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The spotlight is on Dr. Manuel Enciso, Universidad de Málaga, Spain.

Universidad de Málaga (UMA) in southern Spain has 13 faculties, four schools, and 71 departments, and offers 182 bachelors, masters and doctorate programs. Four campuses cater to 39,000 students, 2,500 teachers and 1,500 administration staff.

Dr. Manuel Enciso García-Oliveros is the Director of the Computer Science Engineering School. He holds a degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and a doctorate in Informatics from the Universidad de Málaga. Enciso has collaborated in many research programs related to software engineering and artificial intelligence, with over 70 publications to his name.

In 2022, Enciso was instrumental in steering the university into becoming an Oracle Academy member.

Oracle Academy: How did your engagement with Oracle Academy come about?

Manuel Enciso: My whole career has been related to data and databases, and I have known Oracle for a long time. For many years we used Oracle free online resources and textbooks for teaching databases and programming. However, despite our proximity to the Oracle consulting site in Malaga, we had no direct contact with either Oracle or Oracle Academy.

The situation changed completely in 2022 thanks to an Oracle4Girls event, whose objective is to encourage girls to follow STEM careers. By good chance one of my former pupils, now working for the university, knowing that our university has a large auditorium, proposed that we in the Computer Engineering School should host the event.

During Oracle4Girls, consultants from Oracle introduced some 100 girls ages 6-16 to the Alice and Greenfoot introductory computing programs. It was marvelous to feel the energy generated that day, to witness the curiosity and the creativity.

The event was the trigger for UMA to establish permanent, fruitful contact with Oracle, to jointly run events and hackathons, and to become an Oracle Academy member. This relationship has been strengthened by a special agreement between Oracle Spain and our university in April 2023, particularly encouraged by Oracle here in Malaga. I can say that this collaboration is mainly supported by these people.

Oracle Academy: What resources have you adopted?

Manuel Enciso: Seven of us took Oracle Academy training in database and Java. I teach Database Foundations, Database Programming with PL/SQL and use the Oracle Academy Cloud Program. Other colleagues also use the database curriculum, while the Java curriculum has become the framework for our web development courses.

In addition, we have teamed up with Oracle consultants for professional support and the joint delivery of master classes.

Oracle Academy: Can you tell us more?

Manuel Enciso: Last year we created a program called Transversal Skills in which we introduce Oracle Analytics Cloud. The program is not limited to computer science majors but is open to any UMA student interested in data-driven decision-making. It has attracted people from health, psychology, industrial engineering, music, social sciences, and other faculties. The idea is to show how to extract value from the data that surrounds us in almost any profession nowadays.

The 25-hour course is delivered by myself, two colleagues, and two experts from Oracle. We cover all the steps, from data preparation to image processing and visualization, that lead to deriving and sharing data insights. Having Oracle with us is immensely valuable. The student satisfaction level is high, but we need to get more people across the university into the program!

Oracle Academy: Inspiring! And in what way do you use Oracle Cloud?

Manuel Enciso: In several ways: in teaching cloud platforms, for hackathons and special projects. To start with, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) is used as a resource to demonstrate an alternative to desktop applications for connecting to an Oracle server. This approach helps students become familiar with cloud-based solutions, preparing them for real-world applications.

But OCI also contains the tools required by organizations in supporting their cloud infrastructure. To this end we call into play Oracle Autonomous Database, Compute Virtual Machines, Oracle Networking and more.

As a concrete example of OCI’s role, it played a key role in last year’s computer science hackathon, known as the Malackathon, (playing on the word Malaga). We had 225 students in 49 teams competing to create solutions to socio-economic problems stemming from drought, a misfortune that has hit southeast Spain hard in recent years.

Students spun up an OCI tenant to support the collection of open-source water data required for georeferencing the availability of sustainable hydraulic resources and their optimum management. Oracle professionals joined us as mentors, creating a valuable hands-on learning experience for students. We intend next year to open the Malackathon to other students beyond our Computer Science school.

In another example, 80 UMA students from engineering and other departments worked together on the Málaga Racing Team. They participate in the Formula Student, an international engineering design competition. We are strongly inspired by the Oracle Red Bull Racing Team. The challenge was to analyze driver and racing car data through a Formula1 simulator and use the findings to propose performance improvements. This topic has become a key focus of Formula Student due to the emergence of electric powertrains. Once again OCI was used as the cloud data platform, exposing students to a real-life case study. The collaboration with Oracle here in Malaga is so close that some people from Oracle are mentoring the students who are using the OCI infrastructure to take advantage of the telemetry data.

Oracle Academy: You are certainly taking advantage of Oracle tools and Oracle Academy resources. Do you encourage certification?

Manuel Enciso: Absolutely! UMA is a leader in computer science education and our database, Java and cloud courses are tailored to be as close as possible to the Oracle Professional Associate exam requirements. Last year we opened a forum to find out who would like to take Database Fundamentals and/or Pl/SQL certification exams — and within 24 hours we had 200 applicants!

Certification is important for resumés, job interviews, and career success. We have strong connections with companies in the Malaga TechPark, which hosts over 680 Spanish and international ICT companies. These potential employers really appreciate professional certification.

Oracle Academy: That’s great. Overall, what do you find is the value of Oracle Academy resources?

Manuel Enciso: I would say Oracle Academy provides significant technological and educational benefits for our students. Firstly, Oracle Academy provides first-rate resources that help us explain the technical aspects of databases, programming, and cloud. I really appreciate the way that Oracle Academy educators have selected the essentials of database architecture and put them into concise, well-structured slides. They synthesize a mass of things and make it easier for us teachers to conduct our lessons. The video resources are also very good, as are resources on the Member Hub such as the Oracle Academy Education Bytes, little pieces of knowledge that help students catch up on subjects they may not have paid enough attention to.

On top of this, one other great benefit is the connection with people from Oracle, the innovator of the technology we teach. Events such as hackathons or collaborative courses such as Transversal Skills put faces on the people behind the technology. To hear not only a teacher but an Oracle specialist say ‘pay attention to this,’ drives the message home, makes the learning even more sticky. And our close contact with Oracle Malaga also means that we at UMA — students and teachers — are touching the same tools and technology as Oracle itself, tools and technology that will be changing during the four-year degree course.

Oracle Academy: Moving away from university life, what are your outside interests?

Manuel Enciso: I have lots of pleasurable antidotes to the stress of research, teaching and university management — for example sports, music, and movies. I love cycling, riding my bike in the mountains surrounding Malaga, peaceful rides of a few hours in which I let off steam and reflect on what I have to do or have done. There are marvelous small roads crisscrossing the forests and the bicycle for me is a way to connect with nature and other cyclists. Several friends take part every year in one or another of the large European classic bike races: the Amstel Gold, the Giro di Lombardia, and others.

Music is another great pleasure. Every day I listen to different types of music and am lucky to have a wife and daughters and son who also love music, frequently going together to live concerts.

And lastly, though it’s a tradition we are losing, going to the cinema. I don’t watch TV, but I do like the large movie theatres, the lights off, showing a European film or one from another country, reflecting distinct cultures and facets of social reality.

Thank you, Dr. Manuel Enciso García-Oliveros, for your passion for Oracle Academy and for preparing your students to make a positive impact.