WASHINGTON, Nov. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The City University of New York (CUNY), the largest urban university system in the nation, is partnering with Blackboard to establish a full teaching and learning platform across all of its campuses. The 10-year agreement includes the provision of core technology infrastructure and services to support significant growth and expansion in online learning.

Blackboard will provide a dynamic platform – built around Blackboard's flagship learning management system (LMS) – with mobile access on native apps on the full range of smartphones and tablets and combined with Blackboard's robust Web conferencing and synchronous learning capabilities. The platform will support CUNY's rapidly expanding continuing education program, which is bringing more education opportunities to working adults and professional students.

"The alternatives weren't ready for prime time – they could not scale to meet our needs," said James Haggard, Deputy CIO at CUNY. "We're trying to structure ourselves so that we can chart a strategy that is flexible and able to change with the industry over time. Blackboard is the partner to help us do that."

CUNY has seen rapid growth in enrollments over the past three years and officials found competitors could not scale to meet their needs like Blackboard was equipped to do. Officials at CUNY found Blackboard to be the best long-term partner based on confidence in the company's product roadmap and vision for online learning.

By leveraging a broader set of Blackboard technologies, CUNY is offering a richer, more interactive experience for over 540,000 students each semester. The integrated technologies offer greater depth of capabilities unmatched by other vendors, paired with Blackboard's proven ability to scale across large systems and support intensive use.

By deploying Blackboard Learn™ as their core platform across the system, CUNY is able to create a seamless experience for students and faculty who may move from one campus to another. Blackboard's Web conferencing solution, Blackboard Collaborate™ is integrated directly within the LMS so students and faculty can meet and interact virtually for a variety of formal and informal purposes, giving them a more powerful and engaging learning experience.

Officials at CUNY were confident in Blackboard's ability to go beyond technology to help ensure performance quality and to provide excellent support, consulting and expertise in hosting through Blackboard Managed Hosting.