Master of Data Science with Specialisation in Mathematical data science

at La Trobe University - Melbourne Campus Australia

The educational landscape is rapidly changing. Research is advancing our understanding of how and why we learn, and digitisation continues to transform classrooms around the world. With schools and educational organisations facing new challenges, there’s a strong need for educational professionals who can leverage new opportunities and transform the way students learn.*

If you're passionate about continual learning and are ready to advance your career, La Trobe's Master of Education will provide you with the latest in educational best practice and the professional networks to move into leadership or specialist positions.

Explore the big issues in education today. Learn the latest evidence-based approaches to learning and grow your career as an educator and leader. You'll study core subjects on educational leadership, psychology and digital technologies, then dig deeper through a specialisation in inclusion and diversity, leadership and management, or language and literacy. When you choose a specialisation, you'll graduate with it on your academic transcript so future employers can recognise your expertise.

We encourage educators to experiment, innovate, adapt, and address the important challenges of our sector. Learn how to engage with curriculum reforms and design educational programs. Explore the science of language and reading, and understand how to use data to inform evidence-based practice.

Relationships are at the heart of everything we do at La Trobe. We partner with schools, communities and governments to provide our students with access to the best research, teaching and professional networks. Explore diversity in educational contexts, plan for socially just education, and immerse yourself in school, community and cultural learning environments.

More than ever, employers are searching for professionals with advanced STEM skills.* With job growth expected in this area* – including in areas that don’t even exist yet – there’s no better time to build the scientific skills you need to create a successful, interesting and satisfying career.

La Trobe's Bachelor of Science offers you foundational skills in science and the freedom to delve into your passions. Whether it's protecting endangered animals, developing new ways to treat disease or fighting climate change, you'll be ready to pursue your dream journey in science by tailoring your degree with a mix of majors and minors.

As you learn from leading academics and researchers, you'll take a deep dive into science – not only scientific concepts, but also how scientists think, work and share their findings.

Build skills in problem-solving, communication and collaboration – all highly sought after by employers – then use these skills to come up with innovative solutions to real-world problems.

Personalise your learning so you can spend time focusing on the areas that really interest you. Choose from majors in a range of fields, including botany, statistics, microbiology, genetics, data science and more, and learn from academics who are leaders in their fields.

You'll have opportunities to put theory into practice through work placements with our industry partners. Previous students have undertaken placements with CSIRO, Bayer Crop Science and various State and Federal Government departments.

Ecology

We depend on the environment for food, fresh air and water, recreation, inspiration and wellbeing, but every day we see how humans are altering and affecting the environment. If you want to contribute to a more sustainable future, a major in ecology gives you the skills and knowledge to make a difference on some of the ‘big issues’ facing humanity. Ecology examines the factors that drive the distribution and abundance of organisms in the environment. It provides a knowledge base for understanding how the environment ‘works’, for appreciating the complexity and diversity of the species and communities which share our environment, and for how we can better manage land and water for a more sustainable future. Ecology offers opportunities to contribute to global environmental issues – such as climate change, protecting threatened species, enhancing urban design, and more sustainable use of forests, water and farmland. Throughout this major, you’ll discover the diversity of plants and animals in Australia and their extraordinary adaptations to Australian environments, make your own observations on plants and animals and the complex relationships between species, learn about current and emerging threats to flora and fauna and ways to protect and manage threatened species, learn to ‘read’ landscapes, and understand how human land uses, climate and disturbance processes shape the environment. Build valuable skills in collecting, reading and evaluating data, communicating scientific concepts, making judgements about environmental issues, identifying plants and animal species, observing animal behaviour, and evaluating human impacts on landscapes. Working with your peers, you’ll also learn to design investigations. This major includes opportunities to do field work, experience different ecosystems, and directly observe real-world issues and environmental management. You’ll graduate with valuable skills and knowledge of how the natural environment ‘works’, the factors that influence the distribution and conservation of species and communities, and an appreciation for how we can better manage landscapes in the 21st century. This will equip you for a wide range of roles in natural resource management, including working with people and community groups, hands-on management of land and water, developing policy and plans, and undertaking surveys and investigations, and solving environmental problems.

