Qlik Academic Program

We are sad to announce that Sarah Miller (Qlik Academic Program lead for the Americas) is resigning from Qlik.  Sarah will be so missed!!  She has been part of the Qlik Academic Program since the program started, and made such an impact to the program, to Qlik, and to all of the educators and students who have enrolled in the program all these years.  During that time she has:

• Reviewed thousands of leads
• Processed thousands of applications
• Responded to thousands of emails in our program inbox
• Brought more than 875 universities into the program in the Americas
• Brought more than 700 educators into the program in the Americas
• Held more than 100 enablement sessions, webinars, and workshops
• Worked on the development of the Academic Program Curriculum courses, the Qlik Sense Qualifications, the Educator Toolkit, the Educator Ambassador Program...and SO MUCH more!!
• Given us more laughs and smiles than we could EVER count!

I know I speak for the entire Academic Program team, our Qlik Regional Champions, and our Educator Ambassadors (and really all of our program educators around the world) when I say we will absolutely miss you, but we wish you all the best!

Enjoy this next phase in your life!

 As of February, the number of young people in the UK applying to study computing has risen by 9.6%. This is more than for any other university subject, according to the chartered institute of IT. Part of this increase has come from a rise in the number of female students applying for computing degrees, figures from UCAS show that there was an increase of 18%, this is higher than any other degree course.

This could be due to a number of reasons such as the high profile rise of artificial intelligence. Young people are increasingly curious about emerging technologies and their relevance in their future lives and careers. In addition to this there is a growing awareness around the role and importance of data, with many students pursuing degrees in areas such as cybersecurity and data science. Since the pandemic forced everyone to stay home, the role of technology in our day to day lives became clearer, many young people now have a greater awareness of emerging technologies and the career opportunities they offer. In addition to this, the younger generation understand that these trends are not likely to change, so pursuing careers such as software engineering or data analytics provide a lot of job security.

This spike in applications for computer-based degrees has also meant that more students are choosing to take GCSE’s and A Levels in computing subjects too. The number of students choosing to sit computing exams at A-level rose for the fourth year in a row in 2022, and there was also an increase in the number of students taking the subject at GCSE level.

Even if students are not choosing to take a computing or data-based degree at university, they can still upskill themselves ready for the data driven world with the Qlik Academic Program. Our free courses on visualizations can be used alongside free Qlik Sense software access so that students can study both the theory and the practical elements too. Our program also offers a wide range of data literacy programs, as well as entry level courses on data analytics and advanced courses on data analytics. To learn about how students and educators at accredited universities can get free access, follow this link:  qlik.com/academicprogram.

Articles used for this blog:

https://www.computerweekly.com/news/365531434/Computing-degrees-more-popular-due-to-AI-says-BCS

https://www.bcs.org/articles-opinion-and-research/university-computing-departments-met-with-record-applicant-numbers-as-ai-hits-the-mainstream/

At Lund University our regional champion Ola Roxendell kicked off the term with an introduction to Qlik for Masters students studying a course in Digital Accounting, taught by Amanda Sonnerfeldt. At the end of this introduction Ola set the students an assignment in Qlik Sense that they had to work on in groups ready to present back to the class.

The assignment asked students to use Qlik to find a solution to Out of Stock issues. Firstly, they had to explore just how much of an impact on the business OOS issues were having. Then they had to build a dashboard to monitor business performance in a clear and concise way across various business indicators, for example, current stock levels, highest selling products, inventory. Students had to find the most suitable visualization for each business indicator and summarize their findings along with suggestions of what future action should take place. For example, what were the main causes of the OOS risk? What action is driving this? How can it be improved? Students had to address how BI could help with these issues and provide a solution. They were also required to explore the limitations of relying on a BI tool, in many cases students highlighted the lack of data skills among employees.

 In some cases, students went beyond the dashboard build and used the storytelling functionality within Qlik Sense, embedding visualizations into a presentation that they could easily revisit in their app. The students had one lab session where they were able to bring their laptops to class and start working on their assignment with Ola and Amanda available to answer any questions or give any guidance. Outside of their classes they had to collaborate with their team to solve the task.  

Students delivered some amazing work that very much impressed Amanda and Ola. Ola says; “Getting to be part of the course curriculum allowed us to go deeper into our product. They students presented their own visualizations and a report where they solved a business problem related to there field. I’m very impressed with their work, they put a lot of effort into it and it showed in the result.”

