U21Global Engages on Second Life

First online graduate school headquartered in Singapore to promote higher education

Singapore, September 5 2007: U21Global, the world's premier online graduate school, today announced the launch of the U21Global Island on Second Life, a virtual three-dimensional world created by Linden Labs. U21Global is the first online graduate school to establish a virtual island to promote higher learning to over nine million cyber residents.

"This is a significant milestone for U21Global. We are very excited to create a new participative environment that would further highlight our unique pedagogy of problem-based learning that helps increase our student's ability to solve real-world challenges in their professional and personal lives. The U21Global Island will complement the dynamic executive education experience that we provide," said U21Global Vice President of Marketing, Danesh Daryanani. "We designed our island not only as another opportunity for our faculty, students and alumni to interact in real-time with each other but as a cyber institution to expand their wealth of knowledge."

The U21Global virtual campus occupies 65,536 square metres of electronic real estate, which has been shaped and populated to create a visually appealing and metaphorical presence. Individuals who have already set up an account in Second Life and wish to tour the U21Global campus, can type "U21Global Island" in the map search feature and teleport.

Visitors can choose to explore the island on their own or take the "Metaphor" tour, a guided experience to demonstrate how the process of creative learning is tied to metaphors of nature. One of the key highlights on U21Global Island is the "River of Knowledge" where visitors can take a virtual dive to collect knowledge "gems" of by-lined articles and research papers written by U21Global's distinguished faculty. Another highlight on the island is an area called the "Sandbox", which is set aside for those who wish to build and showcase their creations. All these features are designed to breathe new life into teaching, learning and creative expression.

Moving forward, U21Global plans to host webinars and online lectures. Additionally, the island will serve as a platform for cross-country events such as open houses, student and alumni chapter meetings and activities, graduation ceremonies, career fairs for students and even incorporated as part of a learning guideline for U21Global's graduate programmes.

An online "celebration" will be held on September 8, from 8.00am to 11.00am GMT + 8 (September 7, from 5.00pm to 8.00pm PDT) to commemorate the official launch of U21Global Island in Second Life. It will be officiated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, stunning cyber fireworks and 'live' music concerts. Dr Mukesh Aghi (Om Wise), Chief Executive Officer of U21Global will also be addressing the virtual audience at this cyber festivity. U21Global is also giving out complimentary t-shirts to cyber residents attending the celebration.

About U21Global
Established in 2001, U21Global is the world's premier online Graduate School that offers globally recognised graduate programmes. The graduate school is backed by an international network of 20 leading research-intensive universities in 12 countries. U21Global combines the traditional quality of its founders with innovative modes of delivery on the Internet, providing students with substantial learning advantages, while balancing work, travel and family life.

U21Global has successfully enrolled students from 60 countries around the world including those from Asia, Australia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. The graduate programmes draw upon the best practices in online learning and pedagogy and have been approved by U21pedagogica, an independent quality assurance body which ensures that the curriculum meets the rigorous academic standards of all 20 affiliated universities. For more information on U21Global, please visit our campus at www.u21global.edu.sg

U21Global's affiliated universities include: North America: McGill University, Tecnológico de Monterrey,University of British Columbia, University of Virginia; Europe: Lund University; University College Dublin, University of Birmingham, University of Edinburgh, University of Glasgow, University of Nottingham; East Asia: Fudan University, Korea University, National University of Singapore, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, University of Hong Kong, Waseda University; Australia & New Zealand: University of Auckland, University of Melbourne, University of New South Wales, University of Queensland.