
eCollege to Support Continued Growth of Park's Large and Successful Online
Park University, an independent comprehensive higher education institution
with more than 21,000 students annually, announced today it has selected eCollege(SM)
for the institution's enterprise-wide use of eLearning technology for all online
and on-campus programs. eCollege (Nasdaq: ECLG) is a leading provider of value-added
information services to the post-secondary education market.
'Because we are committed to innovative educational opportunities for
all qualified learners, we provide a high-quality online experience for a growing
number of faculty and students,' said Beverley Byers-Pevitts, Ph.D., president
of Park University. 'As we raise the bar on all our programs,
eCollege's unique ability to support our large-scale operation plays a critical
role in Park's success.' Byers-Pevitts continued, 'Not only does eCollege
provide an excellent experience for Park's student learners, it delivers a cost-effective
solution with the highest level of reliability, a feature-rich and easy-to-use
platform, and the ongoing support necessary to drive adoption, completion and
retention.'
Park University, a pioneer in distance learning, has built a very strong program
to serve the evolving educational needs of its non-traditional students, many
of whom are active-duty military students facing deployments and transfers or
active-duty dependents. The accredited online programs, as well as all student
services surrounding Park's online initiatives, are held to strict standards
and benchmarks. All online courses are taught by instructors who have completed
intensive training to develop best practices approaches for online teaching.
Park's online degree programs experienced 47 percent growth last year, and are
expected to have more than 40,000 enrollments this year.
In addition to its extensive undergraduate online degree completion programs,
Park's online graduate degree programs include an industry-recognized MBA with
three concentrations; a Master of Public Affairs with four concentrations; and
four separate Master of Education degrees. eCollege will quickly and efficiently
convert all of Park's online degree programs, as well as its online supplements
for face-to-face courses, to the eCollege platform for the 2004 summer term.
'Park University is a progressive, entrepreneurially-minded institution,
and we look forward to supporting the long-term growth and success of its high-quality
offerings,' said Oakleigh Thorne, chairman and CEO of eCollege. 'We
believe our comprehensive technology and service solution will help Park's students,
faculty and administrators achieve their academic goals.'
About Park University
Park University is a national leader in higher education
with a 21,000 plus annual student enrollment located on 41 campus centers in
21 states and online. The University provides educational opportunities for
students through day, weekend, evening and online classes. Park boasts a diverse
student body of more than 400 international students, representing 98 countries,
and a 41 percent ethnic student enrollment. Park University and the U.S. Armed
Services have a long-standing relationship and the University has been recognized
as one of the largest providers of online undergraduate education to the military
in the country. The University has also repeatedly been recognized as one of
the top 100 American colleges/universities in the nation graduating Hispanic,
American Indian and African American students. Park University's innovative
educational solutions have assisted scholars around the globe achieve academic
success since 1875 and Park remains faithful to its founding commitment of academic
excellence and equality. For additional information about Park University, visit
http://www.park.edu.
About eCollege
eCollege (Nasdaq: ECLG) is a leading provider of value-added
information services to the post-secondary and K-12 education markets. The Company's
eLearning Division designs, builds and supports some of the most successful,
fully online degree, certificate/diploma and professional development programs
in the country. The Company's Enrollment Division, Datamark, Inc., helps institutions
build new enrollments and increase student retention. Customers include publicly
traded for-profit institutions, community colleges, public and private universities,
school districts, and state departments of education. eCollege was founded in
1996 and is headquartered in Denver. Datamark was founded in 1987 and is headquartered
in Salt Lake City. For more information, visit http://www.eCollege.com and http://www.Datamark.com.
This news release contains statements that are not historical in nature
and that may be characterized as 'forward-looking statements' within
the
meaning of the securities laws, including those related to the performance of
our technology and service solution, customer satisfaction with our products
and services, our customers' expected course enrollments, and the success of
our customers' programs. 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 clients'
ability to achieve successful online programs, our network infrastructure and
computer systems failing, the vulnerability of our network to security risks,
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 is a service mark of eCollege. All other trademarks
or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
SOURCE eCollege Web Site: http://www.ecollege.com
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