Oracle Education Foundation Helps 18 Malaysian Educators Prepare Students For Success in a Global Economy

Educators Attended 21st Century Learning Institute to Learn How to Introduce Project Learning and 21st Century Skills Development Into The Classroom


KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, May 7, 2008 — The Oracle Education Foundation (OEF) recently launched its first Regional 21st Century Learning Institute in Asia Pacific to help educators successfully integrate project-based learning and 21st Century learning skills training into their curriculum. The four-day program, which was held in Singapore from February 26-29 at the Nanyang Technological University, brought together 55 educators from nine countries in Asia Pacific. Eighteen Malaysian educators were amongst the trainees who came from across the region, including Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Pakistan, Singapore and Thailand.

The 21st Century Learning Institute is geared toward addressing a growing demand for a project approach to learning as more educational institutions, governments and ministries recognize how 21st Century skills are critical to students’ success in a knowledge-based economy. Teachers who take part in the institute are then able to share their knowledge with students and other teachers in their local countries, thus extending project learning skills to students across the region.

Throughout the program, the teachers learned how to design and implement online learning projects that will help students develop 21st century skills. The course also used the Oracle Education Foundation’s global technology programs, Think.com and ThinkQuest, to showcase exceptional project-learning examples and help teachers produce projects as a part of their training experience.In Malaysia, Think.com now involves over 800 schools and 4,065 teachers. The Oracle Education Foundation and the Ministry of Education is in the process of rolling out Think.com to another 4,000 Malaysian public schools in 2008.

“The 21st Century Learning Institute is designed to help educators around the globe successfully incorporate project learning into everyday curriculum, so that students walk out the school door with the skills needed for life and work in the 21st Century,” said Clare Dolan, Vice President, Oracle Education Initiatives. “These students will not only possess a firm knowledge of ‘basic’ skills like reading and math, they will also acquire the ‘applied’ skills needed to succeed in a global economy - critical thinking, creativity, cross-cultural understanding, and teamwork.”

OEF is a strong proponent and leader in the 21st Century skills development movement. From its innovative technology programs, Think.com and ThinkQuest, to its grant making philosophy, professional development programs and education partnerships, OEF’s mission is to help students gain vital skills needed for future academic and career success.

“Many primary and secondary teachers are challenged with how to implement technology- based project learning while still linking to curriculum and standards. The 21st Century Learning Institute provides a structured approach to preparing and implementing learning projects do just this,” Dolan continued.

Rigorous Training, Real-World Results
Teachers attending the event are required to complete three phases of training before successfully concluding the 60-hour professional development program. The three phases include four weeks of online, virtual training; four days of in-class training with project learning experts; and, the successful mentoring and implementation of a planned project in the participant’s school.

The Malaysian educators who had participated in program recently in Singapore gave positive feedback on the training:

“As a pioneer in this program, I am very keen to start implementing project-based learning skills to ensure that my students will be successful and well prepared for the 21st century,” said Ly Choo, teacher at SMK Dato' Sri Amar Diraja, Muar, Johor. “The 21st Century Learning Institute has provided a wonderful service to educators by mobilising its vast resources to train us in what will surely be the norm for learning strategies in the near future.”

“As Malaysia moves forward to keep pace with the advancements in technology and especially in ICT, communication and technology skills are now being integrated into more curricula in schools,” said Mokhtar bin Ismail, a teacher at SK Tumpat, Kelantan. “I don’t think I have ever experienced a medium quite as compelling and effective as Think.com which, together with its trained facilitators and teachers, will surely boost the project-based learning skills for students of the 21st century.

Ab Aziz bin Mamat, a teacher from Seri Puteri School, Cyberjaya, Selangor said, "The 21st century skills are highly relevant and can be used across global curricula and classrooms. I feel that educators like myself who are given the opportunity to upgrade their skill sets through programmes such as this will be able to directly benefit students under our care by imparting learning through contemporary best practices we are exposed to.”

“To excel in the workforce, students in Asia Pacific today require higher levels of reading, communication, math and problem-solving skills than ever before,” said K. Raman, managing director, Oracle Corporation Malaysia. “Oracle Education Foundation seeks to help teachers address the gap between how and what students are currently learning in the classroom and the skills they need to complete in the 21st century.”

The Oracle Education Foundation plans to introduce the 21st Century Institute across the nine participating countries in Asia Pacific by March 2009.

SAP BRINGS GLOBAL UNIVERSITY ALLIANCES PROGRAM TO ASIA PACIFIC

Program to Address Asia Pacific’s Top Concern - Shortage of Talent – By Developing the Next Generation of IT Leaders

May 5, 2008 - SAP Asia Pacific Japan (APJ) brings its well established University Alliances Program to the Asia Pacific region. Students at Asia’s top schools will now have access to the same training benefiting the more than 150,000 students from 800 universities that have already participated in the SAP program across 36 countries in the U.S. and Europe. SAP is launching the program out of Singapore, one of Asia’s top educational hubs. By 2010, SAP expects to have made S$7 million1 in contributions to the industry in Singapore as a result of the program.

