Bachelor of Data Science (BDatSci)
Back to Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science
BIG News: BDatSci Final-Years Win the 2025 Discovery GradHack (Read the full story here)
(Full-time residential programme and not online)
APPLICATION FOR THE 2026 INTAKE IS NOW CLOSED. APPLICATIONS FOR 2027 INTAKE OPENS ONLY IN APRIL 2026, PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION FOR STUDIES BEFORE 31 JULY 2026 IN THAT CASE. NO LATE APPLICATIONS WILL BE CONSIDERED AFTER CLOSING DATE.
NOTE TO ALL FIRST-YEARS 2026: You will attend a compulsory information session on 30 January 2026 from 08:30 to 10:00 that will explain the focal areas. Although you can already register online from 22 January 2026 for the modules, you are strongly advised not to register for any focal area and/or modules before you have attended the information session on 30 January. You will be guided with your registration process and will also get the information about the most flexible focal areas in case you are still uncertain what focal area to choose. The information session is during the Maties-Welcome-Week 2026 for only first-year students to attend. The venue is in the Van der Sterr building (entrance 1) room 3124. All first-year BDatSci students must attend this session regardless your planned focal area or faculty. Welcome-Week information will be communicated to you once the grade 12 results are official. A document will be discussed on 30 January outlining the flexible focal area registrations (click here to view it in the meantime). Assisted registration will be available at the Coetzenburg Centre until 20 February 2026. All registration issues will be handled onsite. The staff in the academic Departments cannot assist with admissions or registration changes.
NOTE TO ALL RETURNING STUDENTS 2026: It is now a requirement that you must be registered for a focal area from the beginning of your second year. If your registration indicates no focal area, you need to go to in-person assisted registration at the Coetzenburg Centre to do the necessary. If you would like to change your focal area, you also have to do an assisted registration at Coetzenburg. You can find your assigned slot and the full schedule here: Stellenbosch Campus Registration Schedule. If you register for Mathematical Statistics 214 and one of the Mathematics 114 or 144 modules were below 60%, you need to do an in-person registration as well. If you try to register for the module it will flag to you "not meeting the necessary requisites". The average of mathematics I should be 60%. Please keep an eye on any emails regarding senior student 2026 registration processes.
The fourth industrial revolution has a huge impact on science and technology by influencing it in extraordinary ways. Artificial intelligence, machine learning, statistical learning, deep learning, big data - these are all concepts at the core of a discipline called Data Science. Work across nearly all domains is becoming more data driven, and this continued transformation of work requires a substantial cadre of talented graduates with highly developed data science skills and knowledge. A qualification in Data Science is therefore highly desirable and will lead to many job opportunities.
Although various faculties have introduced some undergraduate degree programmes with Data Science as a focal area over the last few years, Stellenbosch University (SU) has launched the new undergraduate degree programme in Data Science with a true multi‐disciplinary nature. The BDatSci programme has been on offer at Stellenbosch University since 2021. It is offered on campus, with contact sessions. This is not offered online nor remotely.
Open day: Saturday, 18 April 2026 (presentation here) - for students who will be first-year in 2027.
If you would like to change focal area in 2026, visit the link above "APPLICATION PROCESS". All information is there if you scroll down.