Karachi, Pakistan – 11th July 2013: Nine leading universities in Pakistan have joined the Oracle Academy and have integrated its Advanced Computer Science program into their IT curriculum to provide their students hands-on experience with Oracle Database and Oracle Fusion Middleware.

As a result, approximately 4500 students from these participating universities will have access to world-class Oracle software, technical curriculum, and industry-recognized certification resources, as well as developing vital business and technology skills.

Participating universities include University of Engineering & Technology (UET) – Taxila, Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST) – Karachi, GC University Faisalabad, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology – Lahore, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, University of Peshawar, Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST) – Islamabad, University of Agriculture – Faisalabad and The Superior Group of Colleges – Lahore.

The Oracle Academy helps to equip students with world-class IT skills that help them prepare for careers in fields such as computer engineering, application development, web development, IT consulting, systems integration, database design/administration, IT product management, IT product marketing, technical support, and more.

“It is essential that our next generation have the right skill set before entering the workforce. Using industry-relevant and engaging computer science education resources offered by Oracle Academy, these students can benefit from hands-on experience with real world business software,” said Ahsen Javed, Managing Director, Oracle Pakistan and SAGE-W.

“We are proud to support the universities in Pakistan in preparing the students for IT and business careers and hope that this young workforce will soon contribute to the success of the organizations they will work for," he said.

The Oracle Academy provides a complete portfolio of software, curriculum, technology, faculty training, support, and certification resources to secondary and higher education institutions.

Representatives from participating universities were equivocal in their support of this initiative.

“The Oracle Academy has been very effective as we have not only been able to enrich our existing courses but our faculty is also in the process of designing more courses with major practical and hands-on outlines,” said M.N. Khokhar, Assistant Professor and Coordinator MS(CS), SZABIST Islamabad Campus.

“We are confident that the Oracle Academy will help our faculty and students to enhance their understanding in various areas where Oracle has been the leader and innovator,” said Dr. Adeel Akram, Dean - Faculty of Telecom, & Information Engineering, UET Taxila.

“We at COMSATS Institute of Information Technology Lahore campus have been benefiting from our Oracle Academy Advanced Computer Science Membership since March 2013,” said Dr. Hamid Turab Mirza, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Lahore Campus.

“Curriculum and software support is very useful and is helping our students to master database systems concepts, and specifically Oracle Database technology, in a better way," said Dr Mirza.

“We have recently subscribed to Oracle Academy to let our students and faculty members learn the state-of-art Oracle software,” said Dr. Azhar Rauf, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science, University of Peshawar. “We are also planning to incorporate some courses from Oracle Certification Programs into the BS program.”