Ng Ying Xue (YX) is the challenge five winner of our first ever global Qlik Academic Program Datathon. She is an Accountancy and Business Analytics student at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. In the early years of her university life, YX gained interest in analytics and that’s how her journey began. This further led to her active involvement in her school’s Business Analytics Club while taking up the role of the Club’s president in her senior year.

It was as during her time in the Club that her interest began in data visualization. As a new analytics student at that time, YX was rather fascinated with the capabilities of data visualization software, which she says, “allows self-service analytics for anyone, especially for individuals without a technical background.”

YX first tried Qlik during her analytics internship and was rather amazed at all the features it possessed. She found the interface easy to navigate, and she worked on a small project using Qlik. During the internship, she also did some research and learned about the Qlik Academic Program. She signed up for the program and immediately started taking the training courses offered by Qlik. YX was impressed at how customizable the software could be and the extensive extensions available. However, she felt there were few opportunities to apply the skills she had learned and to present use of the software outside of the few data visualization projects she had during her internship.

Opportunity came knocking when early this year, YX’s Professor shared an email regarding the Academic Program Datathon Qlik had organised. She was motivated by the idea of being able to apply her data visualization skills to create a data-driven solution towards a resilient climate and planet. YX thought this was also a good avenue to apply what she had learned, and to showcase how data could be applied to solve problems using Qlik. However, since she did not have much experience with Qlik, she struggled a bit initially. YX found inspirations from some examples on the Qlik demos site and made full use of the forums to get answers to questions regarding the features or extensions she wanted to implement in her application.

YX says, “Since there are limited opportunities for students like myself to apply our skillsets to the real-world context, I am extremely grateful to Qlik for organizing this Datathon. Through my participation in the Datathon, I was able to reaffirm my passion for analytics and problem solving. Moving forward, I am looking to continuously improve my skillsets and make a change using the power of data.”

Register now to watch YX and the other Datathon challenge winners present their amazing solutions during QlikWorld Online. Don’t forget to vote for your favorite solution and help Qlik award the overall winner of the Datathon!

Recently, winners of the Qlik and C40 Climate Leadership Group Academic Program Datathon were announced. Students from all around the world leveraged Qlik analytics software and public data to build solutions to help solve some of the issues at the heart of our current climate crisis in multiple geographies.

Among the winners of this challenge was “Team Young Hustlers” comprising of Sri Teja Makam and Vinay Kandula, final year Bachelors in Technology students from Vidya Jyothi Institute of Technology (VJIT) Hyderabad, India

Both their stories are inspiring and reveal their passion for climate change and analytics.  

Vinay Kandula hails from an agricultural background and was driven by the urge to help farmers improve agricultural practices. He embarked upon his own research and his findings revealed that poor rainfall and rising temperatures are one of the leading causes for a drop in crop production. He felt that a solution which could track these changes and help minimize this damage could be of great help to farmers. It was this context that led him and his team member Sri Teja Makam to participate in the Qlik Datathon Challenge and choose a challenge to develop a tool to measure and track the progress of  increased (or decreased) risk reduction to climate change hazards

Prior to the Qlik Academic Program being introduced at VJIT, Vinay had no idea that data analytics could be done without coding. Within the program, he chose the Business Analyst pathway which helped him understand data analytics and build visualizations using dimensions, measures and charts. Vinay says, “Two years of learning through the resources of the Qlik Academic Program has only increased my eagerness to explore more about the technology.  It was this enthusiasm that led to my first project in Qlik Sense using connectors and IOT”

When he heard about the Datathon, he teamed up with Sri Teja Makam and registered immediately without a second thought. His concern for agriculture being impacted by climate change was an inspiration to build an app which could help solve issues due to climatic hazards. Both of them are pursuing an internship so it was a challenge to balance time. But careful planning and execution made them manage both successfully. As they progressed, it was a different learning experience and eventually, while some last-minute changes to the app went a little off the plan, they were able to upload the project and meet the deadline.

Vinay says, “Data Analytics is one of the booming technologies and there are various other technologies like Data Science, Machine Learning and Deep Learning which are important. My aim is to complete Data Science as it would lead a way to a successful career.”

