Mathematics and Statistics with Data Science with a Placement Year

Mathematics and statistics with data science is a programme that positions you at the intersection of rigorous mathematical thinking, statistical analysis, and the computational tools that make large-scale data useful. These three areas reinforce each other: mathematics provides the theoretical foundations, statistics provides the inferential tools for drawing conclusions from data, and data science provides the programming and machine learning methods for working with data at scale. Together they give you a set of capabilities that is among the most valued in the contemporary economy.

At the University of Reading, this four-year full-time programme includes a placement year, giving you a sustained period of professional experience that allows you to apply what you have learned in real settings and to develop the industry knowledge and professional connections that employers value. You will study mathematical analysis and algebra, probability and statistical theory, regression and modelling, machine learning, programming, and data visualisation, developing both the theoretical depth that distinguishes a mathematics graduate and the applied skills that data-facing roles demand. The placement year is central to the programme's value: quantitative roles across finance, technology, and research benefit enormously from direct industry experience alongside academic training.

Graduates work as data scientists, statisticians, quantitative analysts, actuaries, machine learning engineers, and researchers across financial services, technology, pharmaceutical research, government statistical services, and academia. The combination of mathematical rigour and data science skills is particularly sought after by employers in roles where analytical depth matters as much as computational facility. Postgraduate study in statistics, data science, machine learning, and applied mathematics is a natural route for those who wish to specialise further.