Nearly 43% of the global workforce today consist of people between 15 to 24 years old, and according to U.N. data this cohort is almost three times more likely to be unemployed than older age groups. The U.N. also notes that younger generations are increasingly exposed to lower quality jobs, labor market disparities, and longer and more insecure school to work transitions.
Although these odds seem steep, there are many avenues for this age group to become more equipped and succeed in today’s workforce. One area this group needs to consider is data literacy: in our own recent global data literacy survey, Qlik found this population group to be underprepared for the data-driven workplace. This is especially timely given World Youth Skills Day, which is focused on spreading awareness of skills gap issues and providing solutions to help prepare today’s youth for the future.
Qlik has long been devoted to empowering people and impacting lives with data analytics, and youth is no exception to our commitment. The Qlik Academic Program has partnered with numerous schools and universities across the globe, enabling students to harness the power of data and analytics in their own learning environments. Over the last six years, Qlik has donated software and provided our Qlik Continuous Classroom online learning platform and qualification programs to both professors and students at universities such as Villanova, National University of Singapore, Northeastern University, British Columbia Institute of Technology, City University of Hong Kong, Central Queensland University, and many others. Many times students participating in the program are awarded scholarship grants based on merit, including three recent award winners from the Business Analytics society in Saint Joseph’s University.
As part of the Qlik Academic Program, Masters in Science and eHealth students at London School of Economics were recently presented with sessions that demonstrated the use of analytics. The sessions revolved around determining patient level costs and evaluating Accident & Emergency department performances. To further their understanding of the use case scenarios, students joined workshops that provided experiences with Qlik while also learning about the complexities of building data models and visualizing data.
In India, our Academic Program initiatives extend on to nearly 100 universities. Asides from conducting regular workshops with universities, Qlik launched the Center of Excellence in partnership with Vidya Jyothi Institute of Technology in 2017. The sole focus of this initiative is to equip students with skills in advanced data analytics and enabling easier transitions into future employment opportunities.
Qlik has further extended our commitment to providing education resources to the market with our launch of our full data literacy program earlier this year, which is designed to enable learners of all ages to better understand, analyze, argue and use data with confidence. Given the results of our data literacy survey and the global statistics on the incoming workforce challenges, Qlik is proud our continuing work in the academic arena and being able to bring these cutting-edge skills to learners of all ages who are living in a world where lifetime learning and data are intertwined.