If you’re an educator and you’d like to make analytics a part of your course, our Qlik Academic Program can support you. We provide free software and training resources and can guide you through how to embed these into your teaching. To learn more follow this link qlik.com/academicprogram

This was a really interesting article covering the ongoing debate about AI and how much it can either help or hurt us.  It specifically called out the need for more regulation when it comes to AI and ethics which I couldn't agree more one.

In my opinion I have not seen the benefits of AI just yet.  I believe the invention of chat bots have caused an online culture of bullying and spreading misinformation and while I love how easy it is to create art with AI, it ultimately takes away the value that true artists bring to their craft.  

Currently there are no regulations when it comes to AI and that makes it dangerous.  While I don't like the idea of enforcing more rules, I am in favor of people having the right to know what was generated by actual humans and what was generated by AI.   For now, companies can create their own guidelines as you will read in the article, salesforce has already done so and I am sure more will follow suite.

Learn more by reading the full article available 

https://www.informationweek.com/big-data/should-there-be-enforceable-ethics-regulations-on-generative-ai- 

Marisa is still teaching at Universidad Nacional del Sur, Argentina, where she teaches a Business Intelligence course for the Business Administration bachelors; “We cover techniques to support decision making to build models from data such as data visualization and data mining, and based on mathematical models like simulation. We also give due importance to data analytics topics as we understand, this will better prepare students in their professional career. Each year we update the course. For example, last year we re-structured the course to assign more hours to Qlik training. Then, there are updates arising from new features in Qlik. Also, the material is translated to Spanish!”.

 This is Marisa’s second term as an educator ambassador and since we last posted a blog about Marisa we asked her if any of her students had secured internships or jobs as a result of knowing Qlik, “Yes! Students not only get more job opportunities as a result of knowing Qlik but many decide to take more courses on data analytics after graduation. There is a great demand for data analytics capabilities and students prepare themselves to take the opportunities."

When it comes to looking ahead to 2023 Marisa says, “Our goal is to consolidate the way to Qlik training. The course data visualization contents are based on the Qlik Learning Portal. In addition, since we cover data mining, we aim to support some of the data mining projects using Qlik. We have scheduled a one-day seminar about Data Visualization using Qlik open to students, researchers and professionals. From a more personal stand, happy to dedicate more hours to gym that for many reasons I have found difficult to make time to fitness activities!.”

Since Marisa first joined our program, she has noticed a lot more challenges due the progression of technology but this comes with some positives, “Teaching activity is increasingly challenging because of all the innovations that should be incorporated every year, and at the same time, rewarding to offer contents of impact for the professional life of students. With the growth of data relevance, you no longer have to explain or convince the audience about the importance of acquiring data management skills.”

Marisa says she was eager to reapply to the Qlik Academic Program, “It is a great honor to be part of the Qlik Educator Ambassador Program because we can see how other educators use Qlik, get inspired by their achievements, participate in webinars given by important professionals in the area, and learn from customer success stories. In addition, the webinars open an easy communication channel with educators and Qlik staff. Being an Educator Ambassador gave more visibility among the university community, and the opportunity to share the benefits of the Academic Program.”

For more information about the Qlik Academic Program and how you can get access to free Qlik Sense software and training, visit: qlik.com/academicprogram

In a rather interesting article, the basics of data analytics are explained from a career perspective. The author sheds some light on various technologies that are setting up the landscape in the technology space and how data analytics will be an important piece among them. Further, he makes a point on the in-demand job roles in analytics and those which will continue to be in demand, in the future. 

To read more about this article, follow this link: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/how-to/what-is-data-analytics-and-how-it-may-help-in-your-career/articleshow/94698633.cms

We are pleased to welcome Michael Siek Ph.D as our new Educator Ambassador for 2023!

Michael Siek works with Binus University International in Jakarta, Indonesia, leading the Information System Program as part of the Faculty of Computing and Media.

Michael is not only using Qlik in his own teaching, but he has also encouraged other faculty members to teach Qlik by conducting team teaching sessions and spreading the word about the excellent features of the software. He has delivered a business intelligence workshop for wide audiences within the Nationwide University Network in Indonesia (NUNI), a group comprising 21 top Universities.