Professor Siddhartha Ghosh who was one of the mentors for this team was delighted to have students from VJIT achieve this landmark and says, “this win gave us the confidence that nothing is impossible!”

The second team member of “Team Young Hustlers”, Sri Teja Makam is also studying in her final year of Engineering pursuing Bachelors in Technology in Computer Science from VJIT.

Sri Teja’s interest in climate change began a couple of years ago when she visited Delhi for a holiday during the summer month of May. During this time, she experienced extreme heat conditions in Delhi and upon further research, she discovered that rainfall is also not normal in the region. This inspired Sri Teja to learn more about climate hazards caused due to climate change.

While studying at VJIT, the Qlik Academic Program was introduced in September 2018.  She along with her classmates decided to pursue the Business Analyst pathway. As her learning progressed, it led to more enthusiasm due to the structure and contents of the program. In particular, she was fascinated about the product features such as building apps, loading data, writing the script, creating various visualizations using charts, interlinking the datasets, taking snapshots and creating stories. She was also excited by the experience of learning seamlessly without coding.  

In her words, “Qlik has brought a whole new perspective to data analytics. The Qlik Academic Program fueled our passion in data analytics which also enabled us to undertake a couple of projects using Qlik Sense”

The Qlik Academic Program Datathon came as a blessing because that gave Sri Teja the opportunity to participate in a challenge towards her concern for climate change and also test her skills she’s learnt so far, in a global challenge. Being an intern, it was important to manage time but by dividing tasks between her and Vinay made this endeavor easier.  Last minute changes did make it challenging but they were able to submit the presentation and meet the deadline. In Sri Teja’s words, “Alone we can do so little and together we can do so much”

Sri Teja further says, “The more I know about Data Analytics, the more challenging it becomes which in turn enthusiasts like me to explore various datasets and find a solution to real-world problems. Today’s world is using data analytics for easy visualization and I believe this knowledge would pave the path for greater success in my career”

Professor Neha Kandula who also mentored this team feels that the Qlik and C40 Climate Leadership Group Academic Program Datathon is one of the best kind of challenges she’s seen in her academic career and this also gave students a chance to work on data which is relevant to the present situation.

To learn more about the Qlik Academic Program and explore free resources for students and Professors, visit: qlik.com/academicprogram

Wondering how best to utilize your time while at home? This is a perfect opportunity to learn and upskill on new technologies. Among the skills of the future, analytics has often occupied top rankings consistently

According to an article in Dataquest, data science jobs in India are expected to see 1.5 lakh new openings in 2020, which is an increase of about 62% as compared to 2019

A leader in BI, Qlik offers the Qlik Academic Program with its rich reservoir of resources in analytics all available at your disposal to utilize, train, get qualified and certified at no cost, if you are a student or a Professor. Sounds too good to be true? Well, we have more than 10,000 students across 1600 Universities and benefitting from these resources through the Qlik Academic Program.  

Upon undergoing online training offered by Qlik for which you get access as a part of the program, you can appear for the exams and get qualified and certified.

Here is a list of the qualifications and certifications you have access to, once you sign up for the Program:

Qlik Sense Business Analyst Qualification

This qualification exam tests your basic skills and applied knowledge of the Qlik Sense product including Qlik Sense visualizations for data analysis, creating master items, snapshots and stories for collaboration etc.

•         Estimated learning duration: 16.5 hours
•         Exam duration: 1 hour 15 minutes
•         Passing criteria: 70% or higher to earn a certificate and a digital badge

Qlik Sense Data Architect Qualification

This qualification exam tests your basic skills and applied knowledge of the Qlik Sense product including understanding data modeling concepts, generating, debugging and troubleshooting the load script, creating master items for business user consumption etc.

•         Estimated learning duration:19 hours
•         Exam duration: 1 hour 30 minutes
•         Passing criteria:  70% or higher to earn a certificate and a digital badge

 Data Analytics Certification

This certification exam measures your analytic and statistics knowledge, from a basic to advanced level. The exam is product-agnostic and measures your technical ability within the world of data, analytics, data science, and data literacy. The exam covers technical aspects of statistics and analytics, including the ability to use data visualizations appropriately.

