The spotlight is on Dr. Aditya Santokhee, Data Science program coordinator at Middlesex University Mauritius.

Set amidst a diverse landscape of ocean, mountains, and sugarcane fields, Mauritius is considered a tropical gem of the Indian Ocean. The island lies about 2,000 kilometers off the southeastern coast of East Africa, and has a population of 1.26 million, principally speaking English and French.

The country has several universities, among which Middlesex University Mauritius, a branch of Middlesex University London with campuses in Dubai, offers high-quality British education at an affordable price. The university is situated in the vibrant west of the island, in Flic en Flac, a popular destination south of the capital, Port Louis, and has grown since its founding in 2009 to become the largest private higher education institution in Mauritius. It refers to itself as a mix of British educational quality and Mauritian charm.

Today, Middlesex University Mauritius welcomes over 2,000 students from 40 nationalities, supported by a team of more than 110 faculty and staff, offering a truly international and multicultural learning environment.

Adityarajsingh (Aditya) Santokhee is a senior lecturer in Computer Science and Systems Engineering. His current research interests span intelligent environments, blockchain, software quality, software testing, software engineering, artificial intelligence, and data science.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Mauritius, a master’s degree in Network Centred Computing (Software Engineering) from the University of Reading, UK; and a PhD in Computer Science from Middlesex University, London.

Prior to teaching, he carried out marine research, worked as a Java developer, and co-founded a software engineering company. Today he runs the Data Science master’s program, and teaches programming, data science, and AI across multiple departments. He is certified in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure 2025 AI and holds professional training credentials in Enterprise JavaBeans and WebSphere Application Server from IBM, UK. He is also a Certified Blockchain Developer and a Huawei Certified Academy Instructor in AI.

Oracle Academy: Could you outline your responsibilities at Middlesex University Mauritius?

Aditya Santokhee: My teaching focuses on equipping undergraduates and postgraduates with both foundational and advanced knowledge in our departments of Computer Science and Systems Engineering; Information Technology; Artificial Intelligence & Data Science; and Cyber Security & Digital Forensics. All these programs make use of materials from Oracle Academy.

Oracle Academy: How did you get involved with Oracle?

Aditya Santokhee: I already knew Oracle from my time at the University of Reading, UK, where I used the database in the context of climatological research. When Oracle released the 10g Spatial database in 2004, we explored it as a platform for managing and visualizing multidimensional gridded environmental data.

Fast forward to 2013, when I joined Middlesex University here in Mauritius and began teaching Java programming and database management solutions. Initially we did not use Oracle Academy resources, but did use freely available materials from Oracle, among other resources. For example, in teaching Java to first-year students I noticed that the four concepts of object-oriented programming seemed abstract to novices with no prior knowledge of programming. That’s when I came across Alice and Greenfoot, great visual tools for simplifying OOP.

In addition, in my second-year class covering software engineering, I used more advanced Java, including Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) for connecting to a database, extracting data and writing more advanced algorithms like in sorting and searching. So again, I downloaded and used selected materials from Oracle. At the same time, I was teaching Database Management for Decision Support to postgraduate students, focusing extensively on SQL programming with Oracle Database Express Edition.

Oracle Academy: And presumably you discovered that all the above and more was available at no cost to Oracle Academy members?

Aditya Santokhee: Quite right. Our university became a member in 2018 and that’s when we began using the Oracle Academy curriculum. Our Middlesex University counterparts in London and Dubai are also members. Now I am making full use of the Java and database curriculum for year one students, starting with Java Foundations and Database Foundations.

For the postgrad course Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, I have begun using materials more aligned with our course structure, notably Artificial Intelligence with Machine Learning in Java.

I am a strong advocate of experiential learning and constantly seek ways to integrate it into my classes. Oracle Academy’s structured lesson plans, coding exercises, and projects enable students to learn by doing through labs, simulations, or applied projects that mirror real-world scenarios.

Oracle Academy: How many students are in your classes?

Aditya Santokhee: Approximately 50. Last semester 31 students completed Database Foundations and Java Foundations and received Oracle certificates in a ceremony at which we had two guest speakers from Oracle Mauritius. They gave a seminar on the future of generative AI agents, which some students were inspired to pursue. Five of them successfully passed the Oracle AI Vector Search Certified Professional certification exam.

