UiPath,
the leading robotic process automation (RPA) software company, today
announced California
State University (CSU), Fullerton as its first university partner to
have completed a course on RPA through the company’s Academic
Alliance initiative. Offered to graduate students in Accounting and
enrolled in the Mihaylo
College of Business and Economics, the course explored how RPA can
be applied to the field of accounting to drive efficiencies, improve
customer service and bolster overall business performance.
Spearheaded in January 2019 by CSU, Fullerton Accounting Professors
Vivek Mande and April Morris, the course curriculum was designed to
provide students with the skills needed to successfully introduce,
deploy and manage RPA solutions. CSU Fullerton’s Department of
Accounting is separately accredited and its curriculum embeds
leading-edge technology such as UiPath. Featuring presentations and
demonstrations from UiPath, as well as representatives from the Big Four
accounting firms including EY and PwC, the course highlighted real-world
examples of how RPA is being applied across various accounting
functions. These functions include accumulating and scraping data for
conversion rates, automating certain tax functions and automating
consolidations. Students in the class actually wrote their own personal
robot to help with daily tasks.
“Our accounting curriculum is evolving into a world-class, tech-forward,
real-world experience-based model,” said Morris, professor of
Accounting: Data Analytics and Robotics. “Automation is no longer the
future, it is the ‘now’. Finding accounting programs that offer students
this type of concentrated immersion into leading-edge technologies that
use real-world data is difficult. Our graduates are developing skills
that will set them apart from the rest. We have taken steps to involve
our stakeholders, such as the Big Four, in developing a laser-focused
curriculum that responds to the fast-changing business and technology
world. UiPath was a name that was consistently mentioned by our
stakeholders, so we built a curriculum based on their technology.”
“Robotic process automation is being used by EY and companies worldwide
for a multitude of business processes. It is critical that students are
introduced to technologies such as this early on so they’re prepared for
the Transformative Age we’re living in and the future of work,” added
Jon Smith, partner at Ernst & Young LLP.
UiPath works with universities like CSU, Fullerton as part of its
Academic Alliance program. This program, created to empower all people
to access and best leverage available automation solutions, consists of
a Higher Education track that equips students with critical automation
skills and unites them with engaged employer networks to best understand
how RPA can be leveraged in business settings.
“This course has opened my eyes to how much better operations can be run
with RPA,” said Yang Xu, MBA student. “Having had the opportunity to
build my own software robot, I feel confident in my ability to not only
use RPA, but also scale it across an organization. My familiarity with
RPA is definitely something that I will be adding to my résumé.”
Building on the success of its inaugural RPA course at the graduate
level, CSU, Fullerton is planning a course for undergraduate students
for Spring 2020. “We recognize that successful accounting professionals
will be leaders in the use of advanced technologies and analytics,”
added Dr. Vivek Mande.
“CSU, Fullerton through their accounting program, are leaders in
technology education,” said Tom Clancy, Senior Vice President of UiPath
Learning. “We are very proud of the work we’ve done with them to help
their students prepare for – and usher in – better, smarter and faster
ways of working. They set a fantastic example, and we are eager to see
other universities offer similar courses on RPA as we get deeper into
the automation first era.”
For more information, visit the Academic
Alliance webpage.
About Mihaylo College of Business and Economics
Located in
one of the most vibrant and entrepreneurial business communities in the
United States, Mihaylo College of Business and Economics at California
State University, Fullerton is the largest accredited business school on
the West Coast, nationally recognized for accreditation in both its
business and accounting programs.
About UiPath
UiPath
is leading the “automation first” era – championing one robot for every
person, delivering free and open training and collaboration and enabling
robots to learn new skills through AI and machine learning. Led by a
commitment to bring digital era skills to more than a million people,
the company’s enterprise Robotic Process Automation (RPA) platform has
already automated millions of repetitive, mind-numbing tasks for
business and government organizations all over the world, improving
productivity, customer experience and employee job satisfaction.
Recently named by Comparably as the 6th
happiest place to work and the 11th
best company culture among large businesses, UiPath is one of the
fastest growing and highest-valued AI enterprise software companies
worldwide.
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