•         Estimated learning duration: 15 hours
•         Exam duration: 2 hours
•         Passing criteria: 65% or higher to earn a certificate and a digital badge

Data Literacy Certification

This certification exam is product-agnostic and measures your ability to interpret business requirements; understand and transform data; design, build, and interpret visualizations and analyze, act on and share results.

•         Estimated learning duration: 10-12 hours
•         Exam duration: 2.5 hours
•         Passing criteria: 65% or higher to earn a certificate and a digital badge

raining for all these exams is free as part of the access under the Qlik Academic Program.

Along with this, Professors and students get resources to teach analytics through the Data Analytics Curriculum (only for Professors), other online training resources, free Qlik Sense Business software for 365 days and more

For more information about this program, visit: qlik.com/academicprogram.com  or email academicprogram@qlik.com

The Qlik Academic Program achieved a significant milestone in January – 10,000 individual student subscribers and this is an exciting time for Qlik! With a lifetime reach of 500,000 students, we are proud to play a key role in helping Qlik achieve its mission to decrease the world’s data literacy gap.

Our mission is to make students better prepared for the data-driven economy and through the program, we advance student analytical and data literacy skills within every academic discipline. In addition, students gain the skills, training, and tools from our dedicated program to succeed in digital business. As an important step in their career, students increase marketability to employers, demonstrate their proficiency with the leading guided analytics and data visualization tools. The program is also trying to bridge the talent gap in analytics and creating a resource pool for our partners, customers

Today, more than 1,600 universities in more than 85 countries participate in the Qlik Academic Program. Students and Professors from diverse backgrounds such as engineering, management, humanities, social sciences are learning analytics from the program resources. In India, this program is spread across more than 30 cities in the country

Dr Chandrani Singh, Director MCA of Sinhgad Management Institutes, Pune, says, “By providing accessibility, availability and inclusion for key stakeholders in education, the Qlik Academic Program fuels a data driven approach to innovation and boosts analytical excellence”

The program provides full-year access our Qlik Continuous Classroom, qualifications and certifications, complimentary Qlik software, data analytics curriculum and other learning resources so more people, everywhere become data and analytics experts. The Qlik Academic Program is open to any accredited, university-level institution worldwide. Professors, researchers and students are eligible to apply for the program

Candidates interested in being a part of the program can apply using the following link: qlik.com/academicprogram

The Data Analytics Students Club at Anurag Group of Institutions in Hyderabad, India was launched in May 2019 with a mission to equip students with the right analytics skills and tools to help them succeed in their career. In pursuit of this goal, the Club provides hands-on experience in analytics through learning, events, program simulations and guest lectures. Qlik Sense is among other analytics technologies offered in this Club with a goal to train students as Data Scientists. The club is open for students who are interested in the field of data analytics and encourages students to use analytical skills to solve real world problems. Presently, 60 students are being trained under this club.

The Data Analytics Students Club’s first initiative was to enable students helping them complete the Qlik Sense Business Analyst Qualification offered by the  Qlik Academic Program. According to the President of the Club, Shashidhar Reddy, “The Qlik Continuous Classrooms has the best resources for students of all levels. Qlik happens to be one of the most useful tools in data analytics and has motivated us to initiate a Data Analytics Student Club in the Department with a team of 7 members”

Shashidhar embarked on a project called “NYC Restaurant Inspection Application” and developed applications using Qlik Sense. He analyzed various parameters for restaurant inspection including quality, hygiene etc. which threw up some interesting insights.

AGI has been quite supportive of this Club and a separate Data Analytics lab has been dedicated with 32 computers, a network facility to learn data analytics related technologies, an exclusive space to discuss activities of the club. The college has also agreed to host meet-ups inside the college premises which are also open to students from other colleges in Hyderabad  

In another initiative, the Club invites external Speakers to speak on on topics like Data Analytics, Visualization and Big Data.  Some of those who have been invited in the past include:

• Dr. Salman Abdul Moiz, Associate Professor, Department of CSE, Hyderabad Central University,
• Prof. C. Jayalakshmi, Associate Professor, Department of Statistics, University College of Science, Osmaina University, Hyderabad.
• Dr. A. V. Krishna Prasad, Associate Professor, Department of CSE, MVSR Engineering College.

