Qlik Academic Program

Vidya Jyothi Institute of Technology ( VJIT), a leading educational institution in Hyderabad and one of the close Qlik Academic Program partners, hosted  a successful datathon recently. 

Vidya Jyothi Institute of Technology was established in 1998 by Vidya Jyothi Educational Society created by a group of committed academicians and enterprising educationists. The institute offers many programs in engineering and is one the most recognized campuses in the State of Telangana in India. The first "Centre of Excellence in Analytics powered by Qlik" was started at VJIT and so far, many students have leveraged the academic program of Qlik along with qualifications and certifications.

In another step to build this relationship further, VJIT organised a datathon where more than 200 students participated in a Qlik only datathon event. The departments of IT, CSE, CSE- DS  and AI participated. One of the distinct feature of this datathon was that all the student participants had completed the Qlik Sense Business Analyst Qualification. 

Students were shared datasets and they created dashboards and presented them to the audience. The final selection of students was based on the quality of analysis using Qlik Sense, presentation and knowledge of the technology.  In the end, five teams were shortlisted for the final round and three winners were declared. 



For more information on the Qlik Academic Program free resources and many other engagement opportunities, visit qlik.com/academicprogram 

The Qlik Learning team have released a brand new qualification for you to demonstrate your Data Literacy skills. The new Data Literacy Qualification is a non-technical, product-agnostic exam, measuring an individual’s fundamental-level and applied understanding of skills and abilities to read, work with, analyze and communicate with data. 

This exam is different to the pre-existing Data Literacy Certification. The Data Literacy Certification assesses mastery level competencies, it is more advanced and requires background and skills within data and analytics.  The new Data Literacy Qualification does not require any background and can be taken by anyone. There are some suggested pre-requisites, but it is an exam that is much more accessible to those starting their journey in data and analytics. 

The Data Literacy Qualification exam is a timed exam for which you have 1 hour to answer 30 multiple choice questions. If you would like more information on the exam topics covered and information on preparation resources, please go here.

To get started with the exam, visit the Qlik Learning Portal, then choose Assessments from the top navigation→ Qualifications → Data Literacy.

Once you have passed the exam you will receive a digital badge via Credly that you can share on you social channels to show off your skills! To access this exam, and an amazing range of both product-focused and product-agnostic learning resources, sign up to our Academic Program at qlik.com/academicprogram. 

Hello! I’m Brittany Fournier, the new Academic Program Project Manager at Qlik for the Americas. I have been part of the Qlik family for the past four years, excelling in my previous role as a Business Development Representative where I coordinated customer meetings, nurtured executive relationships and built strategies.

With a Bachelor of Business Management degree from Worcester University in Massachusetts, I am well-equipped to lead our efforts in enhancing and expanding our Academic Program. My vision is clear: to grow and support the program by forging strong connections with universities, increasing our presence at current institutions, and collaborating with educators and students to promote what we offer.

On a personal note, I live in Massachusetts with my beloved dog, Tucker, who doubles as my loyal co-worker. Tucker’s favorite pastime is being close by my side as I navigate my day.

When I’m not busy at work, I have a variety of hobbies that keep me engaged. I enjoy getting lost in thrillers and historical non-fiction books, cultivating my gardening skills (especially my passion for roses—just ask me about them!), and cheering for my favorite football and baseball teams. Additionally, I love expressing my creativity through arts and crafts.

I am excited to use my passion and expertise to drive our Academic Program to new heights. If you have any questions about the program or would like to discuss ways that I can support you, please do not hesitate to reach out to me! 

Here’s to a bright future together!

brittany.fournier@qlik.com

LinkedIn

To learn more about the Academic Program go to qlik.com/academicprogram 

In recent times, there have been hackathons being organised by colleges on various topics and technologies. Clearly, there is a big interest from students and professors to organize such events. One of the key reason is that the academic community feels that this is a great way to learn and engage the student community.

