ENSAE Paris - École d'ingénieurs pour l'économie, la data science, la finance et l'actuariat
ENSAE Paris - École d'ingénieurs pour l'économie, la data science, la finance et l'actuariat
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MS Data Science

MS Data Science

This training is at the Bac+6 level, and is intended for candidates who already have a Bac+5 degree (find out more about admission).

The targeted professions are those of data scientist, statistical analyst, chief data officer or business analyst.

The data scientist is a specialist in the digital economy and the processing of large data files, capable of inventing new uses and extracting value from them. He or she is at the crossroads of computer science and statistical analysis and has a very high level of scientific expertise that enables him or her to help make decisions in many fields: online advertising targeting, e-commerce marketing or more traditional customer relations, public policy evaluation, high-frequency trading, imaging, academic research, etc. This versatile profile can lead to careers as experts as well as to decision-making or management positions in companies.

Data scientist profiles are now actively sought after in France and abroad, in start-ups as well as in large groups for which the use of customer data is strategic: internet (Google, Facebook, Deezer, etc.), customer data from banks and insurance companies (Crédit Agricole, Axa, etc.) or large companies (SNCF, EDF, etc.). Research positions are also available in institutions responsible for evaluating the effectiveness of public policies or studying the behavior of economic agents (INSEE, Ministries, social security funds, UNEDIC, OFCE, Banque de France, Institute of Public Policies, CRÉDOC, OECD, World Bank, European institutions, IMF, etc.).

The training 

The courses listed below are for informational purposes only, and are provisional. They correspond to the official curriculum for the 2024-25 academic year.

You can find this curriculum in PDF format on the ENSAE intranet: Scolarité => Mastères Spécialisés => Choix des cours: Maquette_CC_MS_DS_2024_2025

  • 420 hours of teaching
  • A 4 to 6 month internship at the end of the program

The program of the Specialized Master® Data Science is based on the three pillars that characterize the profession of data scientist and that are in demand on the job market:

  • a theoretical and methodological pillar that covers models and methods of machine learning, Bayesian inference, high-dimensional statistics, network analysis ;
  • a technological/software pillar that includes programming languages and their machine learning libraries (Python, Matlab, etc.), statistical software (R, Stata, etc.), database management tools (SQL, NoSQL) and the creation of parallelized/distributed applications for Big Data processing (Hadoop, Mapreduce, etc.);
  • a pillar of domain expertise, in particular in quantitative marketing, finance, economics.

Professional conferences complete these courses, where external speakers from the professional world address current topics and/or practical aspects of the data scientist's job.

The training starts at the end of August with a 5-week full-time harmonization block. The courses are then grouped on 3 days of the week from October to mid-May, followed by the end-of-study internship from May to end of September. It is possible to start the internship early, alternating days in the company (Mondays and Thursdays) and days of classes; except for review and exam weeks.

Approximately 30% of the courses are taught by permanent teachers, 25% by external teachers and 45% by professionals (Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Crédit Agricole, Insee, etc.).

Moreover, students interested in the Business data challenge (attention, limited capacity) must choose it definitively in September only, as this course takes place over the whole year (ECTS counting on the 2nd semester).

And one of the following courses:

  • The Advanced Master's program ends with a 4 to 6 month internship starting in mid-May (minimum 16 weeks for the Specialized Master's program, and 6 months to present a thesis to the Institute of Actuaries). This internship can be started in advance on Mondays and Thursdays, as a part-time internship, in agreement with the ENSAE internship service. In this case, it is advisable to remain vigilant about the workload; it is not advisable to start this part-time internship before February for the MS-Actuarial Science, as the requirements for validation of the curriculum for the Institute of Actuaries require significant personal work throughout the year.

Who is the MS Data Science for?

This program is intended for people who have a solid mathematical background (particularly in applied mathematics, statistics and probability).

The standard recruitment corresponds to students or professionals with a Bac+5 (Master 2 or equivalent) who want to acquire a complementary training allowing them to be competitive on the job market. It is recommended to have a M1 or M2 level in applied mathematics, statistics or mathematical finance, or an engineering or business school diploma with significant mathematical or statistical content.

A harmonization block at the beginning of the program (end of August to beginning of October) aims to consolidate the knowledge base necessary to follow the courses shared with the third year of the engineering program.

You can find more information on the course of study here. If you are interested in a course with more internship periods, we recommend the MS Data science for customer knowledge of our partner school, ENSAI.

Tuition fees 

The cost of the training is fixed at :

  • 14 000€ for professionals, companies or administrations;
  • 9 500€ for students continuing their studies or job seekers.