University of South Carolina's Moore School of Business Launches Global Classroom of the Future Using Cisco TelePresence

COLUMBIA, S.C., Nov. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- The University of South Carolina's Darla Moore School of Business, ranked consistently as one of the top schools in the country for international business, today announced that it has signed an agreement with Cisco to utilize the company's revolutionary Cisco TelePresence technology to deliver a range of global Executive Education and Graduate-level business and management courses. Moore becomes one of the first business schools in the country to utilize the high-definition conferencing as a way to offer students and executives around the world a variety of "blended learning" options for participating in business education programs.

Cisco's TelePresence is designed to create live, face-to-face meeting experiences and empower participants from different locations to collaborate with each other in a life-size, high-definition environment that feels like you are in the same room with the other people you are talking with. The Moore School and Cisco are working together to deploy Cisco TelePresence and other leading collaboration technologies and professional services to bring people together from anywhere around the world in a live learning and meeting environment.

"Our collaboration with Cisco allows us to take executive learning to a whole new level," says Raymond Smith, Associate Dean of Executive Education at the Moore School. "The use of Cisco TelePresence and other technologies will fundamentally change the way we think about global learning and teaching in a way that is more visually stimulating and interactive than any vehicle ever used in educating executives."

Moore School Dean Hildy Teegen points out that the study of international business requires an understanding of the interface between the practice of management and the political, economic and socio-cultural dimensions that shape global business. "One way of achieving this is through a process of dialogue between faculty, students, business and government from different cultures and countries around the world," she says. "At the Moore School, we now have the technological capability to bring the world closer together and make this happen in real time."

The Moore School plans to first integrate the Cisco TelePresence in its Professional MBA Program beginning in February 2010. In addition, the School will utilize the new integrated learning platform in a variety of its Executive and Graduate Degree programs - including its Master in International Business, a new Executive Master in Higher Education Management and in various programs with the School's 20 partner institutions around the world.

"Working alongside leading universities and business schools like the University of South Carolina's Moore School, together we are creating 21st century learning environments that more effectively prepare students to participate in the global economy," says Scott Westlake, Director of Market Development at Cisco. "We believe that the Moore School has the vision to use Cisco's technology in a way that will truly change the way the world learns."

About the Moore School of Business
The Moore School of Business is among the highest-ranked business schools in the world for international business education and research. Founded in 1919, the school has a history of innovative educational leadership, blending academic preparation with real-world experience through internships, consulting projects, study-abroad programs, and entrepreneurial opportunities. The Moore School offers undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degrees, as well as distinctive executive education programs. In 1998, the school was named for South Carolina native and New York financier Darla Moore, making the University of South Carolina the first major university to name its business school after a woman. For more information, visit http://www.moore.sc.edu.

About Cisco TelePresence
Cisco TelePresence combines innovative real-time video, audio, and interactive technologies to give people in distributed global locations a wide variety of face-to-face collaboration experiences. It enables new types of collaboration applications that are transforming business processes, saving resources, improving productivity and helping organizations grow globally.