According to digit.in, there are several benefits of a hackathon and they are as follows: 

1. Learning a new technical skill

2. Creating a sense of accomplishment 

3. Enhancing your soft skills

4. Beefing up your resume

5. Networking

6. Paving the path for a start up

7. Getting inspired

8. Giving back to the community

9. Winning a prize

10. Having fun

One of Qlik's academic partners, ICT Academy's CEO, Mr V Srikanth, mentioned in a recent article in The Times of India, that Learning based on Hackathon is the way forward. 

The Qlik Academic Program has collaborated for three hackathons ( datathons) this year with Anurag Engineering College, Hyderabad, Kristu Jayanti College, Bangalore and the third one coming up with VJIT Hyderabad. There has been a good amount of participation in all these events. Students are more engaged, they are able to present their outcomes and get feedback on their creations from experts.

Overall, this is a win win for everyone and in some cases, prospective employers are able to gauge the skills of students from an event and offer opportunities. This way, hackathons have many benefits and are clearly a great way to engage students and make them industry ready.

For information on the Qlik Academic Program and to find out the resources including training and certifications for students and professors, please visit: qlik.com/academicprogram 

This month I had the pleasure of returning back to Pennsylvania State University in person!  Joined by my colleague Chris Reiter, we conducted a technical talk which consisted of a Qlik Sense workshop and presentation about the Academic Program. Students attended both in person and virtually, from all over the globe.  The Penn State Great Valley campus is a special campus for graduate students and those who have a particular interest in analytics.  In the past several years, its been our pleasure to create a partnership in which Qlik can provide students with the opportunity to learn Qlik Sense and build their data literacy skill sets.

If you are interested in the Qlik Academic Program, visit us and apply qlik.com/academicprogram today for software, training, certificate opportunities', and more, all at NO COST!

After completing the Business Analyst or Data Architect courses we highly recommend taking a qualification exam in order to gain a digital badge and certificate. Members of our Academic Program have found these to be a great way to demonstrate their skills to future employers. We also have a number of educators who use these exams as a means of assessment for their students. 

What is a Qualification Exam?   

Qualification exams enable you to validate your fundamental level of Qlik Sense skills.  The Qlik Sense Business Analyst Qualification is earned after developing an application and completing a multiple-choice exam which tests your fundamental and applied knowledge. A Qlik Sense Qualification Certificate and digital badge will be awarded with a minimum passing score of 70%.  

How do I access the Qualification Exams?   

You can find these courses by navigating to Learning.qlik.com Programs-->Academic Program-->Access Resources 

and then by navigating to the Assessments tab from the homepage menu.

In the Assessments tab you should find the 2023 and 2024 qualification exams.

What do I receive after I pass?   

After you receive a passing score, you will be awarded a certificate and digital badge for sharing on social sites. You will also receive notification from Credly platform that you have earned a digital badge. Credly allows you to manage your badges from Qlik and other professional organizations so you can easily share your badges on social media sites. You will need to simply accept the badge and click the share button or download the badge and certificate to keep for your records. You can even add their badges to your email signature!   

How can I get access to these Qualifications?

You can get access by becoming a member of our Qlik Academic Program. Our Academic Program is available to accredited, degree-issuing universities all over the world and offers free access to Qlik Sense software, learning resources and qualifications. Learn more and sign up today by visiting - qlik.com/academicprogram.

The Qlik Academic Program provides educators, students, and researchers from accredited universities with free Qlik software and learning resources to educate and train the next generation of experts leading with data. Our Educator Ambassador Program aims to shine a spotlight on our most active educator members. Our ambassadors will champion our vision to make more students data literate and to prepare them for the data-driven workplace.

Are you a current educator member who is:

• Passionate about the Qlik Academic Program and all of the program resources
• Dedicated to preparing students for the data-driven workplace
• An active promotor of the Qlik Academic Program to academic peers as well as students​
• Willing to share your experience of the Qlik Academic Program at (virtual) events, in forums, on social media, and in the press
• A contributor to blogs, forums, university publications, professional journals, papers, or other materials that promote the Qlik Academic Program​

If you answered YES to one or more of the above, then we encourage you to apply to the Educator Ambassador Program! Learn more and apply now!

