University of New South Wales prepares future technology leaders with SAS®

SAS Australia have partnered with the University of New South Wales (UNSW) School of Mathematics in order to introduce a new second-year undergraduate course that focuses on managing large volumes of data using SAS.

The course, introduced in August 2005, not only provides students with the skills required to manage large data sets using SAS, but also gives students the opportunity to participate in a work experience program and also sit for the SAS Base certification exam.

Aside from providing the UNSW's School of Mathematics with a range of SAS software to use as the basis of the course, SAS also offered a $1,000 prize to the course's top students.

Within weeks of the school announcing the course to the students, over 100 enrollment applications were received. According to the school's Associate Professor James Franklin, this high response is a stark indication of the increasing need within the workplace for SAS skills.

"The introduction of new subjects in undergraduate courses is not something we take lightly or undertake frequently," Professor Franklin said. "The impetus behind the introduction of this new course is recognition of the fact that there is a growing demand within the job market for professionals who have experience in data collection and analysis."

That same sentiment was echoed by the head of UNSW's Statistics Department, School of Mathematics, Professor William Dunsmuir, who commented: "We're now seeing jobs for data managers that simply wouldn't have been around even five years ago. People with SAS skills are now being sought by organisations dealing with genetic research, homeland security and a large number of other emerging areas."

SAS' sponsorship of the new course is part of the company's ongoing commitment to supporting academic programs that further the understanding of enterprise data management. SAS Australia and New Zealand's Academic Program Manager, Melissa Cassar, stated: "We recognise it is our responsibility to assist in providing enterprises with the skilled resources that will help in exploiting the full business potential of SAS solutions. Sponsoring this new course at the University of New South Wales is an important step in further meeting that responsibility."

Students of the 2005 class were given the opportunity to gain valuable work experience with some of SAS' leading enterprise clients. 31 students participated in the work experience program over the Christmas period, with an average of five weeks each across industries such as manufacturing, finance, insurance and government.

One of the students who participated in the work experience program was David Leon, a final year engineering student who spent six weeks working in the consumer marketing and analytics department of telecommunications giant AAPT.

In commenting on the benefits of participating in the program, Leon said: "There aren't that many opportunities for students to follow up a course with hands-on experience in the corporate world – this is definitely an exception.

"I had the opportunity to participate in the analysis of data generated by AAPT's telesales operations, along with a number of other projects, all of which gave me invaluable experience in using SAS to manipulate data in a high-pressure business environment."

Simon Robinson, AAPT Analysis and Reporting Manager, said: "There is a growing requirement for people who have strong SAS skills; and initiatives such as SAS' sponsorship are essential for today's businesses, where the need for accurate and timely data analysis and reporting is becoming ever more critical.

"Certainly, if David's performance is anything to go on, then we will definitely be once again participating in the work experience program this year."

In 2005, 34 of the participating students successfully achieved SAS Base Programmer certification, providing them with a globally recognised credential that validates their SAS knowledge.

Cassar stated: "For those students who gained their Base Programmer certification, they now have enhanced credibility as technical professionals in addition to the corporate world experience many of them acquired through the work experience program.

"Our goal has long been to support our customers by providing the software solutions as well as encouraging the growth of SAS-skilled professionals within the Australian and New Zealand markets. This sponsorship program with UNSW that includes learning, certification and industry experience is just one way in which we are continuing to meet that goal."

Copyright © SAS Institute Inc. All Rights Reserved.