Update: SAS Canada Donates Leading Industry Software to Schulich's Master of Science in Business Analytics

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - May 2, 2013) - SAS Canada has furnished the ground-breaking Master of Science in Business Analytics program at the Schulich School of Business with a comprehensive package of the world's leading data analysis software, the business school announced today.

SAS Canada has donated 500 teaching licenses for three years' use of SAS Education Analytic Suite, an integrated bundle of 20 software programs. The software will be used by faculty and students in Schulich's one-year Master of Science in Business Analytics program, which launched in September 2012. The software allows users to efficiently consolidate data from disparate sources and analyze it for use in data-driven decision-making, including statistical analysis, forecasting, econometrics, optimization, scheduling and simulation, quality improvement and seamless data integration.

There are 4 students enrolled in the one-year program, one of the first of its kind in the world. A larger cohort of students is set to begin the Master's program this fall. All of the students have already been hired prior to graduating this spring, including two students who will join SAS Canada.

"We're pleased that our faculty and graduate students will have unlimited complimentary use of this state-of-the-art analytics software, along with technical training and support, thanks to this generous gift by SAS Canada," said Deszö J. Horváth, Dean of the Schulich School of Business

Murat Kristal, Associate Professor of Operations Management and Information Systems and director of Schulich's new Master of Science in Business Analytics program, said the donated software will help students capture larger data sets and write their own code.

"SAS Analytics is a tremendous learning tool for our students," said Professor Kristal. "It is one of the best statistical software programs in the industry. Anything you think of as being done by analytics and big data, this is the software program that does it."

Proficiency in SAS Analytics will also give Schulich graduates an advantage in the job market since the software suite is considered the industry standard in data analytics, said Professor Kristal.

"SAS Canada is committed to leading the way for integrating technology and education," said Carl Farrell, President of SAS Canada and Executive Vice President of SAS Americas. "We are happy to provide the faculty and students of Schulich's Master of Science in Business Analytics program with unlimited exposure to the sophisticated tools they will be using as future analytic professionals. Schulich M.Sc. BA graduates will hit the ground running when they re-enter the workforce."

About SAS

SAS is the leader in business analytics software and services, and the largest independent vendor in the business intelligence market. Through innovative solutions delivered within an integrated framework, SAS helps customers at more than 60,000 sites improve performance and deliver value by making better decisions faster. Since 1976 SAS has been giving customers around the world THE POWER TO KNOW®.

The Canadian subsidiary of SAS has been in operation since 1988. Headquartered in Toronto, SAS employs more than 300 people across the country at its Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Quebec City and Montréal offices. www.sas.com/canada

About Schulich

Known as Canada's Global Business School™, the Schulich School of Business in Toronto is ranked among the world's leading business schools by a number of global surveys, including The Economist, Forbes, Bloomberg Businessweek, Expansión (a Time Warner publication based in Mexico City) and The Aspen Institute (a Washington, DC-based leadership think tank). Schulich's MBA program is ranked #1 in Canada by The Economist, Forbes, The Aspen Institute and Expansión. The Aspen Institute, which measures which schools are doing the best job of preparing future business leaders for the environmental, social and ethical complexities of modern-day business, also ranks Schulich #2 in the world in its most recent global survey, and #1 in the world in its previous survey. The Kellogg-Schulich EMBA program is ranked #5 in the world by The Wall Street Journal (as part of the Kellogg global network of EMBA partner schools) and is ranked #1 in Canada and #27 in the world by the Financial Times of London. For complete ranking details, please visit www.schulich.yorku.ca.