I love using data models and python, skills learnt on my course.’
‘I do miss academia sometimes and I may like to do further study in the future.’
‘At Herts, you can learn about your chosen subject, but also learn about yourself. Make sure you take the time to reflect and understand both you and your passion throughout your studies and take every opportunity you can. Say yes to new things but know your own limit and don’t burn yourself out. At Herts, there is always support available to you, so seek out help if you need it.’
In this course, you'll gain hands-on experience with industry-standard tools and technologies to build a solid foundation in data science. You'll learn core principles in programming, data modelling, and mathematics, while applying this knowledge to real-world projects. By the end of your studies, you will be equipped with the technical skills to develop innovative software solutions and tackle complex challenges across diverse sectors.
In your first year you will learn the foundations of the subject including a development of your mathematical understanding, IT literacy and your awareness of data presentation principles.
During your second year you will deepen your understanding and develop more advanced skills. There are technical modules on machine learning, information theory and financial markets. This course applies real-world principles, so you will also dive into cryptocurrencies and, if you choose, investment portfolios.
For your final year you will study complex linear modelling topics, multivariate statistics and take a look into next generation data science. Finally, you will undertake an individual project.
You’ll have a personal tutor to guide you throughout your course, all the way to graduation. If you need additional support during your time with us, rest assured that we’ve got you covered. For help with study skills, including referencing, essay writing and presentations, you’ll have access to our academic support services. You can attend workshops, 1-to-1 sessions and online tutorials. Both our LRCs run drop-in study skills sessions. And the best thing is, it’s all free.
Your main campus is College Lane, this is where the creative arts, science and health-related subjects are based. This means you’ll share the campus with future nurses, scientists, artists and more. You can use the common rooms to relax with friends, work out in the 24-hour gym or have a drink in our on-campus pub or cafes. We also have restaurants for you to eat in or grab something on the go. Our Learning Resources Centres are open 24/7, which means you can study whenever suits you best. Want to pop over to the other campus? You can take the free shuttle bus or walk there in just 15 minutes.
Learn in our new state-of-the-art building called Spectra, where you’ll experience a range of experiential learning zones. You will have access to Spectra's computer science labs, which offer telecommunications, robotics and UX empathy labs, alongside diverse research spaces including dark rooms, clean rooms, sample prep labs, calibration and assembly labs.
You will also benefit from our Academic Support Hub, which is aimed at helping you build your employability and academic skills. Plus, have access to industry mentors who will provide you with pastoral support, vocational guidance, and career progression opportunities.
Spectra also provides space to collaborate, with plenty of workshops, social and meeting spaces available. Even better, the building has been designed with the University’s net zero carbon target in mind, and forms part of our plan to replace or upgrade older sites that are energy inefficient.
At Herts, your learning will be guided by a team of experts with extensive academic and industry experience. Many hold advanced degrees and are engaged in groundbreaking research, ensuring the course remains aligned with the latest developments in data science, machine learning, and AI.
Your teaching team incorporates real-world challenges and industry case studies into the curriculum, often drawing from collaborations with companies like Apple and Microsoft. Workshops and guest lectures provide further insight, preparing you with practical and future-ready skills for a career in STEM.
We offer a range of support services, from childcare to counselling, ensuring that you make the most of your time at Herts and can focus on studying, having fun, and have the support you need.
Dilek Selin - A Typical Day
A typical day would start off with getting up, catching the University UNO bus and heading towards the forum canteen (they stop serving breakfast around 11:00 but this often changes) to grab a full English breakfast and a coffee at Starbucks (yes, we have a Starbucks on campus!!). During this time, I would regularly check my emails or look at my timetable for the day ahead to find the rooms and prepare my notes for the relevant lectures and tutorials. Generally, after finishing my breakfast I would either grab a meal deal for lunch at the Student union shop since it gets busy towards lunchtime or even because I wouldn’t have time to grab food if I had back to back classes, so having prepped lunch with me or just snacks if I wasn’t feeling too hungry – bringing along food with me was always a must.
