SAP has partnered with Nottingham University to create a ‘Next Gen Lab’ within the university’s Business School’s Digital Centre of Excellence.
The lab will be a physical teaching space for modules involving digital or SAP content, designed to “digitally future-proof” students for their careers.
According to SAP, the lab’s aim is to help address the current digital skills shortage, and open up new opportunities in the SAP partner pipeline to graduates. The company is looking to place 40 students within the SAP ecosystem in 2023, with plans to reach over 750 students in the next year.
SAP has also supported the integration of technology into existing courses at Nottingham University, and created elective ‘digital’ professional certificates.
Martin Gollogly, Director, University Alliances at SAP EMEA North, said, “The Next-Gen Lab at Nottingham University Business School will connect students, partners and customers within one world-class facility. This facility will give students the opportunity to gain a deep, high quality understanding of SAP and how it is used to help the world’s most successful organisations run better. Customers and partners will gain access to a pool of talented, motivated and skilled SAP-ready students that will be able to hit the ground running.”
Dr Andrew Callaghan, Professor of Strategy and Digital Transformation at the University of Nottingham, added, “We are increasingly seeing the expectation from employers that graduates should be able to arrive on their first day with the digital capabilities necessary to work in a modern, often hybrid or remote working environment. To really get ahead, graduates will also need at least a working knowledge of technologies such as data, AI and Cloud.
“The Digital Centre of Excellence is designed to help digitally futureproof our students and enhance their career prospects. We pair functional business skills from our degree programmes with digital skills that are in high demand to make sure our students stand out in the job market.”
SAP peviouslly rolled out SAP ERP Sim and SAP Business ByDesign modules to 1,000 students at the university in September 2021. SAP software components that the university currently utilise include SAP S/4HANA, ERP SIM, SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC), and SAP Business ByDesign.
