Data & Analytics | News

SAS Launches SAS Analytics U

• By Leila Meyer
• 03/24/14

SAS, a provider of business analytics software and services, has launched SAS Analytics U, an initiative intended to help support analytics students, professors and working professionals.

SAS Analytics U will offer user communities for professors and students, as well as free access to SAS University Edition and SAS OnDemand for Academics software. According to the company, SAS Analytics U "will be available to learners in and out of a higher education setting."

SAS University Edition is a new offering that will be available as a free download for PC, Mac and Linux computers in May 2014. According to information on the compay's site, the software includes SAS foundational technologies designed for data and statistical analysis in teaching, research and self-paced learning, including Base SAS, SAS/STAT, SAS/IML, SAS/ACCESS Interface to PC Files and SAS/ACCESS Interface to ODBC, as well as SAS Studio, a new Web-based tool for writing and running SAS code.

SAS OnDemand for Academics is an existing free, online, hosted service for teaching and academic research. It includes access to the same analytics tools as SAS University Edition, as well as SAS Enterprise Miner, SAS Enterprise Guide and additional SAS applications. Beginning this summer, SAS OnDemand for Academics will no longer require users to be associated with a specific course or professor.

The SAS Analytics U user communities have already launched and include resources and data sets designed to help users teach and learn SAS, while also enabling community members to share best practices, lesson plans, and projects and to offer peer support. In conjunction with the user communities, SAS has launched a SAS Analytics U Facebook page and YouTube channel and plans to launch other social media channels.

SAS currently partners with a number of universities offering analytics programs, including North Carolina State University, Kennesaw State University, Capella University and Athabasca University. According to the company, SAS is "pursuing and expanding degree programs at Texas A&M University, Louisiana State University, University of South Carolina, National University, Northwestern University and many others." Future SAS massive open online courses (MOOCs) are also being planned.

"Jobs requiring analytic skills are in high demand, but right now there isn't enough talent to fill those jobs," said Jim Goodnight, CEO of SAS, in a prepared statement. "SAS Analytics U addresses that gap by making it easier to access free SAS software so anyone can become an analytic expert."

Further information about SAS Analytics U can be found on the company's site.