All current educator members are eligible to apply. If you have not already signed up for the Qlik Academic Program, you can do so at qlik.com/company/academic-program and then check out our current 2024 Educator Ambassadors. 

Application Deadline: The application deadline is November 15 2024, and the new class of ambassadors will be announced in early 2024. 

Ambassador Benefits:

If you are selected as a Qlik Academic Program Educator Ambassador, you will receive a host of benefits including:

• Insight: Exclusive webinars with Qlik leaders, customers, and partners covering the latest trends in analytics and other industry topics
• Credibility: A digital badge to certify ambassador status and a featured online profile
• Exposure: Outreach opportunities to showcase your experience with the Qlik Academic Program via Qlik marketing channels or speaking engagements
• Perks: Discounts on Qlik events and other exclusive rewards
• Community: Network and collaborate with other educators across various fields and geographies
• Opportunity: Potential to advance your career, including meeting university requirements for scholarly contribution beyond the classroom

Learn more and apply now!

During the months of October to March we have our busiest time for the Academic Program and our support for universities in the UK and Europe, but learning continues well into the summer for some schools. So far this summer we've had two sessions with universities to get students introduced to Qlik Sense and data analytics.

On 11th July the Academic Program gave a guest lecture to students at DHBW Mannheim in Germany, studying a dual study course in Digital Commerce Management. This session was lead by Lukas Lohmann, an alumni of DHBW Mannheim and a member of the DACH presales team here at Qlik. During this kick-off session we introduced them to Qlik and the Academic Program, before giving a demonstration of the software and talking about Qlik Sense use cases. In September we will return to the class to give an in depth, hands on workshop in Qlik Sense before setting the students an assignment. This is a collaboration that started last year to give students practical skills in data analytics to apply to their future career and it has received brilliant feedback from both students and educators. We are thrilled to continue supporting this course and if you'd like to learn more about how we can support your teaching, please reach out to us.

On July 26th the Academic Program conducted a hands-on Qlik Sense workshop with Masters students studying Controlling at the University of Maastricht, in the Netherlands. This module is lead by one of our very own Educator Ambassadors, Daniel O Leary from the University of Southern California. These students were all full time professionals already pursuing careers in business, some of them were aware of Qlik but many had never had the chance to learn about us and our software. After a short introduction from me about Qlik and the resources available through the Academic Program, Technical Product Marketing Manager, David Freschl, took students through an introduction to building their first app and creating visualizations. Each student completed the workshop in their own Qlik Sense Business tenant, accessed for free through the Qlik Academic Program. This was a short session of an hour and a half, to give students a taste of just how powerful Qlik Sense is.

Make the most of your time off this summer by upskilling with the Qlik Academic Program! To learn more visit qlik.com/academicprogram. 

Australia is an attractive destination for Indian students considering a career in business analytics. The country offers high-quality educational programs, some of which are accredited by professional bodies such as the Australian Computer Society (ACS). These programs provide a comprehensive curriculum that blends theoretical knowledge with practical skills, ensuring graduates are well-prepared for the job market.

To read more on this article, visit: https://www.freepressjournal.in/study-abroad/emerging-trends-in-business-analytics-and-career-opportunities-for-indian-students-in-australia

To learn about how you can access free resources in data analytics if you are a student or professor, visit, qlik.com/academicprogram

On August 8th, Kristu Jayanti College, Bangalore organised a datathon for its students in association with Qlik.

Kristu Jayanti College is one of the leading colleges in Bangalore, also known as India's Silicon Valley. The college has multiple courses in engineering, business studies, arts, science, social sciences etc. More than 15,000 students study on the campus each year. 

