The spotlight is on Manibelen Ratnasamy, Oracle Academy coordinator at HELP University, Malaysia.

HELP University is a private university in Malaysia, established in 1986. It offers a wide range of academic programs in fields such as business, law, psychology, IT, and the social sciences. It has strong partnerships with local industries and encourages work-based learning (WBL).

The Faculty of Computing and Digital Technology (FCDT) offers a diploma in Information Technology, as well as a bachelor degree in Information Technology with honours, bachelor of Computer Science with honours, and bachelor of Data Analytics with honours. The faculty also offers masters and PhD programs. It pioneered a WBL program named 2U 1i: two years of study and one year working in industry, enabling students to concurrently study and gain practical work experience.

The WBL program is headed by Manibelen Ratnasamy, a lecturer specializing in databases and object-oriented programming, who uses the Oracle Academy curriculum for his classes.

Prior to teaching, he spent 20 years in the semi-conductor industry, managing data centers for firms selling factory information and computer integrated manufacturing systems, including the set up in Johor, Malaysia, of a hard drive manufacturing plant for a global corporation.

Manibelen Ratnasamy holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) in Bangi, Selangor. He is the coordinator of the Oracle Academy curriculum at HELP University.

Oracle Academy: A change of career, from semi-conductors to education. How did that come about?

Manibelen Ratnasamy: I was always involved in training as well as data center management, and when the semi-conductor companies basically returned to the United States from Malaysia, I decided to share my knowledge and experience through teaching. I have used Oracle systems widely in my career, implementing and managing the database for the production, R&D, and training environments of high-tech companies.

Oracle Academy: Expertly equipped for educating students in that technology…

Manibelen Ratnasamy: Yes, along with a colleague we teach the Oracle Academy database, Java and Oracle APEX courses to some 400 students across IT, computer science, and data analytics. We use other academies too, but database knowledge is considered an absolute must here at HELP University.

Oracle Academy: How do you structure the courses?

Manibelen Ratnasamy: I run the Introduction to Databases and Advanced Databases classes. These run for two years before students spend their final year in industry, matching company projects to our university assignments and grades. They learn SQL from basic to advanced level, understand database creation, practice SQL queries in real-time databases, build web apps using Oracle APEX, and work on final year and capstone projects. At the same time, they are learning Big Data, AI, and multi-cloud technologies. They share and test code collaboratively, complete Oracle Academy coursework, and demonstrate competency through practical applications.

Oracle Academy: Sounds really hands-on! In what way do they use Oracle APEX?

Manibelen Ratnasamy: Oracle APEX is great and extremely useful for students and for educators. Everyone finds it user friendly and enjoyable, and students are motivated to use it. APEX has many components and options available: for apps development, for creating a table or an API and more. It’s a joy to teach it to students who have their own accounts right in front of them.

Oracle Academy: Terrific. And what is the WBL program you coordinate?

Manibelen Ratnasamy: Our program, dubbed 2U 1i, is part of the bachelor of IT degree, in which students spend two years studying and one year in a work placement, earning academic credits while gaining industry-specific skills and knowledge. In their industry year they work on projects set by the company employing them and aligned with our university assignments. The common denominator is that they must use the Oracle database as back end to projects, of which the front end can be anything.

As examples this year, one company requested its intern develop software for an ATM machine, storing customer details in the database. Another tasked its student with developing a web TV system — again with real customer data. During this year HELP assigns one supervisor and the company another. When students finish their company projects, they are submitted to us as their assignments and graded accordingly. Thus, they meet the learning outcomes of their Oracle Academy course work. And they earn as they learn!

Oracle Academy: Do they return to university for final exams?

Manibelen Ratnasamy: No, they go straight into the workforce, very often with the company they spent a year at. All have strong job prospects because Oracle is the leading database in Malaysia — there is hardly an organization without at least one instance.

Oracle Academy: Are you considering other Oracle Academy resources down the line?

Manibelen Ratnasamy: Yes. We are always looking for valuable software so that when they graduate the students are knowledgeable about critical software. We do not know all the courses yet because of time constraints, but next semester I am going to adopt Artificial Intelligence with Machine Learning in Java. We will also explore the Oracle Academy Cloud Program. And I will recommend Oracle Primavera P6 Professional Project Management Fundamentals to our civil engineering colleagues. But in general, we want to get maximum benefit out of what the Academy has to offer. Certification is also in our sights.

We are very happy with Oracle Academy — it provides us with amazing technology at no cost and maintained by the leading technology company. I’m in my third year here and I love the critical skills that Oracle Academy has to offer. I will be spending more time exploring the resources and pushing students to follow the instructor-led courses and further themselves through self-paced learning.

Oracle Academy: Thank you. And apart from teaching, what are your interests?

Manibelen Ratnasamy: Besides lecturing, I closely follow all new developments in IT, through journals, YouTube, and attendance at congresses such as BRIDGE'25, which just took place in Kuala Lumpur, focusing on AI.

My other hobby is traveling. I have been to many European countries and look forward to discovering more. I lived for a year in Ireland and also in the United States. On this side I want to visit Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. The great thing about teaching is the summer break, which gives time for moving around. When you travel you meet a lot of new people, make friends, get new knowledge which you can always share with students when you get back.

Thank you, Manibelen Ratnasamy, for your passion for Oracle Academy and for preparing your students to make a positive impact.