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SAS® Education helps users get the most out of their SAS software
Vice President of SAS Education Herbert Kirk likes to use the phrase "good-sized university" to describe the number of SAS users his division serves each year. It's a fair assessment, considering an average year sees more than 30,000 students take an Education classroom course, sign in for a Live Web class, attend one of Education's three conferences, or participate in any of a number of other educational offerings.
Since SAS Education was formalized more than thirty years ago, the organization has been committed to providing users the quality instruction they need to help them realize the full potential of their SAS software investment. The group is recognized as a leader in technical instruction on SAS, Business Intelligence, JMP and industry-leading business theory and best practices.
Delivering the knowledge that improves performance
SAS Education's mission statement is simple: Deliver the knowledge customers need to improve their performance and skills using SAS technology. To accomplish this goal, SAS Education employs a network of nearly 100 certified instructors and 28 training facilities located throughout the country. The division also provides on-site instruction to organizations in need of group training at their site. For those users who do not live close to a regional training center, are looking to reduce travel expenses or time away from the office, or simply prefer the e-learning medium, the division offers a number of e-learning options, including Live Web classes and self-paced e-learning.
In 2006 alone, Education instructed more than 34,000 students and delivered more than 2,300 courses. The group also awarded its 9,000 SAS Certified Professional Credential, participated in numerous corporate-wide events, delivered seminars to hundreds of users at SAS' regional and international user group meetings, assisted hundreds of university professors interested in incorporating SAS technology into their curriculum, and conducted three internationally recognized conferences.
First and foremost a service organization
In addition to providing users cutting-edge educational content that helps them exploit the full capabilities of SAS, SAS Education is also committed to customer service and building user loyalty. During the division's 30-plus year history, SAS Education has trained more than 500,000 SAS users and regards the relationship it develops with each student as an important asset. Through literally hundreds of thousands of interactions, the division has helped SAS earn its reputation as a highly responsive company driven by the needs of its customer base.
SAS Education's Products and Services
SAS Education offers a broad curriculum of SAS, JMP and statistical courses. Supporting users with the latest foundation technology training, SAS Education courses cover a variety of topics arranged in more than twenty separate curriculum paths. While SAS programming, reporting, statistics and applications development courses account for a majority of the public course registrations, the division serves the broad interests of SAS users through the delivery of more than 100 developed courses.
In addition to its foundation training, SAS Education also offers solution training to support SAS' initiatives, including courses in Enterprise Intelligence, Supplier Intelligence, Organizational Intelligence, and others.
SAS Education is also uniquely equipped to address the variety of learning styles. From instructor-based courses taught by expert trainers to e-Learning courses that offer the convenience of Web-based learning, SAS delivers both technology and solutions-based training in support of SAS software.
Public Instructor-Led Training
SAS Education offers its extensive curriculum at 28 public training centers located throughout the United States. Courses combine lectures, software demonstrations, hands-on computer workshops and course notes to provide a comprehensive learning experience. Courses are taught by experienced, certified instructors who are recognized for leadership in their respective fields of instruction.
On-site TraininggetEducation.html For organizations that need to train several employees at once, or need to train at their location, Education offers on-site training. Because these engagements are held at the customer's site, customers benefit from training in a familiar environment and save on travel costs. Any publicly offered course can also be offered at customer site locations if requested.
Live Web classesgetEducation.html Live Web classes provide customers with an interactive, instructor-based instruction delivered over the Internet. This interactive and synchronous (live) delivery method allows communication with instructors and classmates in real time. Live Web instruction offers significant benefits for students. Not only does it eliminate travel and reduce time away from the office, but the delivery of small chunks of information aids in retention.
In 2006, nearly 3,000 students took a Live Web class(es), a 44% increase in attendance over the previous year. Live Web classes especially help users overcome challenges they may face traveling for training or helps those who lack a SAS training center nearby. Registrations have come from some international cities as well as from users in the U.S. as far away as Hawaii and Alaska. Students from the contiguous United States who are several hundred miles away from the nearest training center (residing in states such as Utah, South Dakota, and Montana) have also saved both money and time by taking Live Web offerings this past year.
SAS Self-Paced e-LearninggetEducation.html Self-Paced e-Learning delivers fast, focused, and easily accessible SAS training directly to your desktop. Topics include: SAS Programming, Advanced SAS Programming, SAS Enterprise Guide, Certification, Business Intelligence, Data Analysis, and Data Integration.
Individual, short-term access is available directly from the Web. Customers can purchase individual lessons, courses, or entire libraries depending on their specific training needs. Free tutorials are also available.
Business Knowledge SeriesgetEducation.html The Business Knowledge Series provides professionals from a particular industry, specialized instruction from industry recognized professionals. Taught by noted experts in the field, these seminars tackle the latest business problems facing the industry. The BKS program offers courses in fields that include Accessing and Manipulating Data; Data Mining and Statistical Analysis; Strategic Performance Management; Pharmaceutical and Health Care; and Telecommunications.
CertificationgetEducation.html The SAS Certified Professional Program allows SAS users to earn globally recognized credentials denoting their in-depth understanding of SAS software. Exams address the full spectrum of SAS knowledge, from the basic understanding of the SAS system to exams at the specialty level designed to recognize candidates who have obtained an advanced level of knowledge.
This past year, the program enjoyed tremendous growth both in the Americas and internationally, awarding its 9,000 certification in early 2006. For more information about certification tracks, read Credentials and Exams.
Higher Education ConsultinggetEducation.html In October 2001, SAS Education created the Higher Education Consulting group to increase SAS' presence in institutions of higher learning around the country. Since that time, the group has developed working relationships with faculty at hundreds of universities, community colleges and technical schools around the country, educating faculty on the value of SAS and its use in the classroom.
The Higher Education Consulting Group provides a variety of services to institutions interested in incorporating SAS into their curricula. One of the most popular services the group provides is the dissemination of Academic Trainer's Kits. Through this offering, interested faculty members have access to all of SAS Education's training materials free of charge, as long as they use them in conjunction with a degree program.
Through Higher Education Consulting's Data Mining Certificate Program, universities can offer students a battery of SAS courses, the successful completion of which results in a certificate or minor. Higher Education has a number of universities committed to the program, several of them, including the University of Alabama, Oklahoma State University, and the University of Central Florida (UCF) have already awarded certificates to a number of graduate students.
Starting a training program: overcoming the sometimes mysterious return on investment debate
Nearly every organization, regardless of industry, agrees that there is strategic value in training their workforce. They'll cite knowledge as a real organizational asset; talk about the significant impact learning has on revenues, productivity, and turnover; they'll even categorize training as imperative to the health of their organization, a foolproof way to gain competitive advantage. What they often struggle with, however, is documenting the return on investment for training. To help SAS users better understand the value of training, SAS Education conducted a survey of more than 2,100 U.S. students who attended public and Live Web courses from January 1-March 31, 2006.
The purpose of the survey was to determine the impact of SAS training on students' job performance and the overall value of SAS training. The survey was timed to allow at least 60 and no more than 120 days back on the job. The results of the 400-plus responses provided great evidence of the often overlooked return on investment of training:
| My SAS knowledge has increased | 93% ** | |
| I would recommend SAS training to a colleague | 93% | |
| The training that I received from SAS was better than other training I have taken. | 81% | |
| My productivity has increased. | 69% | |
| I am more efficient after having completed my training. | 61% |
"This survey clearly shows the value of SAS training to our students and their organizations," said SAS Education Vice President Herbert Kirk. "The survey also gives us evidence that SAS training can be linked to an increase in productivity and efficiency and confirms that our students strongly believe that we're the best in the business."
