A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between SAS Centre of Analytics and Sunway University was signed to embed an analytics focused programme from SAS for students undertaking a BSc (Hons) in Information Systems. The MoU will include a hosting of large scale datasets and analytical models where Sunway University will provide the infrastructure and facilities to proliferate Business Intelligence & Analytics (BIA) skills across students, faculty, and industry professionals. Such capabilities will support academic research in the development of new concepts, methods, systems or applications for BIA skills.
Andrew Tan, Managing Director for SAS Malaysia is confident that the partnership between SAS Malaysia and Sunway University would bring great benefits to not just the students but also Malaysian businesses and organisations. “We can certainly see a strong demand for Big Data technology and analytics in Malaysia over the last few years. Many businesses are starting to realise that they need advanced analytics solutions to stay ahead of the game,” said Tan. “This of course means that the need for big data experts with data mining skills is only going to increase,” he added. According to studies by the International Data Corporation (IDC), emerging markets, which includes Malaysia, only accounted for just 23% of Big Data generated worldwide in 2010. In 2014, IDC predicts that this amount will grow to 40%and exceed 60% by the year 2020. The study also reports that businesses will direct significantly larger amounts of resources towards Big Data analytic tools and solutions, with worldwide spending in 2014 likely to grow by 30% and pass the USD 14 billion mark.
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| (From left) Lee Munloong, Head of Academic, SAS Malaysia; Andrew Tan, Managing Director, SAS Malaysia; Lee Weng Keng, Chief Executive Officer of Education and Healthcare Division, Sunway Group; Professor Graeme Wilkinson, Vice-Chancellor, Sunway University; and Professor Poh Chit Laa, Dean, Faculty of Science and Technology, Sunway University. |