Epic sustains development with Cambridge and WBCSD

Epic Group plc, Europe's leading developer of e-learning programmes, is developing an e-learning tutorial on Sustainable Development for the University of Cambridge and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). The tutorial will be available both to the public and to the 168 WBCSD member companies.

The project to develop the three-hour tutorial on sustainable business boosts Epic's growing presence in the educational sector. The tutorial, which can be followed on- or offline, was designed with the busy professional in mind. It will be of high quality, with an open-ended structure, supporting different learning styles and enabling learners to choose their own paths through the material. The concept was originally developed by Cambridge University in collaboration with WBCSD. Both are leading centers of sustainable development knowledge for business.

Sustainable development is a hot topic in the aftermath of the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. The summit marked the tenth anniversary of the Rio Summit at which targets were agreed for factors affecting climate change and biodiversity.

On behalf of Cambridge University, Jake Reynolds, Assistant Director, said: 'E-learning gives us the opportunity to deliver an outstanding learning experience to thousands of people on one of the most important topics in business today. Having Epic on board will ensure that the project benefits from extremely high production standards, and creativity in design.'

Donald Clark, Epic's CEO, said: 'Higher education is playing a key role in e-learning development. We are delighted to be involved in this project with Cambridge University and the WBCSD in sustainable development, an area that could benefit greatly from the democratisation of learning through e-learning'.

Björn Stigson, President of WBCSD, said 'We believe that this partnership will develop an exceptional product to deliver the sustainability message. The tutorial will play an important role in the sharing of sustainability best practice to business people around the world.'

Epic's previous successes in the higher education sector include the creation and maintenance of HERO (www.hero.ac.uk), the official website for UK higher education.