The Club has ambitious plans for 2020 which includes enrolling more students, enabling students on Qlik Sense technology and data analytics resources offered by the Academic Program. There are also plans to organize a hackathon on data analytics by inviting industry experts and speakers including Qlik

In conclusion Shashidhar says, “To ensure continuity in learning, 2-hours per week has been dedicated as technology training hours where students from the enrolled batch come together and learn, discuss and perform hands-on training on Qlik Sense towards achieving Qlik Sense Business Analyst and Qlik Sense Data Architect  Qualifications”

To know more about the Qlik Academic Program and how this program can support your initiatives in analytics for your Professors and students, visit www.qlik.com/academicprogram or write to academicprogram@qlik.com

The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) is India’s apex body of IT- BPM companies. More than 2800 + companies are members of this industry association

As a part of its endeavor to train and upskill India’s workforce in emerging technologies, NASSCOM has initiated a project called “Future Skills”

The Future Skills portal was launched in 2018 and aims to skill and reskill 2 million professionals, students over a period of 5 years in ten emerging technologies. There are more than 150,000 registered users of this portal which include software professionals, professors, students and other professionals

A research conducted by BCG identified ten emerging technologies which will disrupt the IT-ITes industry and change the future of work. Among the ten technologies, Big Data Analytics is one of them

The Qlik Academic Program has partnered with NASSCOM for its analytics piece in this ambitious project. The Future Skills portal will feature the Qlik Academic Program in its list of Partners which will link its users to the Academic Program page

The Academic Program will provide access to its free resources to Professors and students including training, qualifications, certifications etc. which will help its users get an edge in data analytics. Other Professionals would be able to leverage the Data Literacy resources which includes certification in Data Literacy and Data Analytics.

The Qlik Academic Program is excited about its association with NASSCOM and looks forward to a fruitful partnership

To learn more about the Qlik Academic Program and the exciting resources that are available, visit qlik.com/academicprogram

 Loyola Institute of Business Administration (LIBA), a Business School in Chennai, India was established in 1979. It’s a well respected  business school, and best known for imparting high quality management education.

LIBA offers a two-year full-time Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM), approved by the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE). It also offers a part-time PGDM, a Ph.D program and Executive Diploma programs. The PGDM program offers a specialization in Business Analytics under which they teach relevant topics and leading technologies in analytics, with a focus on enhancing the employability of students.

In pursuit of providing students with advanced technologies in analytics, LIBA registered for the Qlik Academic Program to leverage resources such as free Qlik Sense software, online training in both Qlik and analytical theories as well as free qualifications   

In their PGDM program (Business Analytics) in term four, LIBA offers a Business Data Visualization subject, and this year they included courses from the Qlik Academic Program. Since knowledge of self-service analytics is an important skill in business studies, utilizing the free resources of the academic program presented them with a great opportunity to learn analytics.

LIBA structured 3 hours of classroom learning with 3 course credits which included topics such as “Introduction to Qlik Sense”, Creating Charts” and “Building Applications”. After this classroom learning, students embarked on projects to gain practical insights and applications in data analytics to cement their knowledge further.   

In their bid to continue  this journey , these students are now exploring the possibility of  preparing for the Business Analyst qualification offered under the academic program. Professor Dr. M Ramasubramaniam who led this initiative at LIBA also has plans to offer the Qlik Academic Program to the Executive Diploma in Management students next year.

In its mission to create a data literate world, one student at a time, this partnership with LIBA holds great promise for the program. If you are a student or professor at an accredited University and you would also like to take advantage of the Qlik Academic Program resources please apply today at qlik.com/academicprogram.

Use this kit to teach students how to load data for Qlik Sense and QlikView.

The folder includes:

• A Portfolio Management data set
• Instructions on how to manually load excel data
• A Qlik Sense and QlikView application with a preexisting Portfolio Management data model
• Where to access Qlik Support