Integration to Bring Job Search and Career Building Tools into Blackboard Learn

PHILADELPHIA – October 19, 2011 – Blackboard Inc. and Internships.com, the world’s largest internships marketplace, today announced plans to integrate job search and career building tools and resources directly in the Blackboard Learn™ online teaching and learning platform.

The planned integration will enable students to search and apply for internships, student jobs and entry level positions within the course platform. Students will also be able to take advantage of the full suite of career tools from Internships.com including a social media integration that will enable student job seekers to leverage their Facebook network to find jobs and get introduced to hiring companies.

The effort will support institutional career placement and counseling offices and provide them information about student behavior in aggregate to better help them match students with opportunities. The integration will support and follow all existing institutional policies and practices.

“As a company, Blackboard is committed to providing the best tools to help students succeed both inside and outside of the classroom and we know career development is an important part of the education experience,” said Michael Chasen, CEO and President of Blackboard. “This partnership with Internships.com gives us the opportunity to provide resources within the learning management platform that help students succeed beyond just the academic setting.”

The planned integration will be available through a Blackboard Building BlockTM for the Blackboard Learn platform.

“With unemployment remaining so high in the United States, the key for student job seekers is not only to find and apply to available work opportunities, but also to prepare themselves to be hired through career content and tools,” said Mr. Robin D. Richards, Chairman and CEO of Internships.com. “We are honored to enter this partnership with a leader in the higher education industry and further distribute our world class social recruiting tools, features, and content to the next generation of America’s great employees.”

The announcement was made at EDUCAUSE 2011, the higher education community’s premier information technology event. With the multi-year, exclusive distribution deal for Blackboard’s North America Higher Education clients, Internships.com becomes a Blackboard Premier Partner ™ in the Blackboard Partnerships Program™.

For more information about Blackboard Learn, please visit http://www.blackboard.com/learn. For more information about Internships.com, please visit www.internships.com.

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About Blackboard Inc.
Blackboard Inc. is a global leader in enterprise technology and innovative solutions that improve the experience of millions of students and learners around the world every day. Blackboard's solutions allow thousands of higher education, K-12, professional, corporate, and government organizations to extend teaching and learning online, facilitate campus commerce and security, and communicate more effectively with their communities. Founded in 1997, Blackboard is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with offices in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

About Internships.com
Internships.com is the world’s largest internship marketplace bringing students, employers and higher education together in one centralized location. The innovative, Los Angeles based company, develops a wide variety of interactive, world-class tools and services to enable every student, employer and educator to better understand and optimize internship opportunities. For additional information, please visit www.internships.com. For tips on finding internships, hot internship listings and internship advice, follow Internships.com on Twitter (www.twitter.com/internships) or Facebook (www.facebook.com/internships.com).

Any statements in this press release about future expectations, plans and prospects for Blackboard and other statements containing the words “believes,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “expects,” “will,” and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including the factors discussed in the “Risk Factors” section of our Form 10-K filed on February 18, 2011 and Form 10-Q filed on August 4, 2011 with the SEC. In addition, the forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company’s views as of October 19, 2011. The Company anticipates that subsequent events and developments will cause the Company’s views to change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company’s views as of any date subsequent to October 19, 2011.