ALEXANDRIA, VA.—November 20, 2012

Dr. Appu Kuttan, Chairman of the National Education Foundation (NEF) CyberLearning, announced today a nationwide initiative to provide 100% tuition scholarships to a million low and middle income individuals seeking to advance their 21^st century job skills. NEF is the national nonprofit leader in IT and Business online education and is also the winner of the Global Digital Literacy Champion Award given for making the most contributions globally to bridging the IT and digital divides.

This initiative is in response to findings by the U.S. Department of Labor about the needs of America’s workforce.  ”According to the U.S. Labor Department, we have 13 million people looking for jobs. At the same time, we have 3 million jobs looking for qualified skilled people,” states Dr. Kuttan.  An obvious solution is to make job skills training affordable to low and middle income individuals. Former President Bill Clinton commended Dr. Kuttan for empowering tomorrow’s leaders, stating, “I salute you for your ongoing commitment for creating a better and stronger America.”

The One Million Scholarships Program offers tuition-free, high quality Web-based IT (includes 60 certifications), Business, and Test prep courses to students and teachers, as well as unemployed and underemployed individuals. The course packages, each containing 100-400 courses, each valued at $400-$800, are offered tuition-free, at a nominal registration fee of $70. The courses can be used to learn or improve skills or receive certifications in high-demand job areas such as Microsoft, Cisco, Adobe, CompTia, Oracle, Office Applications, Networking, Programming, Web Design, Project Management and more. See the course catalog containing 5,500 courses grouped into 65 course packages at www.nefuniversity.org/catalog

Interested individuals can apply for the scholarship by visiting www.nefuniversity.org/scholarship.

About NEF CyberLearning

CyberLearning, a project of the non-profit National Education Foundation, is the national non-profit leader in bridging the digital and academic divides through digital education. CyberLearning provides IT, business, management, digital literacy, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math), English and test prep education to millions of disadvantaged students and adults.

Contact

Tamara Stephens
Communications Director
Tel: 703-823-9999
Email: tstephens@nefuniversity.org
Websites: www.cyberlearning.org, www.nefuniversity.org

Dr. Appu Kuttan, NEF’s founder, was honored with a Distinguished Achievement Award during a University of Wisconsin  event in October, 2011 on the Madison campus.

2011 DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS RECIPIENT

Appu Kuttan
Founder and Chairman of the Board
National Education Foundation Inc.
Alexandria, Virginia

One million. It’s the number of disadvantaged students Appu Kuttan helps via the National Educational Foundation (NEF), the nonprofit he founded in 1989, dedicated to bridging academic, digital and employment divides through digital education. NEF’s mission is to make high-quality education accessible to everyone around the world, especially in the United States and India.

Kuttan received his bachelor’s degree in India in 1963. He came to the United States on the prestigious TATA scholarship, and earned a master’s degree from Washington University in 1966, and a PhD in industrial engineering from UW-Madison in 1968. He then launched what would become an illustrious career as a global systems expert.

Kuttan pioneered an influential management by systems (MBS) concept that has been applied around the world. In the 1970s, he helped the Puerto Rican government significantly improve traffic safety by implementing his MBS strategies. Invited by the Venezuelan government, he turned its social security and healthcare program deficit into a surplus, while improving services. He advised Indian leaders on how to turn its economy into an information technology powerhouse.   His expertise also has made him a valued advisor to U.S. leaders, including the administrations of Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He has published several books, including From Digital Divide to Digital Opportunity. His latest is Happy Executive — Nurturing Mind, Body and Soul.

In 1986, Kuttan purchased the world-famous Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida and helped develop three tennis world champions — Andre Agassi, Monica Seles and Jim Courier via Total Tennis based on MBS. After pivotal conversations in 1993 with President Clinton and Intel founder Gordon Moore, Kuttan sold the tennis academy and used the proceeds to fund NEF, where he remains the CEO and chairman of the board.

The most visible NEF program is CyberLearning, which Kuttan launched in 1993 to provide students in the most disadvantaged U.S. schools with better science, technology, engineering, math, English, social studies, business and test preparation skills. In 2011, CyberLearning launched a program in India with IGNOU, the largest open university in the world, to train, certify and help place a million disadvantaged college students in information technology jobs.

NEF is based in Alexandria, Virginia. Kuttan’s wife, Claudia, a UW-Madison alumna; their son, Roger, a Stanford JD-MBA grad and U.S. Presidential honoree; and daughter Maya, a UCLA environmental law and USC award-winning film graduate, all serve NEF.

Reuters News Service

March 22, 2012

Robert L. Eichorn, principal of New Directions Alternative Education Center in Manassas, VA, was recognized by National Education Foundation (NEF), on Friday, March 16, 2012 with the 2011-12 NEF CyberLearning National STEM Education Leadership Award.

