Graduate Diploma in Data Science

The Graduate Diploma in Data Science program is designed for graduates of computing, science, engineering or health bachelors programs with or without industry experience who want to become data scientists.

It will prepare you for a career in data science, an emerging area driving economic growth, public policy and corporate strategy through management of very large collections of data to derive insights that ultimately improve efficiency, boost profitability and/or benefit society.

Job titles for data scientists in this new field are very diverse, for example:

analytics specialist, business intelligence analyst, business intelligence developer, data analyst, data architect, data engineer, data miner, data scientist, web analyst.This is an exit-only award (from within the Master of Data Science).

Students graduating from the Graduate Diploma exit point may enter the field in a more junior (entry-level) position than their counterparts with a Masters degree qualification.This program must be undertaken on-campus requiring in person attendance, some courses may be available online.

Year One of program

Select and Complete Seven (7) of the following courses:

Complete the following One (1) course:

This program is not available for direct entry. Entry to this program is via MC267 Master of Data Science.

Students in the MC267 program who wish to exit the Masters before completion, may be eligible to take out the intermediary award of GD202 Graduate Diploma in Data Science.

You are expected to develop the following Program Learning Outcomes (PLO). You will find that these PLOs read almost identical to the PLOs of the Master's qualification, however please be aware that the capabilities developed in this Graduate Diploma are less comprehensive than those developed by the Master's program.

Communication (PLO1)

You will learn to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences through a range of modes and media, in particular to:

• Interpret abstract theoretical propositions, choose methodologies, justify conclusions and defend professional decisions to both IT and non-IT personnel via technical reports of professional standard and technical presentations.

Team Work (PLO2)

You will learn to work as an effective and productive team member in a range of professional and social situations, in particular to:

• Work effectively in different roles, to form, manage, and successfully produce outcomes from collaborative teams, whose members may have diverse cultural backgrounds and life circumstances, and differing levels of technical expertise.

Responsibility (PLO3)

You will be required to accept responsibility for your own learning and make informed decisions about judging and adopting appropriate behaviour in professional and social situations. This includes accepting the responsibility for independent life-long learning and a high level of accountability. Specifically, you will learn to:

• Effectively apply relevant standards, ethical considerations, and an understanding of legal and privacy issues to designing software applications and IT systems;
• Contextualise outputs where data are drawn from diverse and evolving social, political and cultural dimensions;
• Reflect on experience and improve your own future practice;
• Locate and use data and information and evaluate its quality with respect to its authority and relevance.

Research and Scholarship (PLO4)

You will have technical and communication skills to design, evaluate, implement, analyse and theorise about developments that contribute to professional practice or scholarship, specifically you will have cognitive skills to:

• Demonstrate mastery of theoretical knowledge and to reflect critically on theory and professional practice or scholarship;