Introduction
Make big sense of big data
Big data and data-driven methods are at the centre of modern computer science, statistics and computer engineering and hold great promise for the future.
Experts on analyzing data are needed for solving challenging data-driven problems such as understanding of text documents, conversation and social media; creating intelligent search engines; finding data-driven insights into phenomena of society, economy and culture; creating data-driven solutions for medical and biological problems, and enabling self-driving cars and autonomous robots.
Tampere University offers three related study tracks that involve analysis, modelling, prediction, and computation with big data: the Data Science (M.Sc.) track and the Statistical Data Analytics (M.Sc.) track focus on computational and statistical algorithms for data mining and machine learning, with differing emphases, and the Machine Learning (M.Sc. Tech) track focuses on engineering accurate predictive machine learning models.
The Statistical Data Analytics (M.Sc.) track features several similar topic areas as the Data Science (M.Sc.) track but the Statistical Data Analytics (M.Sc.) track places more emphasis on aspects of data science and artificial intelligence where statistical understanding and modelling of data uncertainty, variation and dependency is a crucial advantage.
Statistical Data Analytics (M.Sc.) teaches you to understand data analysis and master necessary skills, such as data cleansing, integration, modelling and prediction, and interactive exploration of data and models. You will learn methods ranging from probabilistic approaches through efficient data mining algorithms to flexible deep learning with neural networks. You will also learn to present data analysis results to decision-makers with descriptive summaries and visualisations.
The Statistical Data Analytics (M.Sc.) track is one of the seven tracks in the Master’s degree programme in Computing Sciences, a degree programme that started in August 2020.
Information about studies
Type: Master's degree
Degree earned: Master of Science
Planned duration: 2 years
Extent of studies: 120 ECTS credits
City: Tampere
Campus: City Centre Campus
Tuition fee for non-EU/EEA citizens: 12000 €
Study objectives
After completing the Statistical Data Analytics track you will have the skills and knowledge to:
Choose suitable data analysis methods for the analysis tasks at hand from a reasonably wide selection of statistical and computational methods, including methods that are necessary for integrating data from different data sources during data preprocessing and/or analysis.
Understand how the methods model data variation, uncertainty and dependency.
Apply these methods to analyse data, and interpret results and associated uncertainties critically.
Use efficient computational and statistical methods to manage and analyse big data, including statistical methods such as probabilistic classification and regression, graphical models, time series analysis, and Bayesian analysis, and a variety of computational algorithmic approaches such as parallel computation and deep neural networks.
Visualise the data/analysis results.
Apply the analysis methods in new situations.
Understand how well the methods may perform in different situations.
Study contents
The analysis of data has a central role in the modern information society. Organisations in both the public and private sector are collecting vast data sets, and an increasing amount of public sector data is made open. However, data - assumed to be an important asset for organisations - is useless unless it is analysed. The analysis is required to find regularities, such as trends or groupings, and to relate the data to other data sets within an organisation or in scattered online repositories.
Analysis needs activities such as data cleansing, data integration, modelling and prediction, interactive and iterative visualisation of data, and models for the refinement of hypotheses and models. The presentation of intermediate and final results to decision-makers requires mastery of visualisation and reporting methods. Successful analysts need skills in both computational and statistical topics.
This track educates top-level experts in statistical and computational data analysis who possess knowledge and skills for the aforementioned tasks and understand the overall processes of data analysis.
Tuition fees
The tuition fee of the track is 12000 euros per academic year for non-EU/EEA students with a scholarship system for fee-paying students.
Structure of studies
Master's degree comprises of 120 ECTS credits. Each ECTS credit is about 27 hours of student work. Depending on the track, courses are worth 80-90 ECTS, and the remaining 30-40 ECTS are awarded for successfully completing a Master’s thesis. The duration of the programme is two years. Students usually spend three semesters completing courses and one semester preparing the Master’s thesis. The studies start in late August, and the academic year ends in late May.
Master’s degree programme in Computing Sciences consists of seven study tracks, leading either to Master of Science, or Master of Science in Technology degree:
Data Science (M.Sc.)
