SAS Launches Free Data Literacy Course to Upskill People in AI-Driven World

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA (October 12, 2023) – Catering to the explosive need today for data literacy, SAS will launch “Data Literacy in Practice”, partnering with the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) through their Let’s Learn Digital upskilling programme for digital tech courses.

Ts. Mahadhir Aziz, chief executive officer of MDEC said: “We are committed to creating a digital ecosystem that nurtures innovation, empowers businesses, and enables digital inclusion. With a new and enhanced framework, Malaysia Digital (MD) seeks to transform the nation’s digital capabilities and boost the digital economy through the introduction and execution of various MD Catalytic Programmes (PEMANGKIN). Amidst analytics and AI, which are now integral to digital business, data literacy within the workforce can enable organisations to seamlessly adopt existing and emerging technologies. In line with our aims to enable businesses to become data-driven and AI-ready, and to support Malaysia’s growth as a regional data and AI digital hub, we are glad to partner with SAS Institute to bring data literacy education to businesses and individuals in Malaysia to address the digital skills gap.”

Meanwhile, Queenie Wong, director, customer advisory, SAS Institute stated: “With the rise of AI and the growing demand for data-driven decision making for business, we aim to empower individuals with the skills to help evaluate and interpret data and to make informed decisions.”

“In a world overflowing with data, unlocking its power sets you apart. Data literacy is more relevant than ever for young learners and professionals wishing to upskill and reskill,” said Dr. Emily Pressman, who developed the SAS Data Literacy series. “Our courses are designed to be easily consumed by learners and integrated into instruction and professional development offerings.”

Everyone stands to benefit from better data literacy, be they student, educator, professional or layman. Though the needs of each varies greatly, the benefits from being properly informed of how to deal with their data and the privacy thereof and explore the power of data analysis and be able to adapt this crucial knowledge to their individual workplace, home or school.

The key features of Data Literacy in Practice include a user-friendly design, real-world examples and convenient and flexible learning options.

Among those who actively use the programme are more than 600 colleges and universities and 3,500 non-academic organisations from across 80 countries. Individual users include hundreds of higher education faculty, including Paul Hansford, Associate Professor in the Business and Public Services Division at Sinclair Community College.

“Using short, impactful, high-quality videos, the course does an excellent job of introducing ways data is used in our professional and everyday lives, providing students with an entry-level, but solid foundation of data literacy concepts,” said Hansford. “Importantly, the course also addresses ethical considerations of data analysis. I highly recommend that everyone include this great intro to data literacy in their repertoire of tools for a competitive advantage in the workforce.”

Data literacy is also a key to business resilience, which determines which companies struggle, which ones merely survive and which ones thrive. An SAS survey report released in March explores the current state of business resiliency and the steps that organisations take to navigate change and seize promising new opportunities. This survey, conducted among 2,400 business executives revealed a trend that high-resiliency organisations have a strong focus on their data culture and literacy. Such organisations look to data to help solve problems, answer questions and make informed decisions.