Michael says that, for his ongoing internal research he plans to use Qlik Sense to analyse various data sets. In addition to his research, he has delivered seminars and workshops on Business Intelligence using Qlik Sense to prospective students at the Binus University. As a part of teaching analytics in the class, he conducts forum discussions in analytics and delivers relevant content to his students.

According to Michael, the Qlik Academic Program has supported in easy ways to develop data analytics and business intelligence and most of the audience and students are really amazed by the excellent features of Qlik Sense.

He feels that as students acquire knowledge and develop their skills during the data analytics course where Qlik Sense is utilized, they stand a good chance to secure internship and employment in various global companies.

Michael plans to promote Qlik to broader audiences and help support the impact of the of the Qlik Academic Program. He would like to promote the excellent features of Qlik in the development of data analytics and business intelligence in many types of applications.

As part of the Business Information Systems Program at Binus University, students need to complete their assignments and their final project using Qlik. Michael says that they have embedded many of the resources provided by the Qlik Academic Program in their Data Analytics course.

We look forward to collaborating with Michael during this year.

For more information about the Qlik Academic Program and our various resources, visit: qlik.com/academicprogram

Angel is a professor of Business Intelligence at Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo De Mexico (ITAM), where he’s been using Qlik in his teaching for 6 years.  

While he’s always integrated Qlik software, this past year he started to integrate some of the learning exercises from the Qlik Academic Program, “Students perform various exercises and homework, including regression analysis, visualization best practices, common visualization pitfalls, and data quality. They also design a dashboard from scratch as part of a practical course-long BI project. We use some exercises taken from QCC and the Data Analytics Curriculum, since they provide good sample data.”

Angels’ passion for Qlik goes beyond his own classroom, last year he introduced a new educator from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México to Qlik. Angel conducted an introductory workshop for the students as well as showing them how to create their own tenants. This educator is now using Qlik in their teaching in Mexico’s largest university. Angel plans to share his knowledge even further this year, by conducting open workshops for any student at his university to join.

When it comes to the future of analytics in the classroom Angel says, “my new classroom goal is to help students feel comfortable speaking about data, that will most certainly involve adding some Data Literacy topics. Analytics is once again being dominated by buzzwords and false promises; we need to help students stay grounded and focus on real issues and solutions, instead of jumping on the many bandwagons headed their way.”

In addition to teaching Angel also started a new role "I now have a new job at C40 Cities as Qlik Sense Developer and Administrator and will be speaking at QlikWorld in April. My session is: "Changing our world in meaningful ways with data"

For Angel, one of the most rewarding parts of teaching Qlik has been seeing his students leave university and get jobs, when asked what his most memorable moment of the past year is Angel says "A former student of mine has been invited to teach at ITAM as well; we are now colleagues!"

If you'd like access to the resources Angel is using in his teaching,  apply to the Academic Program by visiting qlik.com/us/company/academic-program 

On April 3rd, a Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Analytics was established in Kristu Jayanti College, Bangalore in association with the Qlik Academic Program. This is the first CoE of the Qlik Academic Program in Bangalore and the State of Karnataka. Overall, this is the fourth Centre of Excellence in India.

 Kristu Jayanti College is one of the foremost educational institutions in Bangalore and enjoys a top  grade from government bodies for its teaching quality. In the India Today - MDRA survey 2022, the college was ranked as the best Emerging College of the Century at National Level for Commerce, Science and Arts.

Qlik is one of the leading data analytics companies with a presence in more than 100 countries and more than 38000 active customers. The Qlik Academic Program offers free analytics resources including Qlik Sense Business software, online training, qualifications and certifications to students and professors.

The Centre of Excellence in Analytics is an important step to foster analytics in a city popularly known as the Silicon Valley of India, where many technology and software companies in India are based. There is a large requirement of trained data analytics talent in Bangalore and India and this CoE will act as a catalyst to fulfil this requirement besides being a hub to exchange ideas in data analytics.

The inauguration of the CoE was attended by more than 80 students and educators from Kristu Jayanti. Dignitaries from Kristu Jayanti included Fr. Dr. Augustine George Principal, Prof. Sevuga Pandian HOD, Prof. Nagendra Program Co-Ordinator, Dr. Kalaiselvi Qlik Academic Program Coordinator  who were present during the formalities. Students from different batches made presentations using the Qlik Sense app on presented their findings by analyzing data sets.

