Everything you need to know...
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What is the fee?
Home: £10,620 for the course
International/EU: £17,725 for the course -
How long will I study?
1 Year
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Where will I study?
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When do I start?
September 2025
January 2026
1. Course summary
- Develop critical data science and AI skills for global sectors and businesses.
- Gain hands-on experience with real-world data, technologies and industry projects.
- Enhance your employability in the rapidly growing data science and AI landscape.
- Learn essential principles, methodologies and frameworks for hybrid professionals.
- Gain practical experience through project-based learning.
This course expands your programming knowledge with technical concepts across key areas of data science and AI. You’ll gain practical experience by creating learning models for data, while applying AI methods such as machine learning and neural networks. You’ll also learn from data, ethics and privacy issues related to deploying AI technologies to data.

Come to an open day
Find out more at our postgraduate open days. Book now for your place.
2. How you learn
The course builds on your foundational knowledge by introducing programming for data analytics, data manipulation and visualisation, and machine learning foundations. You’ll also explore neural networks and their application to make decisions based on data.
We’ll consider ethics, security, privacy and AI-bias in data, alongside the fundamental data analytics and AI technologies, and responsible approaches to their use and applications.
You learn through:
- lectures
- tutorials and seminars
- regular feedback
- laboratory sessions
- real-world problem and practical activity-based sessions and assessment
- group and individual project work
Key themes
You’ll build on your core knowledge with larger projects that solve challenging real-world problems, collaborating with industry clients. During the projects you’ll have regular scrum meetings with academics and clients to identify narratives, learning needs and action plans. You’ll then enact these through independent study, combining support from academics and self-directed study.
As the course progresses, you’ll explore and research the hybrid domain of data science and AI. This further enhances your learning in the area and is the start of your individual dissertation project. Here you’ll tailor a significant piece of work of your choosing in the discipline.
Course support
You’ll receive support from academic advisers and regular guidance from a supervisor during your dissertation. You’ll also act as mentors for new students.
Course leaders and tutors

Vishal Parikh
Principal Lecturer in Information Systems and Data ManagementVishal is a senior lecturer in Information Systems, and teaching on both undergraduate and postgraduate courses run by the Department of Computing. He is also a Fina … Read more
Applied learning
Work experience
This course has a work experience route that offers a placement in industry of up to 12 months. For further information, please see MSc Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (Work Experience).
Live projects
We have strong links with the data analytics and AI industry, making sure curriculum content is relevant and aligned with industry requirements. Our partners and collaborations across local and national research centres include Sheffield Hallam’s Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre, Sheffield Robotics, Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, AstraZeneca and the British Machine Vision Association.
Collaborations with domain experts mean you get to see cutting-edge technologies and real-world applications. These collaborations include live projects, where you can work on real-world challenges in data science and the application of AI to data analysis. These projects encourage technical and professional skills that are essential for industry employment – such as creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, communication and leadership. The aim is to mirror the complexity of scenarios encountered in the professional realm.
Networking opportunities
Through networking events you’ll be able to connect with industrial professionals. Building these connections enhances your understanding of the AI landscape, opening doors to mentorship, internships and potential employment opportunities.
You’ll also be able to interact with our MSc Big Data Analytics and MSc Artificial Intelligence students. You can attend our AI Festival – which brings together different cohorts for an insightful day of presentations, networking opportunities and celebrations of completed projects. The events also include themed competitions, allowing you to showcase your skills and knowledge in AI, promoting innovation and development in this rapidly evolving field.
As part of your learning on the course, we also have regular guest lectures who are experts in their field of AI.
3. Future careers
The course prepares you to develop a wide range of careers, including:
- AI data science consultancy
- data science and AI engineering
- financial data science
- machine learning
4. Where will I study?
You study at City Campus through a structured mix of lectures, seminars and practical sessions as well as access to digital and online resources to support your learning.
City Campus
City Campus is located in the heart of Sheffield, within minutes of the train and bus stations.
City Campus map | City Campus tour

Adsetts library
Adsetts Library is located on our City Campus. It's open 24 hours a day, every day.
Learn more5. Equipment and facilities
On this course you’ll work with state-of-the-art IT labs and specialist equipment, including:
- platforms such as Azure
- software such as Python, R Studio and Tableau
- data management applications such as Hadoop EcoSystem
- high-spec computers and AI hardware accelerators
- GPUs for parallel processing and lower-power Neuromorphic compute modules
- machine learning software and application development environments
- Cloud computing and Edge computing platforms
6. Entry requirements
All students
Undergraduate degree at 2:2 or above with evidence of some programming experience (work experience or degree).
If English is not your first language, you will need an IELTS score of 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in all skills, or equivalent.
Additional information for EU/International students
If you are an International or non-UK European student, you can find out more about the country specific qualifications we accept on our international qualifications page.
For details of English language entry requirements (IELTS), please see the information for 'All students'.
Modules studied may differ depending on when you start your course.
Modules
Module and assessment information for future years is displayed as currently validated and may be liable to change. When selecting electives, your choices will be subject to the core requirements of the course. As a result, selections may be limited to a choice between one of two or more specified electives in some instances.
Modules studied may differ depending on when you start your course.
Compulsory modules
Advanced Artificial Intelligence Projects In Data Science
Artificial Intelligence Seminar Series
Computing Research Project
Foundations Of Data Science For Machine Learning
Introduction To Programming For Big Data
Research Skills For Computing
8. Fees and funding
Home students
Our tuition fee for UK students starting full-time study in 2025/26 is £10,620 for the course.
If you are studying an undergraduate course, postgraduate pre-registration course or postgraduate research course over more than one academic year then your tuition fees may increase in subsequent years in line with Government regulations or UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) published fees. More information can be found in our terms and conditions under student fees regulations.
International students
Our tuition fee for International/EU students starting full-time study in 2025/26 is £17,725 for the course.

Postgraduate student loans
Up to £12,858 is available in 2025/26 for home students on most masters courses.
Additional course costs
The links below allow you to view estimated general course additional costs, as well as costs associated with key activities on specific courses. These are estimates and are intended only as an indication of potential additional expenses. Actual costs can vary greatly depending on the choices you make during your course.
General course additional costs
Additional costs for School of Computing and Digital Technologies (PDF, 131.3KB)Legal information
Any offer of a place to study is subject to your acceptance of the University’s Terms and Conditions and Student Regulations.