Northwest Approves eCollege as Enterprise-Wide eLearning Provider
Northwest Takes Advantage of eCollege’s Free On-Campus Offer
DENVER – August 12, 2002 – eCollege(SM) [Nasdaq: ECLG], the leading provider of technology and services for online higher education programs, today announced it won the approval of Northwest Missouri State University’s Presidential Cabinet as the University’s sole eLearning provider for its distance and on-campus eLearning courses. eCollege has supported Northwest’s online distance degree programs since 1999, and the University is currently transferring its online course supplements to the eCollege AU+(SM) platform.
“We conducted an extensive total cost of ownership analysis to determine the costs of supporting our distance and on-campus eLearning programs on local and remote platforms, and ultimately it was determined the local platform was not an efficient use of our resources,” said Dr. Jon Rickman, vice president of Information Systems, Northwest. “eCollege’s ASP solution was not only top of the line in terms of scalability and reliability, but it proved to be the most cost effective solution to support our future eLearning growth across campus.”
“Beyond eCollege’s superior technology, we found that no other provider could match the level of service eCollege provides,” Dr. Dean L. Hubbard, president of Northwest. “eCollege has been instrumental in the success of our online distance programs, and the implementation of its platform across campus allows for seamless flow of faculty and students between on-campus and distance technologies, ultimately simplifying the eLearning experience.”
Northwest is taking advantage of eCollege’s free on-campus offer, which provides free use of the company’s on-campus eLearning solutions to institutions that commit to large distance learning programs. Other key drivers in the University’s decision to implement eCollege’s enterprise-wide solution included free and discounted course conversion services, and the availability of publisher content through eCollege AU+.
“We are delighted that our technology and services have won the praise of the Northwest Presidential Cabinet,” said Oakleigh Thorne, chairman and CEO of eCollege. “Our big distance clients are recognizing the advantages of unifying to our enterprise-wide solution across campus. Our offers make it extremely easy for them to adopt a single platform that can grow with them cost effectively.”
About Northwest Missouri State
Northwest Missouri State University is a moderately selective, learner-centered regional university offering a focused range of undergraduate and graduate programs. Historically, the University serves 19 northwest Missouri counties, emphasizing programs relating to agriculture, business, and education. Northwest has been a leader in utilizing technology to enhance the educational experience. In 1987, the University unveiled its Electronic Campus program that was designed to accelerate student learning and enrich faculty teaching and research by placing a computer terminal in every residence hall room and faculty office. The program was the first of its kind on a public college or university campus. Northwest’s Culture of Quality program, also launched in 1987, utilizes the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award criteria as its guiding principles. This program led to Northwest receiving the Missouri Quality Award in 1998 and again in 2001.
About eCollege
eCollege [Nasdaq: ECLG] is the leading eLearning technology and services provider to educational markets. eCollege designs, builds and supports high quality online degree, certificate/diploma and professional development programs for colleges, universities, school districts and state departments of education. eCollege’s clients include such institutions as National University; University of Massachusetts Amherst; University of Colorado; Drexel University; DeVry University, Inc.; New England College of Finance; and the Kentucky Virtual High School. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Denver. For more information, visit www.eCollege.com.
This news release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the securities laws. These statements are based on management’s current expectations and are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks. Actual results may differ materially. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from estimates or projections contained in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, our customers’ ability to achieve successful online programs; our network infrastructure and computer systems failing; substantial and increasing competition in the online education market; future technological advances by our competitors; and such other factors as are discussed in our most recent Form 10-K Annual Report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), which you are encouraged to review in connection with this release. We believe that these forward-looking statements are reasonable, however, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which are based on current expectations and speak only as of the date of this release. We are not obligated to publicly release any revisions to forward-looking statements to reflect events after the date of this release.
eCollege and eCollege AU+ and are service marks of eCollege. All other trademarks and service marks or registered trademarks or service marks are the property of their respective owners.
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