This was the first datathon organised by Kristu Jayanti and it was led by Dr. Kalaiselvi who is also the Qlik Educator Ambassador for 2024. She was supported by her staff members including Dr. Sasikumar, Dr. Sevuga Pandian,  other faculties and students. A day prior, a bootcamp was led by Manikant Roy, Ph.d candidate from IIT Delhi, also an ex Professor.  

 More than 130 students participated in this day long event from 9 am to 7 pm. Students were given data sets with diverse topics such as Sales data, E Commerce data and data on Health.  Most students were familiar with Qlik Sense since they had registered for the Qlik Academic Program previously and knew how to build dashboards and create visualisations. This event culminated into presentations by students and based on their output, three teams were selected as the winners.

Kristu Jayanti and the Qlik Academic Program will embark on many such initiatives to get students enabled in data analytics. To learn about how you can engage with us, if you are a student or a professor, visit qlik.com/academicprogram and benefit from a world class analytics training, software and qualifications!

Anurag University's Data Analytics Club organized a Data Hackathon as part of Tech Hack #3. This event aimed at enhancing students' technical skills in Data Analytics. The hackathon commenced on 28th June till 30th June 2024. 

Total number of participants in this hackathon were around 600 and from Anurag University, 7 clubs were actively involved including DAC, IoT, Web Club, Android Club, Drone Club, ML & AI Club. Under the data analytics theme, the name of the competition was called " Data Hack" and 25 teams participated under this theme. Around 90 participants worked on Qlik Sense under the data analytics theme. 

Prior to the event, the bootcamp on Qlik Sense was led by Prof. Sumitra Pundlik, Qlik Academic Program Educator Ambassador for 2024.  The session covered essential topics designed to equip participants with foundational knowledge and practical skills in data analytics, focusing on the utilization of Qlik Sense.

Throughout the day, participants engaged in collaborative efforts to brainstorm ideas, develop prototypes, and implement solutions. Mentors, seasoned professionals from diverse backgrounds, provided invaluable guidance and support to the teams. Their expertise spanned various fields including data analytics, software development, and project management, ensuring that teams received comprehensive assistance tailored to their specific needs.

The hackathon progressed with multiple evaluation rounds designed to assess the progress and viability of the solutions being developed. Judges evaluated teams based on criteria such as innovation, feasibility, scalability, and technical execution. Participants received constructive feedback aimed at refining their approaches and enhancing the quality of their solutions.

Educator Iris Cagatay regularly invites us to run workshops with his students about Qlik and BI, but in this case, we gave a special lecture and demo session on Augmented Analytics. These students already had knowledge of Qlik Sense having used their Qlik Sense Business access through the Academic Program, after a session we gave them last year.

After a brief refresh on Qlik and the basics of Qlik Sense, we moved on to give an overview of the ways in which some functionalities of Qlik Sense use augmented analytics. Augmented analytics is the use of enabling technologies such as machine learning and AI to assist with data preparation, insight generation and insight explanation to support how people explore and analyze data.

In Qlik Sense augmented analytics is used in features such as the Insight Adviser and Insight Adviser Chat, NL insights, associative insights, recommended association, forecasting, clustering, autoML and key driver analysis. Qlik Technical Trainer Piter Harb explained each of these use cases and then demo’ d them inside the software for the students, using a data set from one of our training courses.

After this section we moved on to how AutoML is used in Qlik Sense Enterprise, its different use cases within a business and how to create a data set that is ready for ML, before going on to demo the Automl outputs. Piter closed the session by highlighting a number of resources students can use to expand their understanding of AutoMl, we’ve included these below:

Useful Resources

• Augmented Analytics: https://www.qlik.com/us/augmented-analytics
• 9 Qlik Continuous Classroom (QCC) AutoML courses: https://learning.qlik.com/mod/page/view.php?id=24708
• AutoML Walkthrough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwAt3aH4Hec
• Qlik Help: https://help.qlik.com
• Qlik Community: https://community.qlik.com

As well as the above resources, the Qlik Academic Program provides free access to Qlik Sense Business Software and our full Qlik Continuous Classroom training to educators and students at degree issuing universities. To learn more go to qlik.com/academicprogram 

In 2021 Anglia Ruskin were looking to create an optional module for students that could be included in their Certificate for Professional Development and give students robust training in data analytics. In our success story we hear from Lecturer Practitioner, Tina Jia and ARUCPD Program Lead, Kate Summally, about the demand for more analytics skills and how the Qlik Academic Program formed the basis of the module. 

