SAP creates university accreditation program to accommodate growth

The programs will provide curriculum that has been pre-approved by SAP education for a range of different areas, including financial and production planning.

Post-graduate and graduate students will have the opportunity to take the year-long blended course, which will provide them with official SAP accreditation that falls in line with the company’s certification program.

SAP believes this early accreditation will give students a leg up when they hit the working world.

“It’s making sure that when graduates leave university they have a fundamental understanding of SAP and the various modules, so when they go into industry, they can immediately be active on a project, typically as a junior associate consultant,” said Angie Vaux, business unit manager for SAP Education.

SAP installed a similar uAcademy program in India earlier this year to meet the high demand for SAP there, and says the Australian launch is to further compensate for foreseeable rapid growth in the next two years.

“One of the key aims of launching these initiatives is that SAP is doubling in size between now and 2010,” said Vaux.

“Our software growth is outpacing the overall IT software market. In order to sustain that growth, we need to make sure we’re building the ecosystem of skilled SAP resources.”

Victoria University and the Sydney Institute of ERP are the first two universities slated to host the uAcademies later this year.

SAP expects 200 students to enrol in the new Australian program within the first year, and hopes to see 1,000 students graduate with the new SAP certification by the end of 2010.