The Third Edition of the Academia@Oracle – Industry-Academia Workshop was recently held at the Oracle office, Chennai, India, on November 4, 2025. This workshop was organized by Oracle Academy in collaboration with Oracle Technology Solutions Engineering & Technology License Teams, Chennai. The workshop saw 27 educators from 17 academic institutions and collaborators across the Tamil Nadu region significantly engaged and interacting with the experts from the Oracle Technology and Oracle Academy teams.
The day-long event brought together educators , Oracle Academy representatives, and Oracle experts to discuss bridging the gap between academia and industry through technology. The event aimed to help educators understand how they can integrate Oracle’s cutting-edge technologies (especially the newly launched Oracle AI Database) into their curriculum, ultimately equipping students with the skills necessary for future careers.
The event began with a warm welcome from Bharadwaj Asokan, Lead Program Manager, South Asia, who expressed gratitude to all attendees on behalf of Oracle Academy and Oracle. Following the welcome, Balaji Rangachari, Client Solution Senior Director, delivered a keynote session. He provided a comprehensive overview of Oracle’s technology, offering a clear picture of how Oracle is shaping the future of technology and how educators can utilize Oracle solutions to benefit students.
Anuradha Sharma, Head of Oracle Academy, South Asia, then took the stage again to discuss the significant technology skills gap affecting the education sector. She explained how Oracle Academy is addressing this issue by offering tools and resources that help bridge the divide between academia and industry. She also highlighted how faculty can better prepare students for the workforce by integrating Oracle technologies into their teaching, ensuring students are equipped with career-ready, industry-relevant skills.
The audience had the privilege of learning about Oracle and its technology solutions and products through a meticulously crafted set of presentations and demonstrations by Oracle technology experts Daksh Velayutham, Principal Cloud Architect, and Vinake P, Senior Solution Engineer. These curated sessions on Oracle’s core tech stack introduced attendees to Oracle’s wide range of technologies and helped them understand how they could leverage them in teaching and learning, empowering students to explore new tools and gain hands-on experience with industry-leading solutions.
Through a fireside chat format, anchored by Anuradha Sharma, Saravanan G from ICT Academy, a long-standing member of Oracle Academy, shared his insights on the opportunities and challenges lying ahead for higher education in India. Saravanan highlighted the importance of leveraging Oracle Academy resources by noting a few examples on how best to utilize them to help bridge the digital skills gap.
One of the highlights of the workshop was the Oracle Academy Adoption Best Practices session. Educators who have successfully incorporated Oracle Academy resources into their teaching shared their experiences. Bhuvaneswaran, Rajalakshmi Engineering College, Chennai; and Christina J and Dr. Gopalakrishnan, Loyola-ICAM College of Engineering and Technology, Chennai; discussed how Oracle Academy’s resources have enhanced student engagement and improved learning outcomes. Their shared experiences resonated with the audience and offered practical insights for educators looking to implement Oracle Academy tools.
The audience also had the opportunity to network with Edward Nixon from Oracle Sales Team to learn about Oracle products in the higher education space of Tamil Nadu.
In the afternoon, a deep dive session and demo on Oracle Cloud and AI were conducted by Anand Sailam, Master Principal Architect, providing faculty members the opportunity to engage directly with Oracle’s cloud-based solutions and artificial intelligence technologies. The demonstrations allowed participants to see how they could use these tools in their teaching and research.
A significant highlight of the event was a hands-on session on the Member Hub, Oracle Academy’s state-of-the-art, members-only portal. The session, led by Bharadwaj Asokan, provided a detailed experience for the audience on the various features and resources offered by Oracle Academy through the Member Hub.
The workshop concluded with an open Q&A session, where educators posed questions, gaining valuable insights from the Oracle experts and Oracle Academy team. In her closing remarks, Anuradha Sharma thanked all participants and reiterated Oracle Academy’s commitment to fostering educational excellence.
With an astounding NPS score of 92, the participants conveyed their excitement about Oracle and Oracle Academy!
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