Representatives of SAS Institute and Viet Nam's National Economics University signed a co-operative agreement on November 17. — Photo SAS Institute
The US-based analytics leader SAS Institute on November 17 signed a co-operative education agreement with Viet Nam’s National Economics University (NEU) to develop analytics talent for the Vietnamese banking industry.
The agreement will make the NEU the first local college to join the SAS Global Education Practice Academic Programme.
The two sides struck the agreement as the global economy is witnessing a world-wide shortage of data science skills, which poses a challenge across all industries in general, SAS said in its statement.
In particular, the financial-banking sector needs highly skilled experts to analyse massive amounts of data to understand clients better, improve risk management and drive through complex economic challenges, SAS said.
Under the agreement, SAS Institute will organise the “Analytics for Banking” Programme for NEU students, which allows them to gain experience with real-world data, while technical and academic assistance will be provided by the Viet Nam Prosperity Bank and South Africa’s North-West University.
Financial engineering is the first course of the programme and is scheduled for December 2016 for 40 final-year and post-graduate students. The course will have a strong focus on the banking environment and provide trainees with the skills required by the banking-financial sector.
“To address the globalized, technology-driven business landscape, academia and industry must work together to develop courses that adequately prepare students for ‘real-world work.’ This includes providing diversified, industry-directed academic short courses and mentorship to graduates," said Murray de Villiers, Senior Manager, Global Academic Program at SAS.
“In a rapid-paced world, universities can also develop academic programs faster through inter-university collaboration, leveraging the best of each other.
“This collaboration shows the great potential that can be achieved when industry and universities work together. The ultimate winners are the learners, who will gain skills that are in high demand by employers today,” said Jerry Oglesby, Senior Director of Global Academic Programmes at SAS.
Representatives of the South Africa's North-West University and Viet Nam National Economics University signed the Memorandum of Understanding on November 17. — Photo SAS Institute
On the same day, NEU also signed a Memorandum of Understanding for their collaboration with the Centre for Business Mathematics and Informatics at North-West University, which promises to deliver significant value to the Vietnamese economy.
The SAS Global Education Practice Academic Program currently engages more than 4,000 universities world-wide to deliver on the needs of government, industry and universities for world-class data science and advanced analytics skills. — VNS