 Kristu Jayanti and the Qlik Academic Program have enjoyed a great engagement so far with many students being encouraged to get qualified from the academic program qualifications such as Qlik Sense Business Analyst and Qlik Sense Data Architect. Many of them have been successful in acquiring the qualifications by undergoing training and appearing for the exams. In the future, many activities are being planned to foster this relationship so that more students are able to benefit and enhance their career prospects in analytics through this CoE. 

To know more about the Qlik Academic Program and its amazing resources, visit: qlik.com/academicprogram  

I feel pleased to introduce our new Educator Ambassador for 2023, Sumitra Pundlik from MIT ADT University, Pune, India.  Sumitra is an Educator since the last 14 years and is currently working as a Senior Assistant Professor at MIT ADT University. She is the Specialization Head Coordinator for Data Analytics and overlooks the curriculum design.

Sumitra teaches various subjects related to Data Analytics such as DBMS, Advanced DBMS, Machine Learning, Big Data Analytics. She has also taught R and Python Programming including different BI and visualization technologies including Qlik Sense. 

Sumitra has been a member of the Qlik Academic Program since the last two years and has also successfully earned the Qlik Sense Business Analyst Qualification.  After earning this qualification, she supported the learning journey of more than 50 students and encouraged them to pursue Qlik Sense Business Analyst Qualifications.

According to her, “The Qlik Academic Program provides a great opportunity for students to access many online resources and different qualifications and certifications including Data Literacy, Qlik Sense Business Analyst and Qlik Sense Data Architect. The interactive material of the academic program helps students to excel in the field of data analytics”.

A landmark step has been the inclusion of Qlik in the data analytics specialization within the curriculum of the Information Technology Department, MIT School of Computing at MIT ADT University. This specialization is designed to enable students to become a qualified data analyst. According to Sumitra, there's a tremendous demand for such specializations among graduates and they are eager to acquire specialized courses for future opportunities. 

“We are leveraging resources from the Qlik Academic Program for second year engineering students as a part of their data visualization course and third year engineering as a part of their data analytics course. Along with this, we are encouraging students from other disciplines to become a part of the Qlik academic program” according to Sumitra.   

Further she adds, “I have been spreading awareness about the Qlik Academic Program and its benefits to other engineering colleges by conducting expert sessions via social media platforms”

Sumitra says, “Moving ahead, we are keen for internship and job opportunities for our students who have a good understanding of Qlik Sense and have earned the academic program qualifications.”

In Sumitra’s words, “Data literacy is my interest and I want to educate every data science enthusiast about the importance of data literacy.”

She feels it’s her mission to create more awareness about data analytics and encourage use of Qlik Sense. Data is the new fuel, and it is driving the current industry, she further adds.

Looking ahead, she endeavors to become part of the 2024 Qlik Academic Ambassador Program!

When Sumitra is not teaching, she likes spending time with her son, Viraj. She is focusing on upskilling herself in recent trends, also taking care of her health and following a workout routine. 

We are looking forward to working closely with Sumitra during her tenure as an ambassador and creating more links with Universities in Pune and rest of India.

For more information about our Ambassador Program, please visit: qlik.com/us/company/academic-program/ambassadors

Educators and students looking for free analytics software and training can apply to the Academic Program by visiting qlik.com/us/company/academic-program 

Dorina is Associated Professor at the Department of Information Technologies and Communication, at the University of National and World Economy (UNWE). Dorina lives in Sofia, Bulgaria, with her husband while her two children study at university in the Netherlands. She has been using Qlik in her teaching for 10 years, in the Business Intelligence and Data Mining fields. She also works on many other projects (European and national) in the ICT field, both managing and doing research.

Dorina was inspired to use Qlik after attending a workshop, “The training was organized by a Bulgarian company – Balkan Services, implementing QlikView software in Bulgarian companies. During the workshop, I spoke with the company representatives about the opportunities for using QlikView at the University and they supported me. That is how our long-term collaboration started and continues.”

“I am using the software and the provided resources in my classes in the Business Intelligence courses for BSc and MSc students. I have defined assignments aimed at teaching the software functionalities, as well as use cases - for creating BI applications based on business data. The students use the software also to develop their bachelor and master theses.”