They are now in their second year of delivering this module having received 100% student satisfaction after the first year of implementation, with two students having secured employment thanks to their knowledge of data analytics. Read the full success story to learn more:

Link to Success Story

I feel pleased to introduce our new Educator Ambassador for 2024, Daniel E. O ‘Leary from the University of Southern California. He lives in the Los Angeles, California.

Daniel O’Leary is a senior member of the faculty in the Leventhal School of Accounting, at the University of Southern California (USC).   Dan is a full professor who teaches courses on data and analytics and accounting information systems. This is Dan’s first year as a Qlik Academic Program Educator Ambassador.

 Dan introduced Qlik into Leventhal’s curriculum as part of the addition of a new master’s degree in accounting focused on data and analytics, in the 2018 – 2019 school year.  As part of that new degree, USC’s Leventhal School of Accounting worked with their different stakeholders to help determine the program’s content.  Those stakeholders included one of the big 4 accounting firms, which asked that Qlik be included as one of the tools built into the coursework, because of its importance to them and their clients.

 Dan created two new courses to get students the knowledge that they needed to be able to use data and analytics, including artificial intelligence, business intelligence, databases, enterprise resource planning systems, robots and text mining.  The course innovation was not just content, but also includes substantial hands-on experiences, as Dan flips the classroom to engage the students.

 After careful consideration, Dan elected to use Qlik in his class to capture the importance of cloud computing and cloud-based business intelligence (BI).  Cloud computing also facilitates a classroom in which students have both windows-based and Apple Mac-based computing.  Using cloud-based software eliminates the problems of finding software that not only works in both environments but also works the same way.   With cloud-based software, students see things done the same way in both environments.

 In Dan’s teaching, he works to integrate Qlik with different software.  For example, in addition to Qlik, Dan uses other software, including RapidMiner and ChatGPT in his teaching. As part of his teaching focus, he teaches students to use other software, not only by using and understanding other software, but by integrating their understanding across different software.  For example, projects using RapidMiner are expected to be integrated with Qlik.  Similarly, when working with Qlik, students are encouraged to use ChatGPT to support their work with Qlik, providing insights for using Qlik and for data and analytics in general.

Perhaps most importantly, the students feel like they benefit from learning Qlik.  As part of his teaching, Dan asks the students which assignments, tools and speakers that the students enjoyed the most and found the most important.  This year, 60% of the students listed the classwork with Qlik.  As noted by one student “I found the Qlik assignment the most rewarding.”  Another student noted, “Qlik’s interface is user-friendly and easy to understand.”  As noted by still another student, “I enjoyed Qlik … the most.”

 Dan’s use of Qlik in the classroom also has paid off for students on the job market.  This last term one of his students found an analyst job because of her classroom work with Qlik.

We hope to engage with Daniel during his journey as the Qlik Educator Ambassador and gain more insights about his use of Qlik at USC.

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 

Since we last spoke to Javier for our Academic Program blog he has successfully completed his PHD in data science and is now teaching at 5 universities! Javier is an adjunct professor at Saint Joseph's University, Villanova University, Drexel University, Rowan University and Southern New Hampshire University.

In 2024, Javier aims to leverage his knowledge in data science, business intelligence, analytics, and data visualization to enhance students' professional competencies and readiness. One of his aims as an educator is to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application, so that students develop the necessary skills to excel in the data driven business landscape. He is already putting this into practice in his Data visualization class at Drexel University:

“In that class I am having students create projects that leverage the capabilities of Qlik…..My teaching is currently focusing on practical, hands-on projects that mirror real-world business challenges, encouraging students to apply Qlik's powerful analytics and visualization features to derive actionable insights. In one of the projects, the students must identify relevant data sets to tell a story about a movie that they like. To do this, they must ensure that the data they find meets the criteria for quality data. Next, they must tell a story about the movie: how much it grossed, how it performed versus movies in the same year, in the same genre, etc.”

