Plugging the skills gap - Birmingham City University and Oracle open a new skills academy

UNIVERSITY NEWS LAST UPDATED : 02 NOVEMBER 2011

To help maintain regional leadership in delivering ‘job ready’ graduates Birmingham City University has teamed up with one of the world’s leading software companies to create a specialist skills academy.

The University’s School of Computing, Telecommunications and Networks has launched an Oracle Academy in partnership with Oracle, a computing giant that supplies database management systems to top corporations across the region, the UK and the rest of the world.
To mark the academy launch, Oracle will be presenting a ‘job ready’ seminar to 50 ambitious students, part of a series of workshops designed to help students identify the skills which they need to increase their employability.

There will also be the chance to enter Thinkquest, a competition which gives students from the University’s Faculty of Technology, Engineering and the Environment an opportunity to work with Oracle on team-based projects and win internships and other prizes.

Associate Dean, Dr Peter Rayson said the Oracle Academy would be an excellent facility to prepare students for the real world of work by equipping them with skills that are highly sought by top employers. The partnership between Birmingham City University and Oracle, said Dr Rayson, is just one of many links which the University has with leading employers.

He added: “The University promotes employability within all its courses and the Faculty of Technology, Engineering and the Environment is the largest deliverer of industry-based programmes within the West Midlands.

"We have worked with over 4,000 companies to develop commercial assistance and training in the areas of automotive, manufacturing, healthcare, media technology, environmental, bio-fuel, electronics and aerospace. All courses are accredited by one or more professional bodies.”