Growing minds need guidance and inspiration. As the bridge between childhood and adult life, teachers offer a unique opportunity to help shape our next generation of thinkers, doers and dreamers. And with young people growing up in a rapidly changing world, we need educators who understand the challenges they face and are skilled to guide them to become their best selves.

If you're passionate about helping young people to flourish, La Trobe's accredited Bachelor of Education offers your best path to a rewarding career in teaching. Carefully designed by expert teachers and leaders in the learning sciences, our Bachelor of Education will give you the skills, experience and confidence to make a difference from your first day as a qualified teacher.

Take your time and find out what area of teaching you'd like to specialise in. You won't have to decide what you'll teach – secondary, primary, or early childhood and primary – until the end of your first year. Then, you'll dive deep into your area of specialisation and develop unique and comprehensive skills.

Offered at every La Trobe campus in Victoria, our Bachelor of Education is extremely flexible. Learn in blended mode (online, in schools, in community and on campus), making it easier to balance study and life commitments.

You'll seamlessly integrate theory and practice through a careful blend of learning experiences. Learn the most up-to-date and proven approaches to teaching, then put them into practice. You'll spend at least 80 days in schools and education centres, learning how to manage classrooms, design class plans and guide students.

Learn from currently practising teachers and get valuable knowledge that no textbook (or YouTube video) can give you. Study in a supportive learning environment, mentored by our experienced and dedicated teaching staff. You'll also learn from leading researchers who are changing the way people learn to read.

Become a strong, independent learner and develop your identity as a teacher. At La Trobe, you'll gain a thorough understanding of the important ethical and technical requirements for being a teacher. You'll graduate classroom ready, equipped to become the best teacher you can be.

If you decide to pursue primary or secondary teaching, you'll develop discipline specialisations that you'll take straight into the classroom when you graduate. But no matter which path you choose, you'll learn alongside students working across all age groups, so you'll constantly learn about all stages of a child's education journey.

We are embedded within communities. This means you'll be connected to the communities you serve and have strong professional networks. And with campuses across metropolitan, regional and rural Victoria, we collaborate with a huge range of communities.

You'll build classroom skills in challenging and diverse placements. Learn how to be an adaptable teacher and discover how to design learning environments that meet the needs of a wide range of students inclusive of race, gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic status. You'll focus on Indigenous knowledge and learn how to meet the needs of diverse individuals and communities.

Be prepared to teach in any school. At La Trobe, you'll learn the most up-to-date skills needed for the modern classroom. Graduate feeling completely prepared and confident from the first day you step into the classroom.

Early childhood and primary

This major is for students with a special passion for nurturing our youngest hearts and minds. When you study La Trobe’s early childhood and primary major, you’ll learn how to provide meaningful education for newborns, right through to children aged 12, with a particular focus on children up to 8 years old.? 

Learn proven approaches to teaching young children. You’ll gain an in-depth understanding of child psychology and how this special age group learns. Get experience teaching in all the most significant growth areas – from how to read and write, to how to make (and keep) friends, and how to observe and navigate the world around you.? 

Get the practical skills you’ll use every day in your career. Learn how to plan and provide lessons, understand how to engage with a diverse range of learners, learn how to provide assessments, and get practise engaging with parents, other teachers and the school community.? 

With extensive practical experience woven into the course, you’ll graduate ready to make a real and lasting difference for our youngest children.  

La Trobe's Bachelor of Global Studies gives you a strong grounding in the issues facing key regions and countries around the world. We've designed this degree to introduce you to global problems and their policy responses, so you'll develop the tools to tackle the challenges of the future.

Study core subjects examining the history of international relations and geopolitics, contemporary security issues – such as American power, the rise of China, contemporary armed conflict and terrorism – and the emerging challenges of human and environmental security.

Look at international cooperation and conflict. Analyse the dynamics of power, sovereignty and security, exploring transformational changes in 21st century international relations. Investigate the powerful role of international law – including humanitarian, environmental and refugee law.

Whatever your ambition, tailor your degree with specially curated majors and minors that allow you to explore the geopolitical and humanitarian forces shaping our world. Choose from majors such as international relations, human rights, conflict and negotiation, Asian politics and security, government and policy, sustainability and development, Chinese, Japanese, Hindi, Spanish, Greek, French and Italian.