Machine Learning (M.Sc. Tech)
Statistical Data Analytics (M.Sc.)
and
Human-Technology Interaction (M.Sc.)
Human-Technology Interaction (M.Sc. Tech)
Software, Web & Cloud (M.Sc.)
Software, Web & Cloud (M.Sc. Tech)
The curriculum of the Master’s Degree Programme in Computing Sciences 2020-2021 is available online (please note that this is the public view, students have access to more information via an electronic tool). The curriculum for 2021-2022 will be available in March 2021.
Career opportunities
As a graduate, you will have knowledge and skills for data analytics and understand the overall data analytics process. Such analysts can be employed in analysis firms, as in-house analysts in companies producing big data, and in companies and organisations that gather and analyse public and private data, including government agencies, journalism, insurance, law enforcement, and finance, as well as in public and private research.
Co-operation with other parties
In addition to studies in one’s own degree programme, students may take full advantage of the teaching offered by the Tampere higher education community ranging from technical to vocational studies in various fields.
Postgraduate study opportunities
This master's degree provides the required background if you wish to pursue doctoral studies, for example in a Doctoral programme in Information and Systems at Tampere University. There are no tuition fees in doctoral studies.
Eligibility criteria
Eligibility criteria in the Master's degree programmes consist of two parts: Tampere University's general eligibility criteria, and programme-specific eligibility criteria, which specify and/or add information to the general criteria. You must meet both to be considered eligible. Applicants who do not meet both the general eligibility and the programme-specific eligibility criteria will not be selected as students in Tampere University.
General eligibility
To be eligible to apply to a Master’s degree programme at Tampere University, you must have:
Bachelor’s degree - nationally recognized first cycle degree
which corresponds to at least 180 ECTS (European credits) or to three years of full-time study
from a relevant field for the Master’s degree programme that you’re applying to
from a recognised institution of higher education
The Bachelor’s degree completed in a university outside Finland must provide eligibility for university-level master’s degree studies in the country in which it was awarded.
AND a good command of the English language for academic purposes.
Applicants in their final year of the Bachelor’s degree are eligible to apply if the degree will be completed by 31 July 2021. In this case, they would be accepted conditionally. Please see special instructions for applicants in the final year of the Bachelor's degree.
Admission to studies leading directly to a master's degree will be based on the applicant’s bachelor's degree conferred by a university or a university of applied sciences. Depending on programme-specific admission requirements, the programme may take into account skills previously acquired by applicants when considering applications.
A previously completed master’s degree will not make applicants ineligible for admission. However, applicants who are applying for admission to pursue a second master’s degree will only be admitted for particularly weighty reasons.
Programme specific eligibility criteria
To be eligible to apply to the Master's Degree Programme in Computing Sciences - Statistical Data Analytics (MSc) track, you must have a successfully completed Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in
Statistics, Computer Science, or Mathematics or in another applicable field.
The degree needs to include a sufficient amount of studies in statistics, and also a sufficient amount of studies in computer science and mathematics.
The student selection is made on the basis of the academic qualifications and merits shown in the application documents.
Language skill requirements
When applying to a Master’s programme at Tampere University, you must submit evidence of your good command of the English language for academic purposes. You have two options of demonstrating your English language proficiency: language tests or previous studies.
In both cases, you must submit a document as proof of language skills.
English language tests and the minimum result requirements:
Test name
Minimum test result for Bachelor's programmes at Tampere University
TOEFL iBT/TOEFL iBT Special Home Edition
92 overall with no section below 20
IELTS (academic) /IELTS Indicator
6.5 overall with no section below 5.5
PTE (academic)
62 overall with no section in Communicative Skills below 42
C1 Advanced*
C
C2 Proficiency*
C1
Finnish National Certificate of Language Proficiency (English)
Proficiency level 5
*The previous CAE and CPE have been renamed as C1 Advanced and C2 Proficiency
Previous studies
It is possible to be exempted from submitting a language test score if you have completed particular studies listed by Tampere University that demonstrate your good command of English for academic purposes. Only studies that fulfil the criteria will be accepted so if you apply without a valid language test result, carefully examine the exemptions listed by Tampere University and how to submit documents.
