Oracle University

Oracle recognises that individuals at all levels in a company require certain skills in order to perform their duties effectively and successfully. Without these critical skills, organisations are exposed to increased risk of failure and are less able to gain the maximum possible benefit from their investment in Oracle software, so our philosophy has always been that fulfilling the training needs of our customers is paramount to their success.

Oracle University has been the training division of Oracle Corporation since the company began in 1977. It operates in over 60 countries worldwide, employs nearly 500 instructors, and trains more than 320,000 students every year. Key programs and services have contributed to nearly 30 years of successful educational delivery and 100% student satisfaction. Today, Oracle University is the premier provider of Oracle, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, Siebel, Oblix, Retek and TimesTen training. It is based on five core principles:

Team Learning : Oracle University embraces a team learning approach in its classrooms. From its very first days of providing classes, Oracle University has employed team-learning techniques by having students partner with their classmates during practice labs.

Accelerated User Adoption : The goal of every class taught at Oracle University is to accelerate the adoption of the technology and functionality of Oracle products.

Direct Engagement with Product Development : Oracle University prides itself on the quality of its courseware. The same people who develop Oracle software develop content for all Oracle courses.

Instructor Quality : Our instructors are hired not only for their Oracle product knowledge but also for their experience of using Oracle software in environments similar to those of our customers.

Personalised Service : Oracle Education representatives are experts at identifying learning objectives and the greatest areas of risk. Its mission is to provide end-to-end education solutions that meet its customers educational needs and exceed expectations.

Supporting a Learning Society: Oracle Education Initiatives

More countries are crossing the threshold into the Knowledge Age, where 'brain-power' replaces 'brawn-power' and 'hertz-power' replaces 'horse-power'. The shift to a knowledge-based society may prove to be as historic and as challenging as the Industrial Revolution.

In economic terms, as a country's investments in the bits and bytes of information and knowledge exceed its investments in industrial and manufacturing goods, the 'value chain' of work undergoes a permanent shift, and what each person must do to prepare successfully for life and work is also permanently altered. Learning and knowledge-creating, the core mental work of education and innovation, become central pursuits in a knowledge society. Societies must become 'Learning Societies' so that they can sustain vibrant social, cultural and governmental institutions and their citizens can compete in the global economy.

The ability to use technology to learn and succeed has become a new basic requirement for students. To meet this educational challenge, schools need innovative learning content and technically aware teachers, yet these resources are unfortunately often in short supply. Oracle has therefore created a family of educational programmes that draw on our core competencies in information technology and the Internet.

In Europe we are engaged with governments and partners in many countries to implement the following programmes:

Think.com : A web-based educational environment for teachers and pupils aged from seven to 18 years. Think.com facilitates and encourages inter-school and international collaboration, communication and project based learning. This secure environment is provided at no charge by the Oracle Education Foundation and is available in French, Spanish, German, Italian and Portuguese, as well as Turkish, Chinese, and Thai.

ThinkQuest : An international competition managed by the Oracle Education Foundation where students and teachers work together to build educational websites. The competition encourages entries from teams composed of students from multiple countries. The library of winning sites now features more than 6,000 entries and is an outstanding and unique example of educational content created by students for students.