Aligned with SAP’s mission to contribute to economic growth on a grand scale, the University Alliances Program promotes scientific and technical education in tertiary institutions by providing students and lecturers around the world with access to SAP software training. The SAP training courses lead to student certifications and eventual hiring by SAP, SAP partners and customers. This in turn addresses the industry skills shortage by providing a ready pool of graduates who are already trained with hands-on practice of the SAP software.

According to IDA’s latest Annual Survey on Infocomm Manpower, Singapore’s infocomm employment growth rate has hit a new high of 8.9 percent in 2007, with the number of employed infocomm manpower reaching 130,400. As the demand for infocomm talent continues to grow, IDA and the industry have pledged to invest a further S$70 million in infocomm manpower development over the next three to five years, with the aim of deepening the technical capabilities and enhancing the global competitiveness of Singapore’s infocomm talent.

To meet the growing demand for enterprise resource planning (ERP)2 professionals, SAP has jointly collaborated with IDA to offer a SAP training course - the “Integrated SAP ERP Business Scenarios based on SAP Best Practices” (Best Practices ERP or “BPERP”) certification last year. Available at the seven institutes of higher learning in Singapore (Nanyang Polytechnic, Nanyang Technological University, National University of Singapore, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Republic Polytechnic, Singapore Polytechnic and Temasek Polytechnic), the BPERP course is a 10-day workshop that will train and certify students to use SAP ERP software based on SAP Best Practices. Upon completion of the course and passing the BPERP certification exams, students will be awarded a SAP certification which is recognised globally.

In addition, students who successfully completed the course will be able to claim up to half of the S$400 certification fee under IDA’s Critical Infocomm Technology Resource Programme (CITREP) program. To date, 250 students have already taken and passed the BPERP certification exams. SAP partners like Accenture, Singapore Computer Systems (SCS), HP, Deloitte and Electra are committed to hiring graduates from this program as it saves them a substantial amount of time for getting their prospective employees up to speed. At least 1,000 students are expected to benefit from this course by 2010 in Singapore, amounting to S$7 million in contributions to the industry by SAP.

"The BPERP programme launched by SAP, in partnership with the Institutes of Higher Learning, will enable students to enhance their understanding and competencies of leveraging infocomm to strengthen business process efficiencies and productivity. IDA encourages more students to take advantage of the BPERP so as to ensure that they have relevant and up-to-date infocomm skills in this fast-progressing sector,” said Christina Gan, Senior Director (Infocomm Security & Manpower Development), IDA Singapore.

Following the success of the BPERP certification course in Singapore, the BPERP and other suitable SAP certification courses will be offered to students across Asia Pacific Japan who can enjoy the subsidised rates when their educational institutes become members of the University Alliances Program.

“With the talent crunch facing the infocomm industry today, SAP finds it a need to help groom talents to meet the growing manpower demands of the industry. Also, we feel that it is absolutely necessary that these future IT specialists be trained in a manner that will prepare them for the real world,” said Geraldine McBride, President & CEO, SAP Asia Pacific Japan. “Through the University Alliances Program, SAP hopes to reach over 300 universities in Asia Pacific by 2010 and to help establish a good talent pool from where suitable expertise and knowledge can be drawn from by the industry.”

In Asia Pacific Japan region, the University Alliances Program will have its University Competency Center (UCC) hosted out of Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane, Australia. As the dedicated data center for the universities participating in the University Alliances Program in the region, the UCC will take care of all the technical hosting aspects by operating the software, plus supporting the teaching and training of users. This allows the University Alliances members to focus on teaching SAP software rather than worrying about installing and maintaining the software on campus.

Currently, the program has drawn interest from over 100 universities in Australia & New Zealand, China, India, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. This includes Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and National University of Singapore (NUS) in Singapore, Australian National University (ANU), University of Sydney and Melbourne University in Australia, IIM Kohizode, Xavier Labour Research Institute, Jamshedpur, IIT Kanpur in India; Waseda University, Yokohama National University and Aoyama Gakuin in Japan; and Shanghai JiaoTong University, Tsinghua University, in China. Plans are also underway to roll out the program in more tertiary institutions in those countries as well as in Malaysia, and Vietnam.

Scott Sheppard, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International and Development), Queensland University of Technology, said: “QUT's real-world focus means that we have a strong emphasis on high-value education and research through key strategic partnerships. We therefore warmly welcome this further enhancement of our long-standing and multi-dimensional cooperation with SAP. As an institute of higher learning with a strong emphasis on IT and technology, we value this special opportunity to enhance the learning experience of both our students and their counterparts from other participating institutions. Multilateral international cooperation and joint projects are of critical importance to QUT, and this new endeavor with SAP provides us a strong foundation for further engagement and growth.”

Note:

1 Course Value and Industry Contribution Students of this course conducted by SAP or its training partners are normally charged S$6,900 each. As SAP is making its software and training systems available for free for at least 1,000 students to be trained by the institutes of higher learning by 2010, this is equivalent to a S$7 million contribution to the industry by SAP.

2 ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems enable a company to streamline and automate its business processes and increase its operational efficiency by planning and managing its resources more effectively. This results in better visibility and decision making, improved customer relationships and partner collaboration across its supply chain.