Beijing, Aug 18 -- China Distance Education Holdings Limited ("CDEL" or the "Company"), a leading provider of online education in China focusing on professional education, today announced that it has obtained approval to offer its study process monitoring program in Hunan Province, and has signed a multi-year exclusive contract with the Hunan Provincial Education Examination Authority ("Hunan EEA"), the designated administrator of self-taught higher education in Hunan Province, to offer the program.
As part of the agreement, CDEL and Hunan EEA will jointly develop and operate a new self-taught study process monitoring supplementary education online platform, http://hunan.zikao365.com/.
The self-taught higher education program is a self-study program designed to allow learners in China to obtain post-secondary education without having to pass the Uniform Entrance Exams ("Gaokao") or attend a traditional college or university. Degrees are granted by the Ministry of Education ("MOE") to self-taught learners who have passed all exams relating to the diploma or degree courses and who satisfy certain other requirements. Traditionally, 100% of the credits needed to pass self taught programs are earned through final exam scores administered by the MOE. Through CDEL's study process monitoring program, learners can earn up to 30% of their credits from attendance, assignments and quizzes. The program is designed to foster meaningful learning habits and strengthen the overall educational process.
Mr. Zhengdong Zhu, Chairman and CEO of CDEL commented, "We are pleased to announce the continued expansion of our self-taught program with this new partnership with the Hunan EEA. Hunan is a major province in southern China with at least 600,000 self-taught higher education examination takers, representing a significant market opportunity for CDEL. We expect to see enrollment contribution from Hunan in fiscal year 2011.
"With the addition of Hunan Province, our self-taught program now extends to seven provinces, for a total potential market size of over 3.5 million self-taught higher education examination takers, demonstrating the growing momentum behind this initiative and the strong acceptance we have gained from both students and government entities. Our self-taught initiative is clearly gaining momentum, and we expect the program to grow at an accelerated pace moving forward as we begin to build critical mass.”
