Tableau partners with Swinburne University on new analytics course

Analytics platform vendor Tableau Software has announced a new partnership with the Swinburne University of Technology to launch a hands-on course in business analytics and data visualisation.

The course is positioned as a method for increasing the digital literacy of students in a range of professions,  effectively reducing the analytics skills gap by popularising analytics technology and educating students on effective use.

It particularly aims to raise awareness about the use of data analytics in everyday business scenarios, which the company says is especially pertinent given the ever-increasing requirement for data-driven decision making within business.

The course will be offered through the university's Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship (AGSE) as part of the Master of Digital Business Management (MDBM) degree.

Tableau ANZ country manager Nigel Mendonca says, "The demand for talent with data literacy skills continues to rise in Australia, and with severe shortages in this area there is a burning need to look at ways to narrow this gap.

"Collaboration between the government, private sector and educators is essential to up-skill the workforce of today and embed data literacy in the workforce of tomorrow. We look forward to working with Swinburne to empower more Australians with analytics skills to make rapid, insightful decisions at a time where the growth in data is exploding and will continue to do so in the years ahead." Tableau says the importance of data literacy has never been more important, with research from the Institute of Analytics Professionals of Australia claiming that workers with high data literacy are able to enjoy beneficial financial rewards.

Analytics professionals, including data scientists, earn a median salary of $130,000 compared to the average median salary of $84,000 and are employed across all industries.

Deloitte Access Economics also claims that Australians with big data skills will earn almost $20,000 more on average over the next four years than they do today.

At the same time, the number of data scientists will grow at an annual growth rate of 2.4% over the next four years.

Swinburne students undertaking this new course will study a foundation unit in business analytics, including an introduction to self-service analytics for businesses, critical evaluation of the role of tools and platforms in data analytics, business analytics reporting, data storytelling and data visualisation.

Tableau has worked with the university to co-create the module and will provide guest speakers, deploy software for use by students in class and participate in panels to assess student work.

Swinburne University course director of the master of digital business management Paul Scifleet says, "by collaborating with Tableau to teach Business Analytics and Visualisation, we are shifting data science from an inaccessible horizon of future work to the desktop of today's postgraduate management students.

"As leaders of digital change, they are learning how to ask the right questions of data, to better inform the decisions they make to address current, real world and applied business needs.

The MDBM was launched earlier this year and brings a management approach to digital business that incorporates learning about the processes of digital disruption and digitalisation.

It includes units on new and emerging technologies and business models, incorporating cybersecurity, business innovation and transformation, information systems principles in enterprise IT architecture, digital asset management, IT and data governance, systems development and professional IT services management.