Blackboard Launches New Full Lifecycle Student Services Offering with Acquisition of Presidium
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New Services Further Expand Blackboard's Support of Total Student Experience
WASHINGTON, Jan. 12, 2011 - Blackboard Inc. (Nasdaq: BBBB) today announced the launch of a new student services offering with the acquisition of Presidium Inc., a leading provider of administrative and academic support services to hundreds of colleges and universities. With the new services, Blackboard further expands its capability to support all aspects of the student experience.
Presidium currently provides student lifecycle management services for admissions and enrollment, financial aid and student accounts and retention. The company has also long provided IT and helpdesk support for students and faculty for various learning management systems including Blackboard Learn(TM) as well as other institutional technologies.
With the announcement, Blackboard now directly supports a wider range of student activities and interactions that are complemented by the Company's more traditional focus on online learning and campus commerce and services. As part of the new offering, Blackboard will help institutions recruit and enroll students, assess financial aid eligibility and disburse awards, handle student registration and advising, and tackle retention programs and degree completion efforts.
"This step enables us to help institutions address the full lifecycle of student engagement to improve the total student experience," said Michael L. Chasen, President and CEO of Blackboard. "With the full set of products and services our combined team offers, we're in a great position to help our clients have greater impact in areas that are important to leadership and to improving overall student and institutional success."
As part of Blackboard, the Presidium team will form a new offering called Blackboard Student ServicesSM. The offering is available to all institutions - regardless of whether they work with Blackboard for learning management or in other areas. In an effort to ensure the strongest possible offering for student support services, Blackboard will enhance and invest in current operations to increase service quality and service product innovation over time.
"Because no part of the student experience occurs in isolation, we've developed an approach to helping institutions address the full range of student experiences and needs," said Greg Davies, Presidium CEO and Co-Founder. "We're looking forward to improving that work and expanding it to new areas with the kind of investment we can make as part of Blackboard to help our clients in a range of critical areas."
Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Reston, Va., Presidium currently serves several hundred clients with about 160 full-time employees and a larger team of support personnel in two different contact center locations.
For more information about Blackboard Student Services, please visit www.blackboard.com.
About Blackboard Inc.
Blackboard Inc. (Nasdaq: BBBB) is a global leader in enterprise technology and innovative solutions that improve the experience of millions of students and learners around the world every day. Blackboard's solutions allow thousands of higher education, K-12, professional, corporate, and government organizations to extend teaching and learning online, facilitate campus commerce and security, and communicate more effectively with their communities. Founded in 1997, Blackboard is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with offices in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.
SOURCE Blackboard Inc.
CONTACT: Matthew Maurer, Blackboard Inc., +1-202-463-4860, ext. 2637, matthew.maurer@blackboard.com
Web Site: www.blackboard.com
