Oracle and Junior Achievement Help Schoolchildren Become International Titans of Industry
Junior Achievement's JA-Titan business simulation gives young people an effective and entertaining way to learn about the world of business. With help from Oracle, the program is becoming available to students all over the world, including Europe, allowing children the opportunity to experience working in a global environment.
Junior Achievement (JA) Worldwide is a non profit organisation dedicated to helping young people acquire the skills that will help them to succeed in a global economy. It does this through the development of in-school and after-school programs that are funded by individuals or business, often enjoying a close collaborative relationship with their sponsors. JA Worldwide has collaborated with Oracle in the past, and in September 2007, JA announced that it had been awarded a $1 million Oracle Commitment Grant.
The grant was awarded to support and develop the JA Titan programme. JA Titan is a fun and innovative scheme that helps students understand the challenges involved in becoming a titan of industry, while teaching them important life skills such as teamwork and IT skills. The program encourages students to set up their own virtual manufacturing companies, selling a particular product. The businesses compete against each other online in a virtual environment over several weeks. Over the course of the simulation, the young entrepreneurs are forced to identify and master six major business decisions: price of product, production levels, marketing expenses, research and development costs, capital investment help and charitable giving. The companies' success is evaluated in a number of areas, and they are given a "Performance Index". At the end of the program, the team with the highest performance index is declared to be the winner.
JA-Titan is a globally recognised business simulation, and the Oracle Commitment Grant will allow Junior Achievement to raise the profile of the programme even further. Over 2008 and 2009, JA-Titan will expand beyond the USA and Canada, and be introduced in ten new countries around the world. The program will be translated into multiple languages and students from each country will be able to interact with, and compete against, the other, creating a true global business simulation.
"This is going to bring the global economy to life for young people in an exciting and powerful way," said Gerald M. Czarnecki, president and chief executive officer of JA Worldwide. "It will not only make our global economy more tangible for these students, but it will leave them better prepared to succeed in that economy when they are adults."
Oracle has a strong commitment to corporate responsibility, and to making positive contributions to communities across the globe. Through Commitment Grants, Oracle offers money, expertise, and in-kind donations to support maths, science, technology, education, medical research, and endangered animal and environmental protection. By helping Junior Achievement Worldwide develop JA-Titan, Oracle hopes to help young people throughout Europe, America, Asia and Latin America develop an awareness of the role technology plays in industry, and to learn the skills that will help them to live and work in the business world.
