Bangalore: Oracle University's Workforce Development Program (WDP) has partnered with over 550 engineering colleges, business schools, institutions and has enrolled more than 70,000 students in India. Indian students are being trained under the program to acquire skill sets that will prepare them for a career in the IT sector. "Oracle WDP aims at addressing the training needs of the students in colleges, universities and other IT professional institutions. As part of this model, we offer Oracle Database and Developer training to students at an affordable cost," said Alok Tandon, Director, Oracle University, Oracle India. Oracle has been providing its certification program through Workforce Development program for the last 30 years worldwide. In 2008, over 91,277 students were trained worldwide through WDP. WDP has 934 centers worldwide and 507 in Asia Pacific Region. Under the program, students are being provided training on Oracle software. As part of the programme, discount vouchers are offered to students for extending special online OCP examination fees. Also participation certificates are awarded to students after the completion of each module. The institution's participation in the WDP program entitles them to Oracle WDP membership and to be included in the Oracle University online network. It will enable the institution's faculty to enroll as Oracle WDP training providers. NIIT, a talent development organization has become Oracle's Workforce Development Partner (WDP) partner in India. G. Raghavan, President, Individual Learning Solutions, NIIT said, "We believe that through this relationship we will continue to develop talent pool with strong market demands." Also recently, Sinhgad Technical Education Society, an educational group in Maharashtra, tied-up with Oracle University to impart certified training courses through WDP to its students in Enterprise Resource Planning and Customer Relationship Management applications. Dr. Arpita Gopal, Director - MCA, Sinhgad Technical Education Society said, "This course will enhance our students' capabilities to place themselves in better positions in the IT industry. Such courses will go a long way to bridge the talent gap existing in the industry."