Wiley and Kortext Partner With the Egyptian Knowledge Bank (EKB) to Grow the World's Largest Digital Library: A Blueprint for Smart Nations

BOURNEMOUTH, England, November 8, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

John Wiley and Sons Inc. a global research and learning company and Kortext, a world leading digital textbook and personal study platform, have secured a partnership with the Egyptian Knowledge Bank (EKB). The scheme will provide digital textbooks to every Egyptian citizen and all universities, empowering their students to learn anytime, anywhere.

The EKB is one of the biggest digital libraries in the world and hosts a diverse collection of content; online journals, books and videos. The EKB aims to meet the needs of all Egyptian citizens by customising each user's experience with relevant content. The Kortext platform will provide digital textbooks for all Egyptian students, making their studies easier as they benefit from an enhanced, personalised learning experience, whilst creating insightful analytics.

His Excellency, the Minister of Education and Technical Education for Egypt, Dr. Tarek G. Shawki stated, "The ambition and leadership the Egyptian government has exhibited in creating country-wide access to world class content, on this scale, is a truly ground-breaking development. We believe such a knowledge bank for our citizens, delivered through Kortext's inclusive personal study platform, will help Egypt's knowledge economy accelerate. The scale of this achievement and provision for all our citizens, demonstrates our government's commitment to education and lifelong learning for all."

By partnering with Kortext and Wiley for etextbook delivery, the EKB are planning to enhance the infrastructure, increase accessibility and deliver an enhanced user experience for engaging with learning content. Successful expansion of this exemplary national scheme will aim to ensure all the citizens of Egypt have the tools and digital learning resources to excel through lifelong learning as Egypt invests further towards a 'Smart Nation Status'. The Kortext platform will deliver access to Wiley's digital textbooks for all students who will also be able to access a host of smart study tools, allowing learners to highlight, make notes, connect to their teachers and intuitively navigate their learning content.

James Gray, Founder and CEO, Kortext stated, "Having Kortext play such a key role in providing a personal study platform to the whole of Egyptian Higher Education, and beyond, is one of the most incredible projects we have been a part of! Having world class digital textbooks available via our advanced, personal study platform will undoubtedly help underpin Egypt's growth as a 'Smart Nation'".

"We are delighted to deliver this next phase of our project with the Egyptian government. This significant initiative fits closely with the Wiley mission of advancing knowledge and learning by partnering with innovative customers around the globe. Our aim is to lead the learning industry by providing world-class content, services and technology to drive success. We congratulate the Egyptian government on this latest investment in the future success of their knowledge economy." Matthew Kissner, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Interim CEO, Wiley stated.

Mr John Casson the British Ambassador to Egypt added "Education is the lifeblood of Egypt's future, and Britain aims to be Egypt's top education partner.  This new project is a great example - using the latest British technology from Kortext to bring world-class educational material to every Egyptian citizen.  This is an exciting part of the education technology revolution that Egypt has launched, opening new ways for all Egyptians to access quality education.'’

About the Egyptian Knowledge Bank (EKB) 

The EKB is an online library archive and resource that provides access to learning resources and tools for educators, researchers, students, and the general public of Egypt. The EKB initiative was formally launched on January 23^rd 2016.

About Kortext: 

Kortext is a world leading digital textbook and personal study platform providing access to over half a million digital textbooks from over 1,000 of the world's education publishers such as Wiley, Pearson, Elsevier, McGraw Hill, Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press. These publishers along with many others use Kortext to help distribute digital content to students around the world. The platform provides an enhanced learning experience with access to powerful study tools that are highly valued by students. Kortext is rapidly being adopted by universities around the world who prize the access to the detailed learning analytics the platform provides to better support student retention, progression and success, leading to improved employability.

Kortext partners around the world with local distributors, publishers and global technology companies such as Microsoft and Samsung to accelerate adoption of digital learning. For more information please visit http://www.kortext.com.

About Wiley 

Wiley, a global research and learning company, helps people and organizations develop the skills and knowledge they need to succeed. Our online scientific, technical, medical and scholarly journals, combined with our digital learning, assessment and certification solutions, help universities, learned societies, businesses, governments and individuals increase the academic and professional impact of their work. For more than 210 years, we have delivered consistent performance to our stakeholders. The company's website can be accessed at http://www.wiley.com.