Global experiences are a vital part of global studies. Get out of the classroom and into the real world with a study experience at one of our overseas partner universities and build both your skills and your professional network. You'll also have the opportunity to do an internship, either in Australia or overseas, that's tailored to your career goals.

Greek Studies Advanced

The Greek Studies major offers you the opportunity to study aspects of Greek language, culture, history and politics from the ancient world to contemporary Greece. In this major you will develop a critical understanding of the evolution of Greek culture in its original homeland and the diaspora, including multicultural Australia. Melbourne’s large Greek community provides you with a stimulating cultural and social environment in which to observe and practice what you learn. You can pair language subjects at a variety of levels with cultural subjects focussed on ancient and modern Greek literature, history and society. The skills obtained in this major will prepare you for a variety of work including teaching, translating, interpreting, health, banking, tourism, and related industries in Australia and overseas. You will also be encouraged to study in Greece or Cyprus through exchange programs or La Trobe’s overseas short study program “Connecting with Language and Culture in Greece.” (Please note: overseas programs may be impacted by travel restrictions.) Depending on your prior knowledge and/or qualifications in the Greek language, you may commence at Beginners, Intermediate, Advanced (post-VCE) or Extended levels.

Understanding human behaviour is core to running a successful business, an impactful organisation or an effective government. As rapidly changing technology disrupts the way we live, work and study, employers are searching for empathetic and socially minded professionals who can provide insights into our deepest needs and desires, and create new business solutions to match them.

Learn how to innovate business and shape behaviour with La Trobe's accredited Bachelor of Commerce/Bachelor of Psychological Science. Carefully designed to give you sound commercial knowledge and skills, as well as a deep understanding of the human mind, it will help you become a highly valued professional in both the health and business sectors.

Understand what drives our choices, what makes us tick, and how businesses can meet our needs. You'll establish a grounding in psychology, exploring theories on individuals, groups and whole societies. You'll dig deep into how our brains affect our behaviour and how this develops over time. And you'll explore our commercial environment and learn how to create better systems and solutions for the humans and planet it serves.

Grow as a leader and a thinker. Challenge your ideas and preconceptions. Expand your networks and your horizons. You'll prepare for the rapidly evolving world of international business, developing the creative and analytical skills to work across a wide range of industries and the resilience to face real-world challenges.

Shape your own future when you choose between a diverse range of commerce majors, including economics, marketing, management and more. You'll also have the opportunity to get out of the classroom and build both your skills and your professional network through an internship, either in Australia or overseas, that's tailored to your career goals.

Graduates will have the prerequisites to apply for honours in psychology, with the potential to pursue postgraduate study and registration as a psychologist.

Through your studies of both humans and their commercial systems, you'll understand how to deliver empathetic insights and how to make a positive difference in both your local community and on the global stage.

Accounting

Accounting is the language of business. It measures business activities, processes data, reports and analyses financial information. Accounting information is vital for business decision making. This major offers you a direct path to becoming a qualified accountant and receiving professional body accreditation. It also opens a range of careers in the world. You will be able to develop accounting technical and professional competencies and apply the knowledge to real world business environment.      

Print. Online. Radio. TV. Podcasts. Social media. Mobile storytelling. There are many ways to create content and break the news. As digital storytelling rapidly evolves, employers need graduates who are more than just writers or presenters. They need producers, designers, videographers and podcasters – people who understand the core elements of a powerful story, with the technical skills to make stories shine.

With La Trobe's Bachelor of Media and Communication, you'll learn how to tell stories across any medium. Graduate with a portfolio of work, industry experience and specialised knowledge to meet the demands of the rapidly changing media and communication landscape. With majors in journalism, sports media, media industries, creative and professional writing, or marketing – you can make your degree your own.

Cover news and feature stories as part of Upstart and Upstart Live. Our industry-grade newsroom boasts a three-camera television studio, professional radio broadcast spaces, a dedicated audio recording studio and digital editing suites. You'll experience the adrenaline of live television and radio broadcasting as a presenter, producer and vision switcher – all under the mentorship of highly experienced teachers.