Left to Right: NEF Founder Dr. Appu Kuttan, New Directions High School Principal Robert Eichorn, Prince William County Superintendent Dr. Steven Walts and School Board Members (Photo: Business Wire)

NEF is the national nonprofit leader in providing science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education solution to disadvantaged schools across the U.S.

NEF founder Dr. Appu Kuttan, a global expert in education systems and empowerment, and the ‘father of cyberlearning,’ presented the award to Mr. Eichorn, along with a $10,000 school grant. Prince William County School Board Chairman Milton Johns and Superintendent Dr. Steven Walts attended the ceremony.

“The national award recognizes Eichorn’s powerful advocacy for bridging the STEM divide. His school’s sustained success has demonstrated the success of NEF’s CyberLearning STEM education program,” said Dr. Kuttan.

Superintendent Walts praised both Eichorn and Kuttan, saying, “The students are the beneficiaries of Eichorn’s profound vision. I thank Dr. Kuttan and NEF for recognizing New Directions and Mr. Eichorn for the outstanding work they do.”

The Manassas school is one of hundreds of schools across the U.S. that NEF supports.

NEF’s STEM education commitment, made recently at the Clinton Global Initiative, is to provide high-quality STEM education for one million students in the nation’s disadvantaged schools. NEF currently serves a million disadvantaged students in math education. It has already set up CyberLearning STEM academies in 14 states.

President Bill Clinton has commended NEF’s CyberLearning program saying “I salute you for your ongoing commitment for creating a better and stronger America.”
NEF (www.cyberlearning.org) donates online STEM courses, rated at the top by the U.S. Education Department, and provides Total Solution services including individualized learning, teacher training, mentoring and motivation.

NEF students can advance a grade level in math or reading in 20-30 learning hours for $70. NEF is thus able to provide the most cost-effective STEM education program in the U.S.

About NEF CyberLearning: National Education Foundation (NEF) is the national nonprofit leader in bridging academic and employment divides. NEF CyberLearning academies serve over a million K-12 students and job seekers across the U.S.
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=50213496&lang=en

The National Education Foundation (NEF)
Claudia Kay, Communications VP, 703-823-9999
ckay@cyberlearning.org

Dr. Appu Kuttan, Founder and CEO of the National Education Foundation, the national nonprofit leader in bridging the academic, digital and employment divides, made an impressive commitment today to train one million students of disadvantaged K-12 schools/school districts/charter schools in 3 years.

The students will be trained at NEF’s CyberLearning Academies in the schools in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) as well as ELA (English Language Arts), Social Studies, SAT/ACT, IT (including 60 certifications), Business and Management (including Project Management certifications).

The NEF Total Solutions program has 6 essential components – Differentiated Learning using the top-rated Web-based online courses, Teacher Training, Mentoring, Motivation, state-of-the-art Learning Management System and Tech Support.

The NEF program can advance a student one grade level in 25 hours of active participation

Any school/school district with 35% or more students on free/reduced cost lunch is eligible to apply. NEF will provide 80% of the funds as grants, amounting to $300 million at $300 per student. The schools/school districts or sponsoring corporations/foundations /nonprofits/governments will provide the remaining 20% or $70 per student per year.

In order to help raise the 20% for the schools, NEF has launched a national “Adopt a School” program, giving corporations/foundations/nonprofits/governments a unique opportunity to sponsor schools/school districts/charter schools of their choice.

The sponsor has two choices: it can donate the $70 per student to the school or NEF as a tax-deductible donation, or it can hire NEF to provide IT/business/management/personal development training (web-based online/blended) to its employees at a cost below market cost. In the latter case, NEF will put up the 20% or $70, while helping the sponsor to save significant training funds.

In either case, the CyberLearning Academy at the school will be named after the sponsor. Thus the sponsor gets to assist schools of interest to them, while receiving good PR and Community Service/Diversity Service/Corporate Social Responsibility credits.

The NEF partners so far include Pearson Education, RBC Capital and Johnson Controls and 4 disadvantaged school districts in Pennsylvania –Allentown, Midd-West, Shamokin and York,
According to NEF CEO Dr. Appu Kuttan, an acclaimed national and global expert in education systems, digital education and empowerment, as well as a passionate advocate of STEM+ education, “this national initiative will help to meet a critical necessity for U.S. to compete in the 21st Century global economy – a large number of disadvantaged students – girls and minorities- trained in STEM+ skills.”

To sign up as a partner, interested schools/corporations/foundations/nonprofits/governments can call NEF at 703-823-9999 or email wdiehl@nefuniversity.org.