Later, if I ever had breaks during my day, I would go to the Learning Resource Centre (LRC) aka the university library. If I didn’t have any upcoming assessments, I would check the active students timetable to see if there were any sports events going on and take part in those sessions where I could participate in sports for free with other students at the uni. After that, I would go to my next classes and then finally when It was home time, I would go back to the bus stop and head home. Since I was a commuting student, by the time I got back home I had enough time to prepare myself for the next day or just wind down from the events of the day. Every student would get at least one day off in the week. For me, in my first year, this was Wednesdays. Including the weekends, I had plenty of time to run errands, book appointments for health checks and even catch up on studies thanks to the extra day off. For the students who lived on campus, they would often take their day’s off as an opportunity to set it as a laundry day!
Dilek Selin - Things you should know
It’s okay to not know what you want to do, you don't have to have everything figured out now and as long as you have a direction or a path, stick to it and take new opportunities that present themselves to you, you won't regret taking up on new things and going out of your comfort zone. For me, the best thing I did was take part in a hackathon. The fintech company that was hosting it later offered me my placement, it’s one of those things that you don't expect to happen to you but you sometimes have to make your own luck in these things and research and throw yourself out into the deep end because the challenges we face now are only going to make us stronger for the challenges we are to face ahead.
In my first year everyone was fed in through the same stream, we studied four modules (modules are like subjects), so we took, programming- you get to learn about coding and different programming languages. I learnt about Java but I believe they have introduced Python as well, the second module was Platforms for computing -essentially this module covered the hardware side of computing and we learnt about logic gates which tie in with the content that the electronic engineering students also study, so even though there's a slight overlap it gives us more depth in our subject area and also a chance to explore computing aspects. The third module you'll study at level four (level four being the first year) is models and methods of computing, this was the maths-based module and you'll be exposed to theorems and truth tables and binary, it really will shape your understanding in computing logic. And finally, Human dimensions of computing, in this module you'll get the chance to work in a group and put your presentation skills to practice, learning about the ethical side of computer science. All four of these modules are further explored in your second-year studies, where the knowledge you gained will be expanded in the sense where one of each of those four modules will link to your second-year modules. Later in your final year, you get to choose a specialised area such as Software Engineering, AI, Networks and Cyber Security. You might be thinking how I know which one to pick, luckily throughout your academic journey, you'll be given tasters to each of the streams. For example, in my second year I took up AI and robotics modules which I really enjoyed- up until then I was convinced, I'd stick with the software engineering stream, but If I had never tried, I would have never known!
Jack - A day in the life as a computer science student
Hello 👋
As a commuting Computer Science student, I normally leave around an hour before my day’s lectures and practicals start and arrive at the Park and Ride car park before taking the bus to the College Lane campus 🚌
For my second-year timetable, practicals are allocated to Monday and Tuesday, whereas lectures are allocated to Thursday and Friday, with Wednesday being a study day for reading up on the lecture material. During my lectures, I will normally take notes on my laptop so I can read over them later on and in my practicals, I will either use my laptop or the desktops in the computer labs depending on what software we need for the practical.
After finishing the lecture/practical, I normally have lunch in the Forum Restaurant with my friends and discuss the day’s work. Finally, once I finish for the day, I return to the Park and Ride and go home where I can review my notes and reinforce what I learned during the day.
In the computer labs, the desktops have a range of useful software already installed including IDEs (Integrated Development Environments) such as BlueJ (for Java development), IDLE (for Python development) and other tools such as Logisim (for creating circuits using logic gates and visually how they work) and SQL Developer (for interacting with databases and executing SQL commands). Using these computers, I can complete all the practical work which is set by the lecturers so I can apply the theory from the lectures.
Currently, in my spare time, I am working on a dungeon crawler game made in Python using the Arcade library (which can be found at https://github.com/Aspect1103/Hades). This has needed various features to get it to work including map generation, player control, enemy AI, collectables and so on.
Recently, I just finished implementing some C++ extensions using the Python C-API to speed up the map generation granting me a five times speed increase and the breadth-first search vector field (which is used for navigating the enemies towards the player) granting me a seventeen times speed increase. My next steps are to further optimise the map generation and vector field and to rewrite the enemy AI making it faster and more intelligent. Creating this project has greatly improved both my project management and problem-solving skills which I can use in my modules this year to complete the tutorial exercises, coursework, and exams.