Using Qlik in the classroom has helped some of Dorina’s students secure jobs after graduation, she says “there are students who have participated in my courses and later on informed me, or I met them at events, that they have taken the position of BI consultants in companies. Some of the students have joined the BI teams of famous international companies, and others work for smaller companies. As the years pass by, some of those people have further developed their careers and took managerial positions related to BI.”

Dorina wanted to become an Educator Ambassador to expand her network and establish new relations with other university colleagues and business professionals.” I would be grateful to exchange ideas and experience, in order to implement new approaches, teaching methods and interesting activities in my classes. The involvement of business professionals in the teaching process and the more active collaboration with the business are also goals that are in my focus.”

When she isn’t teaching Dorina loves to hike in the beautiful Bulgarian mountains, every week she walks in Vitosha mountain which is 15 min away from Sofia. She also likes reading, going to the theatre, practicing yoga and cooking. When she has time off she loves to travel within Bulgaria because of its beautiful nature, as well as visiting some of her favorite countries in Europe - Spain, Italy and Greece. In the past few years she has also made trips to parts of Asia and the USA.

If you'd like to learn more about how you can get access to free software and training resources to use in your teaching, follow this link for more information: qlik.com/academicprogram

This week we introduce you to one of our returning Educator Ambassadors for 2023, Nassir Ibrahim, a lecturer at Birmingham City University. This is Nassir's second year as an Educator Ambassador. Nassir integrated Qlik Sense and the Academic Program into his teaching in the last year or so, however he immediately saw the benefits to his students and their employability.

Nassir introduced Qlik to his final year undergraduate students on his Data Intelligence module, having heard about Qlik from a colleague and Qlik Educator Ambassador. He explained “what I found from using various tools, is Qlik has an edge over other tools, because of its user friendliness and because of its training and learning materials online.”

Nassir, like many Educators, wanted to incorporate Qlik Sense into his teaching but he had not yet used it himself, “Qlik has excellent training resources, [some] of the best I have ever seen so I had to become familiar with the technology and know how to use it myself. There are the video training materials you have; they are excellent... It’s about becoming a student and learning yourself in order to help others learn.”

Many Educators who join the Academic Program are unsure of how they can incorporate Qlik sense into their teaching, Nassir found that the best way to do this was by utilizing the interactive videos we offer. “Some of your videos are quite long but generally they are 30 to 40 minutes and I think that’s perfect. We would structure our classes with breaking down some of the longer videos. They would have 20 minutes of the tutorial and then the students would do the exercises themselves, because the students benefit more from doing”.

One of Nassir's goals with implementing Qlik Sense into his teaching was to support student employability. “The job market is asking for knowledge of Qlik now and by doing well in this module [students] could show that they have a good understanding of the functionalities of Qlik. There was one student who graduated last summer, and he is now working in a company as a software developer and they use Qlik.”

“This was a proud moment because all of the resources you shared with me, were actually required in the job market. It showed that we were preparing our students for the industry world adequately…all it takes is one student to show that the work we had done was worthwhile”.

Regardless of proud moments such as this, Nassir is still determined to reach those students who still might not be as engaged with Qlik. “In the next Academic Year I think I will they will have to present their work back to us and demonstrate how they’ve used the tool to stretch them a bit more”. Nassir wants to cover the fundamentals but then have the students explore the tool for themselves as well. “What can they discover about the tool that they had not anticipated previously? only when they start to explore and imagine some of the things that they could do with the tool will they be able to say hey, this is actually something which we could use to solve our problem in ways that we didn't think of in the beginning”.

When Nassir isn’t teaching, he likes to spend time working on his own personal development, weight training and trying to beat his best time on the racetrack! Nassir also enjoys developing scientific toolkits for business decision-making and that automate business tasks!

If you are interested in learning how the Academic Program can support your students with their data analytics and employability skills, you can learn more by visiting qlik.com/academicprogram.

As well as teaching at Saint Joseph’s University, Vilanova University and Drexel University. This past year Javier joined Rowan University, teaching Market Research to Undergraduates. The main objective of his new course at Rowan is to help students improve their research abilities using applied statistics and data analysis.

Javier is passionate about data literacy and this drives many of his courses,” I teach several different courses in areas such as Marketing, Business Intelligence, Business Analysis, Business Analytics, R Programming, Management Information Systems, Statistics, and Data Visualization. In all courses, I have started talking to my students about the importance of data literacy and I make it a point for them to see how Artificial Intelligence can be used to augment their capabilities in each area.”

