Why education? We believe in the power of education to create change.
While Oracle is known for being the largest enterprise software company in the world, our numerous efforts in the area of corporate citizenship are lesser known. Oracle is committed to using its technology and resources to advance education in innovative ways, protect the environment, promote diversity, and enrich community life. Oracle ’s specific commitments are: To Advance Education : Oracle works to advance education with state-of-the-art technology programs and to prepare students for life and work in the 21 st century. To Enrich Community Life : Oracle partners with organizations that work to enrich the quality of life in communities globally. To Protect the Environment : Oracle is committed to developing practices and products that help protect the environment. To Promote Diversity : Oracle seeks to build an inclusive workforce and foster teamwork among our employees. You can also download our recent Corporate Citizenship Report online at oracle.com/commitment.
The Oracle Academy enables high school and university students to develop IT and business skills prior to entering the workforce. Participating schools receive Oracle software, curriculum, professional development, and certification resources, which they can flexibly integrate into their curricula. Schools can participate in any of the three program options: Introduction to Computer Science : Designed for high schools, technical schools and vocational schools, this option provides faculty with a highly structured, rigorous training program that prepares them to teach an introductory IT and business course. Participating students develop technical, analytical, and business skills that support the pursuit of professional careers and advanced study. Will be offered at no charge beginning November 2008. Advanced Computer Science : Designed for university computer science departments, this option provides faculty with Oracle database and middleware software and curriculum. Computer science and engineering students gain exposure to Oracle ’s world-class software, giving them a competitive advantage as they prepare to enter the workforce. Enterprise Business Applications : Designed for university computer science departments and business schools, this option provides faculty with Oracle applications software and curriculum. Students gain exposure to how IT applications are used in industries such as finance, retail, telecommunications, healthcare, and manufacturing.
The Oracle Foundation is an independent, charitable, 501(c)(3) organization funded by Oracle Corporation. We are dedicated to helping students develop 21 st century skills. These are skills like teamwork how to use technology critical thinking cross-cultural awareness communication skills These skills are crucial to student's future success, and equally important to the future of innovation We provide ThinkQuest, including the award winning ThinkQuest Library to primary and secondary schools around the world for free
ThinkQuest is a protected, online learning platform that enables teachers to integrate learning projects into their classroom curriculum and students to develop 21 st century skills. ThinkQuest Projects is a project environment where teachers and students engage in collaborative learning. ThinkQuest Competition is a competition space for students to participate in technology contests. It includes a narrative competition that invites students to publish their ideas on issues of global importance, a website competition where they build educational websites on topics of their choosing; and an application competition where they develop an online service that addresses a community need. ThinkQuest Library is the world ’s largest online repository of student- developed learning projects. It is visited by millions of web learners each month. ThinkQuest Professional Development is a comprehensive training offering for educators. It includes an instructor-led seminar that introduces ThinkQuest Projects to new users; a self-paced tutorial that shows ThinkQuest Competition participants how to be successful; and a Project Learning Institute that train teachers how to integrate technology, project learning, and 21 st skills development into their classroom curriculum.
As part of our commitment to enrich community life, the Oracle Giving and Volunteer programs were established in 1991. We strive to be a vital contributing partner to the world community by building long term alliances with nonpolitical, nonreligious, nonprofit organizations to make a substantial impact in our communities.
Oracle Volunteers is our global employee volunteer program, which provides employees with the opportunity to make a measurable, positive impact in their communities while promoting the development of leadership, communication, team-building and organization skills. Oracle employees volunteer 30,000 hours to support community projects in over 35 countries annually. Recent examples of our efforts include: review examples from slide Additional Information on Oracle Volunteers: Global Volunteer Days, one of our most significant initiatives, is an annual event that aims to encourage volunteerism and celebrate employees' year-round service in their communities. During Global Volunteer Days, employees have the opportunity to join together with their family, co-workers and colleagues to plan or participate in a variety of volunteer service projects such as building low-income housing in the US, creating a reading room for disadvantaged youth in Argentina, teaching basic life skills to disabled children in China, organizing a blood drive in Barcelona or planting trees in Lebanon. Oracle ’s Volunteer Fair occurs every year in April, coinciding with National Volunteer Week. We invite 40 nonprofit organizations to Oracle so that they can communicate their volunteer needs to Oracle’s 10,000 Bay Area employees. Season of Sharing During November and December, Oracle employees around the world demonstrate the spirit of giving by sharing their time and personal resources to help those less fortunate