And you won't just create news. You'll also look behind the headlines and investigate the ethical and legal questions that confront journalists every day. Explore the new dilemmas created by rapidly evolving technologies and draw on the expertise of a wide range of experts and media professionals.

Shape your own future with this interdisciplinary degree. You'll choose one major, then explore your interests or build further skills when you choose an optional second major, minors and electives from across the university. You'll graduate with your primary major on your academic transcript, so future employers can recognise your expertise.

Gain real-world experience and build valuable connections that will shape your career. Take on an industry placement at a media organisation or study overseas through international exchange.

Marketing

In today’s digital landscape, marketing is a high-demand skillset across a range of industries. La Trobe’s major in Marketing provides you with specialised knowledge of marketing in a digital era.  The major equips you with the essential knowledge and skills such as understanding consumer behaviour, brand management, product innovation and marketing in the digital space. You will focus on the latest practice and future trends in marketing. The key attributes that a major in marketing develop are communication, creative thinking, problem solving, creativity and innovation, ethical responsibility, leadership, and teamwork. Graduates will gain internationally transferrable skills and be ready for career in businesses that demand innovative marketing expertise.

What are the human stories behind crime? And how can we use legal power to create a more just world? We need progressive legal professionals who understand the deeper causes of inequality in our neighbourhoods, our nation and beyond – and who are equipped with the skills and knowledge to make a lasting positive impact.

When you study La Trobe's Bachelor of Laws (Honours)/Bachelor of Criminology, you'll be ready to build a meaningful career and fight for justice.

In your law study, you can personalise your course to your career goals with electives and opportunities for professional experience. Our outstanding legal training and progressive approach to law means you'll be ready for employment – including by building skills like advocacy, negotiation and dispute resolution, which are highly valued in any workplace.

By adding criminology expertise, you'll build a broader view of how crime affects – and is affected by – our society. Explore the complex causes of crime and learn how to craft innovative responses to real-world criminal justice problems.

The program includes all the compulsory law subjects required by the Victorian Legal Admissions Board for admission to the legal profession in Victoria, as well as a wide range of law and criminology electives.

Learn from legal experts in our Law School and put your knowledge into practice with opportunities for real-world placement experiences – from working in environments including community legal centres, law firms and government agencies to building mentor relationships with judges, magistrates and coroners.

Rapid evolutions in science and technology mean our advancements sometimes outpace the law. Get the skills to stay ahead.

In La Trobe's Bachelor of Laws(Honours)/Bachelor of Science, you can pursue multiple interests and gain a powerful combination of legal skills and cutting-edge scientific knowledge.

From stem cell research to how personal information is collected, stored and shared, advances in science and technology have real human impacts. This double degree uniquely prepares you to address contemporary challenges from a scientific, legal and ethical perspective.

Benefit from our progressive approach to legal education with a law degree you can shape to your own career goals. You'll get a solid grounding in the basics of law and hone your expertise in advocacy, negotiation and dispute resolution – skills valued by employers across industries.

Your science degree offers you huge flexibility, with an extensive range of majors to choose from. Follow your interests in emerging areas like cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and data science or traditional fields including chemistry, botany and genetics. Bring knowledge to life in world-class facilities, including the La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science (LIMS), and learn from academics who are leaders in their fields.

Take your skills into the real world while you study. You'll have the opportunity to do placements in a range of legal settings, including community legal centres, law firms, government agencies, and judges and magistrates (subject to availability). On the science side, you could complete a placement with one of our industry partners – previous students have worked with CSIRO, Bayer Crop Science, and various government departments.

You will graduate ready to start your career as an expert legal practitioner, with an advanced understanding of scientific concepts or a science professional with a solid understanding of regulatory environments and how they impact scientific work.

Genetics

Discover how inherited genes influence our development and health. You’ll gain an understanding of the mechanisms which enable biological processes at a molecular level and develop skills to contribute to some of today's biggest challenges, such as protecting endangered animals or developing new ways to treat disease.

Students commencing their studies at Albury-Wodonga campus are required to transfer to the Melbourne campus from second year to complete this major.