One of Javier’s key aims this year is to continue giving his students the chance to learn on market leading software through the Qlik Academic Program. He has set himself a number of objectives this year, one of which is “Provide students with the necessary tools to help them become data literate I want all my students, regardless of their major, program, or background, to be able to read and communicate with data. One great enabler for this objective is Qlik Continuous Classroom because it offers students multiple tools and courses that allow them to turn their data into information and actionable dashboards using Qlik Sense.”

Javier foresees a great increase in demand for professionals who can work with data visualization, AI and machine learning, data privacy and cybersecurity and cloud computing. He also believes,” Business intelligence is an essential part of analytics, and there is a growing demand for professionals who can use data to help organizations make informed decisions. In higher education, there is a growing demand for programs that teach students about business intelligence and its applications in various industries."

As well as teaching Javier continues to work as a project manager for Amazon Produce Network, where he is working on a tool to connect the capabilities of growers with the needs of customers. Yet he still found the time to apply as an Educator Ambassador for the third time, “I applied once more because I believe in Qlik's Vision of  (...)a data-literate world. Where people, businesses, organizations, and governments tackle their most complex challenges with data. Being an ambassador I have the opportunity and privilege to work with multiple different professionals who are passionate about knowledge. Also, thanks to the seminars and meetings we hold, I have the opportunity to keep my knowledge current and to be exposed to new trends and tendencies in the Industry, something much needed by every professional... . I think I will apply for as long as you will have me!”

If you'd like to learn more about the free software and training resources you could be eligible for as part of our program please visit qlik.com/academicprogram.

Previously I shared a webinar with one of our Educators, Danny Najera from Green River College. Danny's use case for Qlik is unique and we have had a great time hearing from him about how he and his students use Qlik and the Academic Program. Recently we sat down with Danny to put together a case study and we are thrilled to share the results! The case study focuses on his teachings and how specifically Qlik and the Academic Program have aided him on his quest to ensure that students are focusing on the data, and not struggling with the data tools.

Read the full here here and if you didn't already get a chance to watch his webinar, check it out!

Educators and students who wish to benefit from the program like Green River can apply today by visiting https://www.qlik.com/us/company/academic-program

This week we would like to introduce Angelika Klidas, who happens to be a returning Educator Ambassador.  We are excited to select Angelika as an Ambassador for the 3rd year in a row due to her continued enthusiasm for Qlik’s Academic Program and her efforts in 2022.

Angelika’s journey with Qlik began in 2008 when she started out installing and managing a successful QlikView Competence Center as a team manager of the team for a Governmental Organization in the Netherlands. Since then, she has always been a huge Qlik advocate in both her day job and her university teaching. Angelika works currently as an Operations Manager at Bitmetric BV and is responsible for general management, determining the strategic and tactical direction of the company, sales and account management along with some innovative work! She also teaches Data and Analytics at the University of Applied Sciences in Amsterdam which is her part time role. She is a conceptual thinker who lives by the phrase “think big, act small, and scale fast” which she uses to inspire others to evolve in their use of data and analytics.

In 2022, Angelika began writing a book together with Qlik’s Chief Learning Officer Kevin Hanegan about Data Literacy. The book was formally launched on the 30^th of November 2022 and is called “Data Literacy in Practice”. The book is available through Amazon.com and Packt.com.

Angelika applied to become a Professor Ambassador with the Qlik Academic Program as she is passionate about educating students in data analytics and championing the cause of data literacy. Due to the change in situation in the field of education, she included new aspects in her teaching style which include preparing questions in Kahoot and the book “Data Literacy in Practice” is now also a mandatory book for the University. With the help of the techniques from the book and learning to work with Qlik Sense helps her students not only to analyze the data in a better manner but also how to help organizations form a data strategy, develop organizational KPI’s and build amazing dashboards & reports.

Angelika is proud of the fact that she is the Qlik Academic Program Ambassador and has included the Educator Ambassador badge, mentioned it on her resume and highlights it in her presentations! She is keen to present at Qlik World, Qlik’s flagship event, and hopefully that might materialize in the future!

In Angelika’s words, “I love the power of grey, love the academic program and the great benefit that it gives to me and my students. My students can pursue their dreams when they would like to work in data and analytics .” She is excited about the fact that some of her students got a job in the data and analytics world, which is amazing! An interesting fact is that since 2008, 32% of her 275 students are working in the field of data and analytics. Her main goal for 2023 is to work on training for Data Literacy in Dutch and English, based on the book Data Literacy in Practice.

