Modules Taught

Module content condensed from the University of Pretoria Yearbook, using the edition for the most recent year each module was taught. Links go to the official entries.

Postgraduate

MET 720 — Multivariate techniques 720

Honours (Statistics and Data Science) · 15 credits · NQF 8 · 2026–present · UP Yearbook 2026

Inference from both frequentist and Bayesian standpoints. Topics span sampling distributions and the CLT, simulation and the bootstrap, point and interval estimators, posterior-based inference, and hypothesis tests built on confidence intervals, ratio tests, simulated null distributions and power. Students with an undergraduate WST major cannot take it for credit.

STK 880 — Capita selecta: Statistics 880

MCom/MSc Advanced Data Analytics (coursework) · 20 credits · NQF 9 · 2025 · UP Yearbook 2025

Works through recent research literature on current questions in advanced data analytics.

Undergraduate

STC 137 — Foundational statistics 137

Foundation course · 8 credits · NQF 5 · 2025–present · UP Yearbook 2026

Foundational data literacy: what data are, where they come from and how they are classified; sampling and data collection; presenting data; and handling data ethically, including importing, cleaning and manipulating it. Ideas are illustrated with Excel and simulation.

STC 147 — Foundational statistics 147

Foundation course · 8 credits · NQF 5 · 2025–present · UP Yearbook 2026

Second-semester companion to STC 137: exploratory analysis with tables, charts and summary measures of centre and spread; basic probability and counting rules; and how descriptive, inferential and predictive goals differ. Taught through Excel and simulation.

STK 353 — The science of data analytics 353

18 credits · NQF 7 · 2026–present · UP Yearbook 2026

Code-first data science: programming fundamentals; exploring, visualising, wrangling and transforming data (including PCA); sampling and simulation methods such as Monte Carlo, the bootstrap and acceptance–rejection; supervised and unsupervised learning (linear regression, decision trees, random forests, naïve Bayes, k-NN, hierarchical clustering) evaluated with train/test splits, cross-validation and performance metrics; text analytics with topic models and word embeddings; and communicating results.

STK 210 — Statistics 210

20 credits · NQF 6 · 2025 · UP Yearbook 2025

Probability as the basis for statistical problem solving: causality and experimental versus observational data; discrete, continuous and multivariate random variables and their distributions; stochastic representations; expectation, conditional expectation and measures of association; and simulation. Supporting mathematics is developed alongside coding.

STK 220 — Statistics 220

20 credits · NQF 6 · 2025 · UP Yearbook 2025

Builds on STK 210, moving from probability to inference and modelling: multivariate distributions, the CLT and sampling distributions, frequentist and Bayesian approaches to inference, decision theory and statistical learning, linear regression (estimation and inference) and nonparametric models. Statistical algorithms and simulation are implemented in code.

JGI 220 — Statistics for teachers 220

Faculty of Education (BEd) · 13 credits · NQF 7 · 2020–2024 · UP Yearbook 2024

Introductory statistics for BEd students in the Intermediate and Senior/FET phases: gathering data in educational settings and summarising it with tables, graphs and measures of centre and spread; basic probability and standard distributions; sampling distributions, estimation and one- and two-sample tests for means and proportions; and selecting and interpreting statistical software.

WST 153 — Mathematical statistics 153

Foundation course, BSc Extended Programme (Mathematical Sciences) · 8 credits · NQF 5 · 2023–2024 · UP Yearbook 2024

Introductory distribution theory built around the standard discrete (binomial, geometric, hypergeometric, Poisson) and continuous (uniform, normal, gamma) families, moments and generating functions, and bivariate distributions, together with using and interpreting statistical software.

STK 110 — Statistics 110

13 credits · NQF 5 · 2020–2022 · UP Yearbook 2022

Introductory statistics in two parts. The first describes data: sampling and collection, frequency tables and graphs, and measures of centre and spread. The second covers probability, standard and sampling distributions, and estimation and one- and two-sample tests for means and proportions. Supporting mathematics is included, and ideas are demonstrated through coding and simulation.

STK 113 — Statistics 113

11 credits · NQF 5 · 2020–2022 · UP Yearbook 2022

Entry route for students who do not meet the Grade 12 Mathematics requirement for STK 110; passing it with STK 123 gives exemption from STK 110, although the pair does not count toward a degree by itself. Combines the mathematics of working with data (data types and number systems, transformations from linear to logarithmic, equations and equilibrium systems, functions and inverses, summation and factorial notation, sequences, series and inequalities) with univariate descriptive statistics, introductory probability and distributions, and statistical software.

STK 120 — Statistics 120

13 credits · NQF 5 · 2020–2022 · UP Yearbook 2022

Second-semester module on ANOVA, categorical-data and nonparametric methods, regression, correlation and curve fitting, and time series and index numbers, plus quantitative tools for economics: solving linear systems, optimisation, linear and non-linear functions, marginal and total functions, and stochastic versus deterministic variables (consumer and producer surplus). Simulation is used to illustrate ideas. Terminating module; credit for only one of STK 120 and STK 121.

STK 121 — Statistics 121

13 credits · NQF 5 · 2020–2022 · UP Yearbook 2022

STK 120’s content offered in the first semester (anti-semester) for students entering via STK 113/123, STK 133/143 or WST 133/143. Terminating module; credit for only one of STK 120 and STK 121.