Blackboard Unveils Partnership with Uber

WASHINGTON, April 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Blackboard Inc., the world's leading education technology company, today announced a new partnership with Uber Technologies Inc. that creates a convenient travel alternative for students at hundreds of colleges and universities nationwide.     

The partnership will be brought to life through Blackboard Transact, a leading provider of payment and security solutions that enhance the student experience on campus, off campus and online. Students will be able to arrange for Uber cars and pay for their rides using a campus payment option enabled by Blackboard Transact, including an account dedicated exclusively to the ride service, all directly from the Uber app. 

By way of this innovation, students can request a timely, convenient and dependable ride, and seamlessly pay using their campus card account as a tender type. Under the program, a dedicated "specific use" purse can be established in the institution's Blackboard Transact campus card system, enabling deposits and payments by the institution, parents or the student.

"For decades, Blackboard Transact has been committed to delivering innovative payment and security solutions in the interest of serving students and the institutions they attend," said David Marr, SVP for Blackboard Transact. "This exciting new partnership with Uber, an industry leader in its own right, demonstrates our commitment to improving the overall student experience. We believe this program provides students with reliable transportation options at any time—particularly when it may be unsafe for that student to get behind the wheel. We hope this innovative partnership will encourage responsible transportation decisions by ensuring availability of funds and ease of access."

Today's announcement represents the latest step taken by Blackboard to deliver the conveniences, preferences and technological capabilities that learners have come to expect in their lives. This includes partnerships with companies like Uber, whose technology has become ubiquitous around the world for its ability to quickly and conveniently get people to wherever they need to go.

"We want to make sure that students at campuses across the country have a safe, convenient and affordable way to get around," said Amy Friedlander Hoffman, head of Business Development & Experiential Marketing for Uber. "We're looking forward to working with Blackboard to make it even easier to ride safely around campus— something that is important to students, parents and universities."

For more information about Blackboard, please visit www.blackboard.com or follow @Blackboard on Twitter.

About Blackboard Inc.
Blackboard is the world's leading education technology company. We challenge conventional thinking and advance new models of learning in order to reimagine education and make it more accessible, engaging and relevant to modern-day learners and the institutions that serve them. In partnership with our customers and partners in higher education and K-12 as well as corporations and government agencies around the world, our mission is to help every learner achieve his or her full potential by inspiring a passion for lifelong learning. For more information about Blackboard, follow us on Twitter @Blackboard.

CONTACT:
D'Anthony White, Blackboard Inc.
202.303.9314 or
[email protected]

SOURCE Blackboard Inc.

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