Industry, higher education, and enterprise collaborate to build the future-ready workforce.
Vocational Education and Training (VET) institutes are crucial in providing the future ready workforce. VET Institutes equip individuals with practical, job-specific skills to prepare them for the workforce. They offer a wide range of qualifications, from Certificates to Advanced Diplomas, including more recently micro credentials – focused educational qualifications designed to provide learners with specific skills and knowledge, often tailored to meet industry demands and enable the learner to upskill or reskill without the need to commit to a 12+ month education program. And they emphasizes hands-on, competency-based learning. Where students learn practical skills directly applicable to workplace settings.
That why SAS is a core partner of TAFE NSW – Institute of Applied Technology Digital (IATD). A cutting-edge educational initiative located at TAFE NSW Meadowbank, focusing on providing innovative training in digital skills that align with industry demands.
Our Beginnings
The partnership between SAS and IATD began in 2022, when SAS committed to advise TAFE NSW on the development of the IATD’s new and innovative education model. To ensure agility with an industry informed digital skills curriculum, with a strong commitment to contribute towards transforming the delivery of education in the VET system via four pillars:
- Co-Design – of the education model and incumbent micro skills and credentials, by offering industry and subject domain experts, educational curriculum, industry certification and access to SAS Software
- Co-Deliver – of micro skills and credentials programs, leveraging industry and subject domain experts, digital industry themed learning pathways and SAS Software
- Co-Locate – working with the Foundation Partners on premise and in stream, to present a unified IATD experience
- Co-Partner – providing ongoing expert industry input via the IATD Industry Advisory Boards.
Our Partnership
TAFE NSW investment in IATD represents a significant effort to address Australia's data analytics skills shortage. SAS is partnering with IATD specifically in the fields of Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics. Part of the partnership has seen the alignment if SAS digital learning pathways and SAS Industry Certification with a series of Foundation and Intermediary micro-credentials. For example aligning the Machine Learning Foundation micro-credentials with the Applied Statistics for Machine Learning industry certification pathway. And aligning Understanding Data Analytics micro-credentials with the Visual Business Analyst industry certification pathway.
SAS subject and domain leads have also guest lectured as part of several of Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics micro-credentials and recorded a number of interviews and webinars designed to showcase how industry leverages AI, data and technology to solve complex business problems.
The unique approach involves creating stackable credentials which enable learners to progressively enhance their skills while building pathways to advanced qualifications. Te approach also emphasizes collaboration with industry experts, ensuring the curriculum stays relevant and that learners are equipped for evolving job markets.
What’s Next
Our ambitious next step see’s SAS co-deliver the Data Analytics Work Integrated Learning Program. This program is a 10-week course that was co-designed by SAS and provides both technical and enterprise skills in areas such as data modelling, visualization, and machine learning.
This new micro-credential is part of a new "Data Pathway" which includes four stackable micro-credentials, including Understanding Data Analytics, Data Visualization Foundations, Python for Data Analytics, and a capstone work-integrated learning module.
The program offers learners the opportunity to develop knowledge of core industry skills including problem solving, critical thinking, collaboration, communication, project management and teamwork. How to define a business problem, take a data-driven hypothesis testing approach and collect data and the approach to exploratory data analysis, and how to approach building advanced dashboards and applying data modelling and machine learning techniques. While outlining the importance of data governance and ethics.
The Future is here
Across Australia, industries are increasingly adopting data technologies to meet the rising demand for data-driven decision-making and real-time analytics. The IATD – SAS partnership has developed and continues to develop practical learning micro skills and credentials and provide hands-on experience with real-world projects based activities. The partnership represents one of the new approaches to developing the new type of learning pathway to develop the workforce of the future.