One of Javers significant achievement from the past year has been his role in the creation of an Academy called Bright Future Schools of Professional Development, “we have an entire course dedicated to Qlik’s Essentials. The idea is to help students understand the basics of data visualization with a user-friendly software that will enable them to grow professionally.”

Javier believes that I the most important thing happening on at the moment is the AI revolution, “I think it will significantly reshape the landscape of analytics and higher education. …AI technologies like machine learning and deep learning are augmenting human capabilities by automating routine tasks, providing insights from large datasets, and enhancing decision-making with predictive analytics. And what is most important, we are barely scratching the surface of AI capabilities. We can augment ourselves as professors, students, and professionals with the use of AI.”

Javier believes that AI may revolutionize the way educators teach and students learn, “For instance, AI can personalize learning experiences, adapt to individual learning paces, and provide real-time feedback, thereby enhancing student engagement and outcomes. The demand in higher education is shifting towards graduates who are not only proficient in analytics but also in the application of AI and its subset, machine learning, within analytics.”

Javier decided to apply for his fourth year as an educator ambassador because of the knowledge sharing and networking that the program offers, “It is a great way to be surrounded by excellent professionals who are dedicated and passionate about teaching and helping students achieve their academic and professional goals. Also, to be recognized by Qlik, a leading company in BI, offers credibility in an ever-changing and competitive industry. This in turn, can be used to reach more students and help them in their data literacy journey. Aside from all that, I believe in Qlik’s Mission of getting the most value out of data by revealing hidden patterns and addressing today and tomorrow’s complex challenges in the industry.”

To learn more about the Academic Program go to qlik.com/academicprogram.

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 2023.

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 Advisor & Trainer and the Business Data Challengers and is responsible for the BDC Academy, 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 Educator Ambassador with the Qlik Academic Program as she is passionate about educating students in data analytics and championing the cause of Data & AI Literacy. Due to the change in situation in the field of education, she included new aspects in her teaching style which include setting up training materials “how to use Qlik Sense from an analysis perspective so that students know and understand the full power of Qlik Sense,  using AHA Slides (to make the lectures more interactive) and the book “Data Literacy in Practice”. Her book 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! This year again she is presenting twice at Qlik Connect and is also a Panelist for around the topic ethical handling of data.

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, 34% of her 295 students are working in the field of data and analytics. Her main goal for 2024 is to work on new training materials for Data & AI Literacy in Dutch and English. Angelika has developed several Generative AI trainings that help people (at school and in her commercial work field) to use the Gen AI tools, but also she trains them to question the outcome. Questioning the results, either from insights that we create or the results that we get from the Gen AI tools we use is mega important. Next to that Angelika has developed a “Serious Data Training” where she combines a the first basic concepts of Data & AI Literacy, a Data Escape Room and a session of reflecting on the soft skills that people need during the process of data informed decisions.

Angelika feels that more and more organizations are now emphasizing the importance of Data & AI Literacy. 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

Marcin is a Research Assistant at the Faculty of Economic Sciences and Management at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland. His role focuses on integrating theory with practice in teaching and research in the subject areas of Economics, Management, Data Analysis and Data Science.

Marcin has been an enthusiastic advocate and educator of Qlik for several years, introducing students and colleagues to the dynamic world of data analytics through the Qlik Academic Program. His journey with Qlik began out of a desire to provide a more interactive and practical learning experience in the field of data visualization and analytics. Recognizing the increasing importance of data literacy in today’s digital landscape, Marcin was inspired to incorporate Qlik into his curriculum, leveraging the program’s comprehensive resources, including cloud-based analytical software, Qlik Sense, and an extensive library of educational materials. These tools have allowed him to transform traditional classroom settings into vibrant, hands-on learning environments where students can directly apply their knowledge in real-world scenarios.

