20 October 2009
Oracle Corporation Boosts Skills of Romanian Teachers, Students
Washington — California-based Oracle Corporation, the world’s largest business-software company, has teamed with the Romanian government to educate thousands of teachers and tens of thousands of students in business and technology skills to enable Romanian companies to be better competitors for international business.
The Oracle Academy provides teacher training, software, curricula and technology to secondary and higher education institutions, which are then able to offer state-of-the-art computer science and business courses.
In 2007, Oracle Romania and the Romanian Education Ministry organized Romania’s largest training initiative for teachers. For nine days, 1,600 teachers were trained in communication, collaboration, critical thinking and teamwork.
“There has been an explosion of economic growth in Romania during the past five to six years,” said Oracle’s Orfhlaith Ni Chorcora, speaking with America.gov by phone from Rome. “Oracle and the Romanian government really looked at what was going to be needed in the Romanian work force to enable Romania to sustain economic growth and remain a competitive member state within Europe. In order to train the students, we felt it was important that the teachers have access to training on the very latest skills. We continue to do that every year.”
So far, 84,000 Romanian students have benefited from Oracle teacher training. Since the original session, the program has evolved into a “train the trainer” model, in which experienced teachers train new teachers.
“Each year, Oracle and the Ministry of Education set new goals. [A goal] may be to … set up a program for language teachers, or get the elementary schools more involved. Each year, we work with the ministry to identify which segment of their teacher organizations they want to work with,” Ni Chorcora said.
Oracle also established ThinkQuest, an online learning platform that enables teachers to create Web-based projects. Students connect with peers in other countries and improve their computer literacy, teamwork and critical-thinking skills. Oracle helps sponsor internship programs for Romanian college students, a program for young entrepreneurs, and Romanian teams in international information technology competitions.
Oracle has taken its success in Romanian teacher training and applied it in other countries, including the United States. “We have started to engage at the state level for professional development programs for teachers that can help the transformation of education in the United States,” Ni Chorcora said.
Educational excellence is one reason that Oracle Romania has been selected as a finalist for the U.S. secretary of state’s 2009 Award for Corporate Excellence.
Other reasons, according to the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest, include the company’s fair employment and business practices; the example the company sets in Romania of transparency and sound business ethics; and its leadership role in promoting clean energy and environmental protection.
More information about the Oracle Corporation and the Oracle Academy is available on Oracle Web sites.
