Cheam Tat Inn (SAS)
SAS has committed to up-skill a minimum of 500 students in analytics across Malaysia by the end of 2020, in response to increased demand for data science expertise.
Under the banner of SAS Software Certified Young Professionals (SCYP), the program will collaborate with the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) to help drive the adoption of emerging technologies across the country.
Central to such efforts will be enabling students to work towards SAS certification in programming, machine learning and visual analytics through e-learning courses, supported by access to online communities and webinars.
“SAS has a deep-rooted history in academia,” said Cheam Tat Inn, managing director of Malaysia at SAS. “Launching a program to empower Malaysian students with SAS analytics knowledge and expertise helps in answering the rising demand for technology professionals in Southeast Asia.
“Business organisations need people who can make sense of data, manage and analyse it, build models and determine what information delivers the most value. Students with an analytical skillset will be highly sought after.”
Once students have completed the e-learning courses and attended the associated webinars, a certification exam will follow before connections with SAS customers seeking young data science professionals.
Within Southeast Asia, “free or heavily subsidised” online courses are available to undergraduate, post-graduate and PhD students who are enrolled at a university, business school or university college in Malaysia, Indonesia or Vietnam. There are currently three courses available for students in Malaysia and Vietnam, and five courses on offer in Indonesia, spanning data analytics, statistics, machine learning and virtualisation.
“Our strategic partnership with SAS aligns perfectly with our commitment to ensuring delivery of technology relevant programmes to Malaysian students and help Malaysians make the digital leap into the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” added Surina Shukri, CEO of MDEC.
“We see our public-private partnership initiatives such as SAS contributing to Malaysia’s overall growth of the data science skills required in the workforce to support the digitally-driven economy, which is also critical to meet the demand of the current and future job market.”