Angelika feels that more and more organizations are now emphasizing the importance of data literacy and putting data management in place. She loves to work with the four pillar system which should be the basis of every organizations journey towards “Active Intelligence” so they will be future ready!

In Angelika’s words, “I love the Qlik Academic Program, it helps the students in gaining analytics knowledge for my students. They can learn at their own pace and look for solutions through the learning platform, but also use the knowledge from the community and demos.qlik.com where they can find all kinds of cool solutions”

We are looking forward to working closely with Angelika during her tenure as an ambassador yet again and creating more links with Universities in the Netherlands.

For more information about our Ambassador Program, please visit: qlik.com/us/company/academic-program/ambassadors

L&T Edutech is the education arm of India's large diversified conglomerate, L&T. 

L&T Edutech aims to integrate academia and industry by enabling job ready talent through world class application oriented learning and assessments, powered by L&T's decades long expertise in Engineering and Technology.  The current focus is on offering industry relevant skills and knowledge to the graduating college students, thereby making them employment ready.  Launched in Oct 2021, L&T Edutech has already partnered more than 50 colleges and institutions and strongly growing. 

The Qlik Academic Program is an initiative of Qlik which offers real time data integration and analytics solutions. This program is a part of Qlik's vision of a data literate world. The academic program is meant for accredited universities and institutions and offers free resources including software, online training, qualifications and certifications etc. Professors and students are eligible to sign up for the program and after their application is successfully processed, they get access to these resources. To know more about the academic program, visit: qlik.com/academicprogram 

 Recently, L&T Edutech and the Qlik Academic Program entered into an MoU so that partner institutions part of the L&T Edutech network can benefit by leveraging the free analytics resources of the Qlik Academic Program. 

Here is a link of this announcement: https://lntedutech.com/newsroom/collegeconnect/lnt-edutech-collaborates-with-csi-to-offer-real-world-technical-expertise-to-learners/

Blerim has been teaching since 2007, he is a Senior Lecturer at Lund University in Sweden teaching Decision Support Systems for BSc, as well as two MSc courses; Business Intelligence and Business and Artificial Intelligence. Throughout his time as an Educator Ambassador Blerim has done a lot to promote the program within his university, he has introduced many faculty members to Qlik which is now being used within the highly popular course MSc Data Analytics and Business Economics.

When talking about his courses Blerim says, “A distinctive feature of all these courses is that they help in addressing the need to educate a data and AI-literate generation (required by the business and public sector) by being grounded in solid theoretical foundations, addressing real-world projects and using practitioner-oriented tools.” This is one of the reasons why Blerim collaborates so closely with industry, students studying on his courses can expect to gain both theoretical knowledge and hands on experience with tools such as Qlik, “We use the Qlik software and online training on Qlik products, up-to-date demos, Qlik customer stories, and applicable self-paced courses. The latter allows me for a flipped classroom or blended learning format, which [was] immensely useful during the COVID-19 pandemic”.

Blerim found the Academic Program resources especially useful once he started teaching a blend of online and in person classes, and they helped him in moving towards a more modern way of teaching “Blended teaching and learning with flipped classroom methods should be here to stay. Students do not only learn in a classroom…Qlik provides us educators and students various resources for free, as well as short module-based courses. I could not have done the same here alone or even with a help of a colleague. We can be really cutting edge by embracing these new initiatives and connecting different elements in our courses in a form of guest lectures or industry-led ’learnathons’, not just by relying on textbooks of 20 years ago”.

One of the reasons Blerim does this is his belief that jobs and education go hand in hand: “Many of my students immediately or even before graduating are taking on roles in industry as BI analysts, developers etc. In particular, I'm very proud that many of the expat female course participants quickly get employed”.

When asked about the future of analytics and education Blerim believes that that future is in “Cloud-based and self-service platforms, such as Qlik sense Business, so that access to advanced analytics across organizations is democratized, this has dramatically increased the need for data literacy of students within higher education”.

Educators and students can get access to free Qlik software and training resources by applying to the Academic Program today: qlik.com/academic-program 

Today, I would like to introduce César Brochero Castel, an Academic Program Educator Ambassador for 2023! César  is our Educator Ambassador for the second year, having been also selected last year!