This achievement has been a motivator in applying AI to final year projects. We have a course called Projects and Challenges that draws on Oracle Academy resources, not only AI-related materials but also project lifecycle management.

Oracle Academy: Please tell us more…

Aditya Santokhee: Currently I have nine postgraduate students working on final year projects. Their main challenge is having access to data sets. Because Mauritius is a very small island, we don’t always have data to support projects focused on medicine, ambient assisted living solutions, or other topics, so we use data from publicly available domains. But we also take into account the case studies available from Oracle Academy.

Once a topic is selected, Oracle Academy resources are invaluable in providing a clear step-by-step picture of how to proceed with these projects, starting with data collection, cleaning, applying models and — something especially interesting and useful — how to fine tune models. This is something the AI/ML course helps us with because we may have access to many resources but cannot always know the correct way to proceed.

Oracle Academy has everything available on one portal — for example, case studies, notes explaining how to apply the concepts, how to fine tune hyper parameters, understand back propagation algorithms, and focus on critical aspects one has to pay attention to, like optimization. These materials are particularly valuable for master’s projects, as they guide students not only in building models but also in explaining the reasoning, methodology, and process behind their model development.

Oracle Academy: Good to hear... probably applicable to research projects too?

Aditya Santokhee: Exactly. I am actively involved in research supervision, mentoring students at bachelors, masters, and PhD levels. We tell students to do their own research, through specialized articles and so on, but Oracle Academy materials definitely help them to structure the lifecycle of the project. Recently an undergraduate developed a mobile app that allows people to track the location of marine debris, contributing to safety, beach clean-up, and avoidance of hazards. Tourism is a big industry in a small island like Mauritius and projects such as these help to sensitize people to take care of the environment. We encourage students with very good projects or dissertations to publish their results, in conference proceedings or journal articles.

Related to that, I have introduced Oracle APEX for developing apps on the fly, without writing any code.

Oracle Academy: Kindly tell us about that…

Aditya Santokhee: Alongside a rigorous academic program, our students take part in debates, branding campaigns, and hackathons where they put their knowledge into action and engage in real-life challenges. Recently I served as head of jury panel for the first-ever IET-organized hackathon at our campus, around the theme of diabetes, a major problem in Mauritius. Students had 24 hours to develop an AI model for diabetic eye disease staging using retinal images. The Ministry of Technology was present and reviewed the solution — an additional incentive for participation and innovation. We plan to use Oracle APEX in future hackathon events and will be seeking Oracle’s support for mentoring participants.

Oracle Academy: Impressive. And, how is the job market in Mauritius?

Aditya Santokhee: Very healthy. I would say that 95% of students find employment even before finishing, such is the high demand for IT professionals. Middlesex University has a strong collaboration with industry and organizes job awareness days at least twice a year. We get up to 100 companies coming to the campus, many of them conducting on the spot walk-in interviews, resulting in internships or full-time job offers.

There are many sources of employment including the Mauritius subsidiaries of international companies, all needing web and software developers, data scientists, AI specialists, or people skilled in cybersecurity and digital forensics.

Oracle Academy: Do you have a roadmap going forward?

Aditya Santokhee: Oracle is a pioneer, a trendsetter, and this is reflected in Oracle Academy, a great resource for teachers and students. We are very much aligned with what Oracle Academy offers. It helps educators stay current with emerging technologies, and strengthens academic – industry linkages, ensuring our teaching is relevant and impactful. We have big plans for Oracle Cloud, which we have just started this semester and look forward to fruitful cooperation over the years to come. And in that context, I am encouraging a lot more faculty members to train themselves in the materials, use them in their classes, and become certified.

Oracle Academy: And finally, what do you like doing outside of teaching and research?

Aditya Santokhee: I enjoy traveling, especially during the holidays, visiting parts of this marvelous island or many islands close to Mauritius... longer trips as well. I also like to unwind with a good game of seven-a-side soccer or follow my favorite team Liverpool on TV. Soccer, walking, and other activities are a great way to relax and catch up with university friends or my network, getting together and sharing nice moments.

Naturally there are beaches all around us, some of them world famous, for a swim or a walk in the afternoon or on weekends.

Thank you, Dr. Aditya Santokhee, for your passion for Oracle Academy and for preparing your students to make a positive impact.