Oracle invests in education with the launch of Oracle Academy

Oracle has launched the Oracle Academy in Malta. Four tutors from the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST) are undertaking a nine-week professional development course, sponsored by Oracle, which qualifies them to teach the academy's curriculum at MCAST from September.

The Oracle Academy is designed to educate secondary school, as well as further and higher education college students on the fundamentals of database design, programming and Java technology, providing them with the necessary skills to pursue academic and professional opportunities.

To date, Oracle is working with 118 institutions across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, part of the academy's initiative, representing a grant value in excess of $15 million.

This week, the lecturers will join others from around the world to begin training with a two-week intensive course at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Once they have successfully completed the course, they can then start teaching the curriculum.

MCAST students will have access to an online course curriculum and a development environment hosted by Oracle via the Internet. Their students will grad-uate with marketable design and programming skills, as well as proficiency in project management, presentation skills and problem-solving.

"Through strategic partnerships with secondary and higher education institutions, the Oracle Academy, which has a growing reputation for excellence in technology teaching, provides students with the technical and business skills that they need to survive in today's ever advancing information age," managing director of Oracle Malta Kevin Attard said.

"MCAST tutors have the opportunity to gain world class specialist training and knowledge, which they will bring back to the college for the benefit of their students.

The academy is proving very successful across Europe, the Middle East and Asia and I am delighted that in less than a year after establishing an Oracle office in Malta we are already investing in the country's education and training," Mr Attard added.

The four lecturers commented on the excellent organisation of the 'pre-training' sessions held in May and June through video-conferencing and use of the Internet.

Lecturers held a one-hour session per week with a foreign tutor and were given assignments to complete before the next session.

"Considering this pre-training was held concurrently with a number of other participants from other countries, the lecturers were impressed with the professional manner in which the sessions were organised," Juan Borg Manduca, director of MCAST, said.

MCAST tutors Melissa Mifsud and Albert Attard will specialise in database administration and Kurt Paris and Clifton Lewis will focus on Java programming.

For more information, visit the Oracle Website at www.oracle.com