Marcin has incorporated many different resources from the Qlik Academic Program into his teaching ,” I've used the Qlik Sense software to facilitate labs where students can learn to build their own dashboards. This experience has proved invaluable for their understanding of data structures and the principles of effective data visualization.  I incorporate the Data Analytics Curriculum provided by Qlik into my syllabus to give students a structured pathway through the complexities of data analysis. It helps them grasp the intricacies of data in the context of economic research.  For assessment, I lean on the Qlik Sense Qualifications, like the Business Analyst Pathway, to evaluate students' proficiency in utilizing Qlik tools for economic data analysis. This qualification process not only tests their technical skills but also their ability to interpret data and make data-driven decisions.  In addition to these, I encourage students to complete the Qlik Data Literacy Course training to ensure they possess a foundational understanding of data literacy, which is essential in today's data-centric world.”

Marcin's integration of Qlik into his curriculum has significantly empowered his students by providing them with firsthand exposure to the latest technologies in data analytics. Marcin says, “This exposure does more than just enhance their educational experience; it arms them with a competitive advantage in the job market and cultivates essential skills that are in high demand across industries. By familiarizing students with Qlik's cutting-edge tools, it not only prepares them for the challenges of the modern workforce but also ensures they stand out to potential employers, ready to contribute meaningfully from day one. The benefits for students extend beyond the classroom, setting a foundation for lifelong learning and success in a rapidly evolving professional landscape.”

Looking ahead to 2024, Marcin aims to further enrich his students' learning experiences by integrating new methodologies and focusing on the development of critical analytical skills that are increasingly in demand across various industries. He is keenly observant of the evolving landscape of analytics and the growing need for data literacy in higher education, recognizing the potential of analytics to transform not just business strategies but also educational paradigms.

Outside the classroom, Marcin enjoys a balanced life, residing in a community that shares his passion for education and innovation. Whether exploring new hobbies, spending time with his family, or engaging in other professional endeavors, he embodies the spirit of lifelong learning and curiosity.

As a Qlik Educator Ambassador, Marcin aspires to not only enhance his own teaching practices but also to contribute to the broader educational community by sharing his experiences and insights. He views this role as an opportunity to advocate for the importance of data literacy, support fellow educators in incorporating analytics into their curricula, and inspire a new generation of students to explore the vast potential of data analysis.

For more information about how you can get access to free Qlik Sense software and training resources, please go to qlik.com/academicprogram.

I am pleased to introduce Angel Monjaras as the Qlik Educator Ambassador for 2024! Angel is a Professor of Business Intelligence at Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo De Mexico (ITAM), where he’s been using Qlik in his teaching for seven years.  

For this year’s iteration of his course, he is debuting a BI Best Practices Catalog on Qlik Sense that will enable students to find the most common metrics and dimensions for each business area and / or industry.

According to Angel, “This will free up class time to delve into Data Literacy and AI topics that will help students feel comfortable speaking about data, and help them stay grounded and focus on real issues and solutions, instead of jumping on the many bandwagons, buzzwords, and false promises headed their way.”

While he’s always integrated Qlik software, the past couple of years, 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.”

Angel’s passion for Qlik goes beyond his own classroom, he has been introducing new educators from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, and other universities to Qlik. Angel has conducted introductory workshops for students. Angel plans to share his knowledge even further this year, by continuing to conduct open workshops for any student at his university to join.

Angel is a 2024 Qlik Luminary and will host a session in Qlik Connect this year: “C40: Taking our world-changing work to the next level with Qlik Cloud”

For Angel, one of the most rewarding parts of teaching Qlik has been seeing his students leave university and get jobs, become Qlik customers, and even fellow professors.

Educators and students can get access to free Qlik software and training resources, qualifications and certifications by applying to the Academic Program today: qlik.com/academicprogram