The Oracle Academy and the Vocational Training Authority (VTA) of Sri Lanka, have signed an agreement to integrate Oracle Academy’s programs into VTA’s 35 training centres island-wide, supporting over 10,000 students on the pathway to IT careers.
Over the next three years, the agreement will also facilitate the training of 150 faculty members to help develop their skills in order for them to become instructors for Oracle Academy courses in Sri Lanka. Once the initial group of faculty is trained, they will be permitted to use the Oracle Academy infrastructure to train their students.
Under this agreement, Oracle Academy will facilitate a ‘train-the-trainer’ course to ramp up VTA faculty members as instructors for five Oracle Academy courses including Database Foundations, Database Design and Programming with SQL, Programming with PL/SQL, Java Foundations, Java Fundamentals, and Java Programming. After completing their training with the Oracle Academy, the faculty members will leverage the Oracle Academy infrastructure and materials to train other faculty members and students.
Established to provide skills to the rural masses, in particular, to enhance the employability of rural youth, the VTA today is the largest technical, vocational Education and training (TVET) provider in the government sector.
As a statutory body, VTA is governed by a Chairman and Board of Directors and caters to the private and public sector. The VTA provides career guidance and counseling to school-leavers and youth, conducting competency based assessments and issuing the recognized National Vocational Qualification (NVQ).
VTA’s collaboration with Oracle Academy will also help meet the growing local demand for a highly-skilled technology workforce.
“The core intention of the VTA is to make vocational training more accessible for our rural youth throughout the country,” said Chairman VTA, Major General (retd.) Gamini Hettiarachchi.
Managing Director, Oracle Thailand and Sri Lanka,Natasak Rodjanapiches said, “Oracle Academy supports over 3.1 million students across the globe, offering them a comprehensive program to gain vital business and technology skills needed for success in today’s workforce.”
Regional Director, Oracle Academy, Asia Pacific and Japan, Damian Haas said, “Oracle Academy understands and values educators and is committed to partnering with them to advance computer science as part of our collective educational mission through partnerships and direct support.”
Oracle Academy programs and curriculum offers access to world-class software, Java development environments, faculty training, curriculum, certification preparation, and more − all designed to help students increase the relevance of their academic programs and easily expand their course offerings.