César lives in Argentina where he is an Educator and has been teaching for 8 years at both the Universidad de Palermo and the Universidad Católica. He was inspired to join the Academic Program after discussing with his colleague the difficulties he had using other analytics solutions. During his first several years he taught QlikView and then he migrated to Qlik Sense and has been using that ever since!  In addition to Qlik Sense, he also incorporates the Data Literacy training he is provided as part of his membership. Throughout his course the students are required to develop an analytical application using Qlik Sense in which each student freely explores the data with the aim of finding insights and sharing it with others.  To help them, they use the social network connector available in Qlik Sense and other resources to go beyond normal dashboard reporting.  During his time teaching, César has seen several students decide to use Qlik Sense during their employment which gives him great satisfaction to know that he has helped them out in their professional careers.

César is the Founder of QuAlytics SpA Chile which provides analytics solutions to South American companies using Qlik Sense.  In 2022,  César also co-funded an EdTech startup called Jupi Digital (Jupidigital.com).  The company helps people to re-convert their careers as data analysts. Jupi Digital trains people from diverse  fields with all they need to work as data analytics professionals.

When asking César where he believes the industry is going, he replies “I feel that analytical skills are required today more than ever. Today's world requires people trained in data literacy to face the challenges that the world demands. The data is there today, but we must be able to understand it and get something good out of it. We must all go in that direction.”

When César is not teaching or building his business, he spends time with his family and baby Olivia!

Educators and students looking for free analytics software and training can apply to the Academic Program today by visiting qlik.com/us/company/academic-program 

 Academic Program Ambassadors are educators who champion the Qlik Academic Program at their universities and beyond, with a passion for preparing students for the data driven workplace. These individuals are some of our most active participants of the Qlik Academic Program who fully utilise the free software, training resources and qualifications that we provide to university students and educators. The members of our 2023 class are:  

• Nassir Ibrahim 
• Cesar Brochero Castel 
• Blerim Emruli 
• Javier Leon 
• Sumitra Pundlik 
• Dorina Kabakchieva 
• Angelika Klidas 
• Marisa Sánchez 
• Angel Monjarás 
• Michael Siek 

Meet the Qlik Academic Program Professor Ambassadors for 2023 

We are thrilled to be recognizing the efforts of these individuals to help the Qlik Academic Program to achieve its mission - to create a data literate world, one student at a time. Each ambassador has been selected through a self-nominated application process, where they were required to answer various questions covering their motivations for becoming an ambassador, and to evidence their passion for upskilling their students in analytics over the past 12 months.  This year, we are excited to select another 10 ambassadors, 3 new ones and 7 returning ambassadors whose efforts continued to impress us. By way of thanks for their efforts our ambassadors will receive exclusive benefits such as webinars and discussion groups with Qlik leaders, opportunities to showcase their experience with the Qlik Academic Program and the chance to grow their network with other educators across various fields and geographies.  

Throughout 2023 our ambassadors will continue their advocacy for the Qlik Academic Program and help us to reach even more students and educators with our free resources. Stay tuned over the coming months for more in-depth profiles on each of our ambassadors, and get to know who they are, what they teach and why they are so passionate about bridging the data literacy skills gap! Learn more about the program and how to apply for future classes.  

In 2022 Thomas De Dobbeleer and Rutger Mols were students at Thomas More University and were looking for a way to get some practical experience in analytics, using a real world tool. They wanted an opportunity to explore the potential of working with data and how to apply these skills to global use cases.

Through their studies they were introduced to the Qlik Academic Program and the free learning resources available to them through their membership. These resources helped them to discover the potential of Qlik Sense and start transforming their thoughts and ideas into visualizations. Eventually they found they were able to create something meaningful with the data in front of them. 

Both students eventually pursued an internship with Qlik partner, Epic Data, and it was here that they first heard about the Qlik Academic Program datathon. The datathon challenge invited students to help develop solutions towards achieving three of the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals: Goal 13 Climate Action, Goal 14 Life Below Water, and Goal 15 Life on Land. They eventually won the datathon challenge, setting in motion the steps for achieving full time BI consultancy jobs. To learn more about their journey, find the success story below.

If you're a university student or educator , sign up to the Qlik Academic Program for access to software, training, and the chance to obtain Qlik Sense qualifications and certificates to help boost your employability.