When business executives in Malaysia and the Asia Pacific region seek to hire IT leaders with the latest skills in analytics and information systems, they often find them at Sunway University College, where SAS technology is used in the classroom to prepare students for careers in IT.
Sunway is a world-class higher education institution and leader in private education in Malaysia and the Asia Pacific region. Established in 1987, Sunway provides tertiary education to a total of 10,000 students – with 30 percent coming from 90 foreign countries – enrolled in various academic programs at the diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
The School of Computer Technology (SCT) at Sunway has developed a reputation for excellence, offering a high standard of education in information technology, information systems, computer science and networking. SCT advocates unique specializations that not only stress the importance of the academic curriculum, but also promote students' exposure to the IT industry, enabling them to discover their potential and achieve their goals.
Associate Professor Dr. Lim Tong Ming, Head of SCT, said, "To achieve excellence in IT instruction, Sunway is extremely sensitive to the need to expose and educate its technology students with IT skill sets that are relevant and highly sought-after in the real world. This is to ensure that all of our graduates are at the forefront of industry demand, making successful careers in the competitive market."
SAS® for research support
With the rapid changes in the world of technology, Dr. Lim deemed it essential for Sunway academics to equip themselves with knowledge of the latest enterprise IT solutions, especially in the area of statistical analysis, data mining and analysis technologies.
Sunway is continuously seeking to explore and research these areas to better tutor its students in the know-how of innovative technologies and advanced IT solutions. For this reason, the university college opted to further develop its teaching and research methods with SAS Enterprise Guide and SAS Enterprise Miner.
SAS analysis and data mining skills are highly in demand, as many Malaysian corporate organizations and enterprises are using similar, if not identical, SAS technology. SAS solutions are renowned for handling large amounts of data, comprehensive data analysis, business intelligence and analytics.
"We believe that SAS' well-known reputation for its widely applied solutions in the business world will give Sunway University College students the training they need to be truly relevant in the workplace," explained Dr. Lim. "We trust SAS as a partner that Sunway University College will benefit from."
Another factor for SCT choosing SAS for its research and training support is the unlimited licensing model of the software. "As an education institution, partnering with SAS also makes budgetary sense, as its adaptable licensing module eliminates the possibility of raking up a massive cost to be incurred due to the multiple use of such programs and solutions for the purpose of teaching, learning and research," said Dr. Lim.
Commercial returnsAdding SAS as a key subject in the university college's syllabus and industry training has also brought about new benefits to Sunway as a reputable educational institution.
SCT currently offers a number of courses covering data analysis and data mining using SAS Enterprise Guide, SAS Enterprise Miner and Base SAS, which attract 70 percent of SCT students. "SAS' comprehensive and practical solutions have garnered a lot of interest amongst our lecturers and students," said Dr. Lim.
SCT's courses already prepared students to enter a highly competitive labour market. But Dr. Lim notes that within a year of working with SAS, Sunway has improved on its standards of educational excellence and the marketability of its highly practical technology courses.
