Free training to close analytics skills gap

A free online program is aiming to mitigate the challenges of entering a COVID-19 impacted employment market, offering tertiary students an opportunity to get ahead of the game.

The Certified Young Professionals program from SAS is free to all current Australian and New Zealand higher education students with a valid domain email address from a university, TAFE or other tertiary institution. The program comprises a sequence of assisted self-learning modules which will equip students for in-demand data analyst roles.

Ian Edwards, head of Academic Outreach for SAS ANZ, said the jobs market is likely to be slow for some time. 

“The global shortage of skilled business analysts is real and now, and also very much applies in our part of the world,” he said.

Nearly 1000 ANZ students have embarked on the program, with global enrolment currently exceeding 12,000. There are no IT or other higher education prerequisites and, once registered, students can download SAS software or access it online. Modules are accessible at any time through the SAS Customised Learning Portal, which also provides access to analytics experts, enabling students to ask questions and seek advice.

Upon completion of the e-learning modules and a series of associated webinars, students are eligible to sit the two-hour certification exam, which can be done either at a SAS office or the student’s approved teaching institution.

Students who pass the exam can elect to be listed in the international ‘SAS Global Certified Professional Directory’. The company will additionally connect students with customers looking to fill positions.

Further information and registration is available here.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Rawf8