SAS Academic Intelligence award to UNSW Mathematics

Software company SAS has had a close relationship with the School of Mathematics, through its involvement in the second-year undergraduate Data Management course and others (earlier story). SAS has now recognised the relationship with its premier international award.

SAS's press release states:

University of New South Wales wins International Recognition

Sydney June 2006

SAS Institute has presented the SAS Academic Intelligence Award to the School of Mathematics at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). SAS Institute is the leading provider of business intelligence software tools and related services.

The presentation was made in Geneva at a recent meeting of 2,000 worldwide business leaders, IT professionals and other senior managers attending the annual gathering of the SAS user community.

There is only one such award each year – worldwide – and in making it on this occasion, SAS Institute cited UNSW’s outstanding innovation in bridging the gap between industry and academia.

UNSW thus joins an elite list of the world’s best learning institutions where the use of SAS analytical and other business intelligence software tools has been outstandingly successful in helping prepare graduates for their future careers.

Acknowledging the award, UNSW School of Mathematics Associate Professor James Franklin said, “We greatly value SAS’s wide contact with the latest developments in making intelligent use of data in industry. Our close relationship with SAS helps us keep our course content at the cutting edge.”

UNSW has been a user of SAS software since 1986 and the relationship between the two organisations under the SAS Academic Program extends, annually, to – bursaries awarded to outstanding students; training to the level of SAS-Certified Specialist; and SAS-initiated student work experience assignments with leading commercial organisations.

In 2005, SAS arranged for 32 UNSW students to gain five-week work experience assignments with 12 SAS customers. Of the 32, no fewer than nine were subsequently offered full-time employment by their hosts.


Melissa Cassar, who has managed the SAS Academic Program for Australia and New Zealand since its 2002 inception, said that of the 2,200 universities worldwide which use SAS software, 45 are in her own region.

She added, “Our program is tailored to meet the unique needs of teaching staff, students and researchers. On the one hand, we provide support for professors updating their course content to stay abreast of the latest IT developments while, for students, we aim to see them equipped with the advanced analytical skills so highly valued by leading employers.”