Working toward solving a real-world business problem 

North-West University Develops Data Scientists using SAS-based Curriculum

About the NWU Centre for BMI

The North-West University (NWU) Centre for Business Mathematics and Informatics (BMI) is a leading tertiary risk training and research group for the financial services industry. The Centre offers four training courses comprising Actuarial Science; Business Analytics/Data Mining/Data Science; Financial Mathematics; and Quantitative Risk Management. It boasts an extensive corporate client footprint in the financial services industry in Africa and prides itself on its collaborative relationships with clients involving a spectrum of industry-directed research projects.

The Situation

NWU is a SAS flagship university in South Africa. The university took a decision two decades ago to design a curriculum that meets real-world business needs in a rapidly digitalising economy. As a result, the financial services sector, particularly, is benefiting from a sustainable pipeline of data science skills to address real, strategic, and social problems.

The Challenge

As digitalisation accelerates globally, South Africa is not alone in finding itself short of data-driven advanced analytical skills like quantitative risk, machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), and statistics. The most common methods of addressing these skills shortages are upskilling current talent, reskilling talent already in the workforce, and creating fresh talent ready to enter the workforce. This is where universities play an important role in providing a consistent flow of expertly qualified master’s-level advanced analytics skills ready to apply their gained skills in industry. We spoke with Andrea Beccari, Head of R&D Platforms and Services, and Anna Fava, Senior Software Engineer, at Dompé to get their thoughts on how the company is navigating this evolving landscape.

The SAS Advantage

Given the shortage of talent in advanced analytical skills, the focus of the Centre is to get more students in that area. The SAS-NWU collaboration was formalised in 2001 and has been designed to contribute to filling the talent gap in the world by providing students with the theoretical and programming skills needed to take on analytical roles within the financial services industry.

The Solution

The Centre provides master’s-level students with real-world experience through projects in industry settings. Students spend their final semester actively entrenched within a SAS customer business, working toward solving a real-world business problem under an industry expert’s guidance, and a lecturer’s mentorship.

This combination of theoretical and practical experience provides students with business experience and both hard and soft business skills acquired in a real workplace. Students gain vital experience in business problem formulation, business etiquette, business writing, and business value delivery through first-hand experience in industry projects. As a result, when they start working their first job, these students are productive much earlier than those without comparable experience.

The fundamental driver behind this approach is SAS’s input into curriculum development in conjunction with client partners. SAS not only encourages a hands-on approach to skills development and learning, but provides access to the analytical software, technical workshops, and certification that prepare students to be work-ready.

The Centre has updated its commitment to turning out sought-after graduates with SAS skill sets through 11 SAS Academic Specialisation certifications. All BMI students from undergraduate level through honours and master’s level benefit from having access to SAS e-badges. By gaining expertise in industry-standard SAS platforms and tools, including open-source skills, BMI graduates achieve digital credentials that validate expertise. Graduates’ degrees, therefore, carry significant weight with employers seeking data scientists who can get the job done.

Benefits

Professor Helgard Raubenheimer, Director of the Centre, says the specialisations developed in conjunction with SAS contribute to thought leadership in the SAS Academic Network.

“SAS provides the full stack of SAS Academic resources, open access to SAS Data Science software for teaching and research, and sponsors the SASLab chair. This SASLab is the Big Data Science reference for universities in Africa and the Middle East, with a rich, peer-reviewed academic research output.”

The SASLab hosts one of the largest SAS Big Data installations for Data Science Teaching and Research in Africa and is available as a resource to other universities. The Centre for BMI actively engages with and contributes to other building programs in the Middle East, Africa, Turkey, and ASEAN.

“Retail banks rely on SAS. The training we provide our students provide them with the skills that make them more employable in a global market,” adds Professor Raubenheimer.

With the SAS partnership in place, NWU is getting access to world-class software that it uses to train students as well as for lecturers having access to SAS experts who ensure the Centre stays on the leading edge of teaching utilising SAS’s world class software.

“We are creating our pipeline of students feeding into the degree from our undergraduate programme and are accepting students from other universities who meet our prerequisites. Some BMI alumni have filled positions at large financial services multinationals due to their excellent reputation in the global market. The professional networking opportunities, mentorship, and career development available to Centre students are crucial to the development of advanced data analytics professionals,” adds Professor Raubenheimer.