HDip (Data Analytics and Visualisation)
This course is a conversion course to enable graduates to take up the increasing opportunities to work as data analysts, who are in demand across multiple sectors, including Financial, Government, Manufacturing, Food, Health and Media.
The course emphasises the development of strong theoretical and applied foundations, and builds on our existing strengths in Data Science and Analytics in the School of Computer Science and the Insight Institute, and our experience in running a successful Masters in Data Analytics.
The programme has a number of core elements:-
- Immersion in fundamental database and software development techniques.
- A solid foundation in statistical and analysis methods.
- Expertise in data analysis, visualisation and business intelligence using leading edge tools and programming languages.
- Capstone project to deepen and demonstrate students’ acquired skills.
- A significant placement/internship allowing participants to gain relevant experience and also provide Industry Partners with an opportunity to assess potential recruits.
On completion of the programme, graduates will be eligible to take our highly successful MSc Data Analytics or MSc Artificial Intelligence, providing a deeper and more specialised training in advanced Data Science or Artificial Intelligence topics such as Machine Learning. Transition to these programmes is contingent on spaces and achieving a minimum of a high 2:1 in the Higher Diploma at the discretion of the programme director.
The programme is delivered over a 12-month period. The first two semesters consist primarily of taught modules, which have a high continuous assessment and practical aspect.
The first semester focuses on creating a strong foundation in the Computer Science and Statistical techniques, including:-
- Databases
- Internet Programming
- Human Computer Interaction
- Statistics for Data Science
- Programming with Python
The second semester focuses on deepening skills and applying them to real-life problems, including:-
- Applied Data Analytics using the R programming language and packages
- further Statistics for Data Science
- Data Visualisation techniques
- Business Intelligence theory and applications using widely used commercial tools
A major aspect of the programme is the Industrial Data Analytics Project in which students work on a real-life data analytics and visualisation problem. This work will, where possible, be conducted in conjunction with the work placement company, resulting in the production of the final report and presentation of the project at the end of the work placement. The Work Placement will take place from the end of semester 2 until end August.
