SkillSoft Announces New Content Partnership with the Wharton School
NASHUA, N.H. — SkillSoft Corp. (Nasdaq: SKIL), a leading e-Learning solutions provider of critical business skills training, today announced that it has recently signed an agreement with the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania to publish and distribute articles from Knowledge@Wharton, the school’s research and business website. Under the agreement, SkillSoft will select articles from each bi-weekly issue of Knowledge@Wharton. These articles will be posted to the SkillSoft corporate web site and SkillPort, SkillSoft’s e-learning platform.
Knowledge@Wharton publishes analyses of current business trends, interviews with industry leaders and Wharton faculty, and articles based on recent business research, book reviews, and conference and seminar reports.
“The mission of Knowledge@Wharton is to capture the valuable information generated every day at the Wharton School and its sponsored activities and events,” said Bob Mittelstaedt, vice dean of executive education. “We have found that this online resource is a way our graduates and program attendees can efficiently stay in touch with ongoing business research. We are confident SkillSoft clients will also find these articles useful as supplements to their ongoing business learning.”
“The Knowledge@Wharton partnership was an outgrowth of our previous collaboration with the Wharton School,” said Jerry Nine, vice president of worldwide sales and marketing. “Our clients find great value in Wharton’s expertise, now made more accessible through SkillSoft’s enterprise-wide e- Learning solutions.” SkillSoft recently completed a new eight-course series on financial statement analysis developed in conjunction with the Wharton School to introduce and reinforce concepts taught in Wharton’s executive education program.
Knowledge@Wharton articles will be delivered in two ways. SkillSoft clients will have access to the articles through SkillPort, SkillSoft’s e- Learning platform. The articles will also be available in the “What’s Hot” section of SkillSoft’s corporate website, www.skillsoft.com. Visitors will also find direct links to the Knowledge@Wharton web site, where they can access and search free of charge all recent and archived articles. The articles selected by SkillSoft will cover a wide variety of topics including human resources, leadership and change, strategic planning, and innovation and entrepreneurship.
About Knowledge@Wharton
Knowledge@Wharton was launched in May 1999 by the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. To date, the website has more than 83,000 registered users from 172 countries. Business executives, academics, journalists, government officials, and business students are among those who frequent the site for the latest business insights, information and research.
The site content includes analysis of current business trends, interviews with industry leaders and Wharton faculty, articles based on the most recent business research, book reviews, conference and seminar reports, and links to related web sites. Information is searchable and “layered,” so visitors can easily access the level of detail dictated by their needs and interests.
The Wharton School is recognized around the world for its academic strengths across every major discipline and at every level of business education. Founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school in the nation, the School currently has 4,700 undergraduate, MBA and doctoral students, more than 8,000 participants in its executive education programs each year and a network of more than 75,000 alumni worldwide.
For more information about Knowledge@Wharton, go to http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu.
About SkillSoft
With more than 1.5 million user seats, SkillSoft is one of the largest providers of e-Learning solutions for Global 2000 companies. SkillSoft courses cover a broad variety of critical professional and business skills; courses and support services are specifically designed to reap the benefits offered by the Internet and Web-based customer environments. This design enables SkillSoft users to access needed learning resources, with the required specificity or breadth — any time and from any location with access to the Internet.
Customers receive comprehensive learning and performance support solutions for their workforce through the SkillSoft library, comprised of more than 600 courses for global business markets. More than 440 courses are in English and more than 200 are specifically localized for the Italian, U.K., and other international markets. The library also includes more than 7,500 learning objects and 1,700 job aids. The SkillSoft library encompasses a wide array of business skills, such as management, leadership, communication, project management and customer service, as well as business subjects such as e- commerce, finance, marketing, sales, and strategy.
SkillSoft complements its course library with SkillPort, an e-Learning management platform that offers rapid implementation at a cost-efficient price point. SkillPort gives users control over their own learning environments and offers tracking and reporting capabilities. SkillSoft also recently introduced SkillSimulations, Web-based simulations designed to reinforce skills newly acquired through SkillSoft courses.
Additional information about SkillSoft is available by calling (603) 324-3000.
Safe harbor language: This release may include information that could constitute forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any such forward-looking statements may involve risk and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results encompassed within the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include competitive pressures, changes in customer demands or industry standards, adverse economic conditions, loss of key personnel, litigation and other matters disclosed under the heading ”Risk Factors” in the Company’s most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking financial information provided by the Company in this press release represents the Company’s estimates as of the date of this press release. We anticipate that subsequent events and developments will cause the Company’s estimates to change. However, while the Company may elect to update this forward-looking financial information at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. This forward-looking information should not be relied upon as representing the Company’s estimates of its future financial performance as of any date subsequent to the date of this release.
SkillSoft, SkillPort, RolePlay, Search-and-Learn, and SkillSimulation are trademarks of SkillSoft Corp. All brand names, trademarks, or registered trademarks are the property of their respective holders.
Contact Information
Dennis Brown, Director, Corporate Communications
SkillSoft Corporation
603-324-3000
Linda Galloway of NEI Communications
203-790-1591