Intake
145 students are admitted to the Computing Sciences programme.
The Computing Sciences programme includes the following tracks: 1) Data Science (MSc), 2) Human-Technology Interaction (MSc), 3) Human-Technology Interaction (MSc tech), 4) Machine Learning (MSc tech), 5) Software, Web & Cloud (MSc), 6) Software, Web & Cloud (MSc tech) and 7) Statistical Data Analytics (MSc).
Admission procedure
Students are selected to the programme from those applicants who submit a complete application (application and sufficient application documents by the deadline) and fulfil the official eligibility criteria.
The student selection is made by an admissions committee based on the academic qualifications and merits shown in the application documents. Please note that not all applicants fulfilling the requirements can be admitted.
Students admitted to a Master’s degree programme may be required to complement their earlier degree with complementary studies. The complementary studies will be decided at the faculty case by case (maximum 60 ECTS credits).
Scoring
The number of eligible applicants annually exceeds the number of students that can be accepted. The student selection is made by an admissions committee based on the academic qualifications and merits shown in the application documents.
In the selection process, the following judgmental requirements are evaluated as a composite:
High enough academic performance in Bachelor degree studies.
The applicants must show strong motivation to study the key topics of the programme and interest to work in an interdisciplinary area.
Having completed the MOOC course “Introduction to Sustainable Digital Life” will be considered as an advantage. The course opens 15th October 2020 and the applicant must complete the MOOC course by latest 28th February 2021 (23:59 p.m. GMT+2). All assignments must be submitted by this date to be considered. It is not possible to submit any documents after the deadline as the course closes on this day.
How to apply
Admissions step-by-step
Check the general eligibility and programme-specific eligibility criteria of the programme/s you wish to apply. You are allowed to apply to three programmes at the same time.
Read through the instructions on how to apply and start preparing your application documents as early as possible!
Take a language test if required, please see the language requirements.
When the application period opens, fill in the online application at Studyinfo.fi during the application period and upload the required enclosures to the application. The application period is 9 December 2020 at 8.00 GMT+2 - 13 January 2021 at 15.00 GMT+2.
Upload all required enclosures and send the educational documents by post to Tampere University Admissions Office within two weeks, by 27 January 2021 at 15.00 GMT+2. The documents must reach the University by the given deadline and they must be delivered according to the country-specific requirements, if applicable.
Remember to apply for a scholarship, if applicable.
Wait for the admission results to be announced at the end of March 2021.
If you are offered a study place, remember to accept it by the given deadline. Pay the tuition fee if required.
Start preparing for your arrival in Finland well in advance.
Register as a student and join the Tampere University community when the studies start in August 2021!
Online application form
The online application form will be available only during the application period only at Studyinfo.fi. The application period starts on 9 December 2020 at 8 am (GMT+2) and ends on 13 January 2021 at 3 pm (GMT+2).
Enclosures
You will need to upload copies of all required documents as enclosures on the application form. In addition to the general application enclosures, some programmes have listed additional programme-specific enclosures that are needed when applying to these programmes.
You will need to upload all required enclosures on your application form online at Studyinfo.fi. In addition to uploading, you must submit officially certified copies of your educational documents to Tampere University Admissions Office by post. Applicants whose degrees have been awarded in certain countries need to pay special attention to the documentation and documents from these countries must be submitted in a particular way. These country-specific requirements must always be followed first and foremost, prior to the regular requirements.
Applicants must post the educational documents to Tampere University Admissions Office so that they arrive by 27 January 2021 at 15.00 GMT+2. You can find the list of the required general application enclosures and further instructions on the Application documents webpage.
There are no programme-specific enclosures when applying to this programme.
However, there are programme-specific questions on the application form and you will be asked to provide:
Contact information for two academic/professional persons who can provide recommendations for you. Please give the name, organisation, position and contact information including an e-mail address that if needed, we may contact them.
Skype contact information. Please note that only a selection of applicants may be interviewed.
Admission results and appeals
Admissions results will be announced at the end of March 2021. All applicants will be informed about the admissions results.