Politics, philosophy and economics degrees have produced political and community leaders who have shaped our world, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, journalist and film activist Tariq Ali, and former Australian Prime Ministers Malcolm Fraser and Bob Hawke.

The world needs creative leaders to respond to society’s greatest challenges, including the global effects of the climate crisis and the social impacts of inequalities in resources, opportunity and power.

La Trobe's Bachelor of Politics, Philosophy and Economics gives you a multi-disciplinary perspective on the political and economic systems that shape the world. Develop the skills to respond to urgent problems and make a positive social impact

Through the study of politics, you'll enhance your knowledge of political institutions and their history. Analyse who is disadvantaged by existing institutions, and identify what opportunities exist for creative policy development.

Take subjects in philosophy that explore the debates around human rights and justice. Refine your critical thinking and logical reasoning skills and consider how our conceptions of self are informed by society.

Through the study of economics, you'll learn how the economy works in a world of globalised and interdependent markets, examining the relationships between economic systems, institutions, and policy.

Explore how governments can manage their economies to achieve important social objectives. Investigate competing theories of political economy, including institutional, feminist, post-Keynesian, behavioural, and ecological economics.

Equipped with these disciplinary skills, you'll discover the interconnections between philosophical thinking, the study of politics, and economics. From there, you'll apply these interdisciplinary insights to a range of policy contexts.

Tailor your degree to your interests and passions. Choose from five majors, including political economy, politics, economics, political philosophy, and philosophy. Depending on your major, you'll be able to build specialist knowledge in inequality, global institutions, climate change, human rights, political processes and behavioural science.

In your third year, you'll have the option of gaining practical experience and expanding your professional network through a work-based learning placement. Previous graduates have enjoyed internships in the public service and with the Victorian Parliament, as well as a range of non-government organisations and businesses, including Trades Hall, the Grattan Institute, and charitable organisations.

Graduate ready to tackle real-world problems, including climate change, the need for sustainable innovation, and the unequal distribution of wealth, opportunity, and power.

Political economy

The major in Political Economy can only be taken by students in either the Bachelor of Politics, Philosophy and Economics or the double degree with Law (LLB (hons)/ PPE). The goal of the Political Economy major is two-fold. First, in conjunction with PPE degree cores, the major’s core units ensure that students cover a minimum amount of Economics, Politics and Philosophy in the degree overall. Second, core-choice in the major then allows students to specialise in one of three different types of political economy, cultivating the knowledge and skills that you can later employ in specific types of jobs. Students may choose to hone the skills that study the political economy of inequality (analysing how economic marginalisation occurs along axes of gender, race, religion, class, and other identity categories). Or students can analyse the political economy of global institutions (analysing the impact of the behaviour of states and other global actors on the organisation of our economies). Or students can study the political economy of climate crisis (analysing how power and business interests undermine our ability to solve collective action problems, and what opportunities might exist to overcome this). This major will equip you with skills and knowledge to understand how economies might be reoriented, and how the behaviour of consumers and producers might be modified (through incentives and institutions) to achieve particular social objectives.

Undertaking a major in Political Economy will connect you with experts in economics, politics, political theory, ethics, development studies, sociology, public health, and environmental humanities. It will also prepare you for a variety of jobs (concerned with various types of inequality, global institutions, and the  climate crisis) which will require intersecting and interdisciplinary skills.

Whether you want to work in the professional archaeology sector, or go on to further research with a PhD, build on your successes in Archaeology by completing the Bachelor of Archaeology (Honours) to develop the essential skills you'll need in archaeological research, fieldwork, problem solving, and oral and written communication.

Completing our dedicated Honours coursework subjects will provide you with a deeper understanding of archaeological theory, research design and practice. You'll also complete a dedicated archaeological fieldwork subject – getting hands-on experience of the practical and professional skills you'll need to build your career and to complete your research thesis.

For your thesis, you'll complete an independent research project, under the supervision of expert staff. Take advantage of departmental expertise in Indigenous Australian archaeology, historical archaeology, archaeological sciences, landscape archaeology, heritage management, Near Eastern or Asian archaeology.

By graduating with Honours you'll gain an edge in an increasingly competitive job market, fulfilling the criteria for becoming Registered Heritage Advisor in Victoria