The University of Hertfordshire is committed to welcoming students with a wide range of qualifications and levels of experience. The entry requirements listed on the course pages provide a guide to the minimum level of qualifications needed to study each course. However, we have a flexible approach to admissions and each application will be considered on an individual basis.
Typical offer (UCAS points) | (enter tariff range) |
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Typical A Level offer | (enter range) |
Typical IB offer | (enter range) |
Typical BTEC offer | (enter range) |
Typical T Level offer | (enter range) |
GCSE | EG: Grade 4/C in English Language and 4/D Mathematics |
Access courses | EG: An overall merit profile in 45 credits at Level 3. |
Additional information | Find out more about our standard and contextual Undergraduate Entry Requirements. |
English language | All students from non-majority English speaking countries require proof of English language proficiency, equivalent to an overall IELTS score of 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each band. If you do not have the required IELTS or equivalent for direct entry on to your degree programme, our Pre-sessional English and International Foundation courses can help you to achieve this level. |
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Additional information | Find out more about International Entry Requirements. |
Typical offer (UCAS points) | 120–128 |
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Typical A Level offer | BBB–ABB Mandatory subjects: Mathematics (grade B) |
Typical IB offer | 120–128 UCAS points and must include Mathematics at HL grade 4 or above |
Typical BTEC offer | DDM Mandatory subjects: Applied Science with A Level Mathematics (grade C) |
Typical T Level offer | None |
GCSE | Grade 4/C in English Language and Mathematics. |
Access courses | Diploma with 45 Level 3 credits, of which 15 must be in Mathematics at a minimum of merit |
Additional information | Find out more about our standard and contextual Undergraduate Entry Requirements. |
English language | All students from non-majority English speaking countries require proof of English language proficiency, equivalent to an overall IELTS score of 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each band. If you do not have the required IELTS or equivalent for direct entry on to your degree programme, our Pre-sessional English and International Foundation courses can help you to achieve this level. |
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Additional information | Find out more about International Entry Requirements. |
Start date | Study type | Apply |
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September 2025 | Full time | Apply via UCAS |
Full time with placement year | Apply via UCAS | |
Full time with study abroad year | Apply via UCAS | |
September 2026 | Full time | Apply via UCAS |
Full time with placement year | Apply via UCAS | |
Full time with study abroad year | Apply via UCAS |
At Herts, we’re dedicated to providing world-class teaching supported by industry-level facilities and incredible social spaces. We believe cost shouldn’t be a barrier to higher education, and we strive to keep both our standard and additional costs as low as possible.
Study type | Fees | |
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UK students | Full time | £9,250 for the 2025/2026 academic year |
EU students | Full time | £15,965 for the 2025/2026 academic year |
International students | Full time | £15,965 for the 2025/2026 academic year |
Tuition fees are charged annually. The fees quoted above are for the specified year(s) only. Fees may be higher in future years, for both new and continuing students. Please see the University’s Fees and Finance Policy (and in particular the section headed “When tuition fees change”), for further information about when and by how much the University may increase its fees for future years.
Scholarships, grants and bursaries | Depending on your circumstances, you may be eligible for a non-repayable scholarship, grant or bursary to support your studies. |
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Disabled Students' Allowance | The Disabled Students’ Allowance can cover any study-related costs you have because of a mental health problem, long term illness or any other disability. |
Student loans | Find out about securing a student loan, from how much you could be eligible for to when you need to start making repayments. |
Accommodation costs | We offer a great choice of student accommodation, on campus or nearby in the local area, to suit every student budget. |
Additional course fees | Read more about additional fees in the course fact sheet. |
Course fact sheets | |
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BSc (Hons) Data Science | Download PDF |
Programme specifications | |
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BSc (Hons) Data Science | Download PDF |
Additional information | |
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Applications open to international and EU students |
Yes |
Course length |
Part Time, 6 YearsSandwich, 4 Years |