London, 4 March 2024: Kortext, a global leader in digital learning and student engagement software for higher education, has reached a new agreement with Vodacom Business, part of Africa’s leading mobile communications group, to provide digital learning material – including textbooks and videos – to higher education institutions in South Africa.
Working with Kortext, the agreement was conceptualised and led by Vodafone Business Ventures, the social enterprise of Vodafone Business, which combines a focus on social purpose with technological expertise.
Starting in South Africa, the parties will work together to deliver the best digital learning experience for students, whether on- or off-campus, in groups or working independently.
The Kortext student content and engagement platform features a collection of five million eTextbooks and educational videos sourced from leading global publishers. Deployed at 6,000 universities worldwide, the platform goes beyond mere content delivery, being amongst the first in the sector to incorporate advanced generative AI study tools in its ‘Premium’ product. Furthermore, Kortext’s predictive learner analytics product, ‘StREAM’, offers insights into student engagement to academic tutors and student support teams, facilitating informed interventions that actively curb withdrawals and elevate overall outcomes.
Vodacom has a longstanding commitment to digitalise education in South Africa. At higher education level, Vodacom works with institutions to deliver student connectivity both on and off campus. Vodacom’s Connected Education platform also provides training for educators and learners, with access to enterprise grade IT support.
Commenting on the announcement, James Gray, CEO and Founder of Kortext stated:
“We are truly excited to be leading the higher education sector as it transitions to digital first education. In partnership with Vodacom, we can deliver an unrivalled student experience combining content, study tools, device, data and connectivity. The advent of generative AI will simply make this more compelling, underpinned by the recently launched Kortext Premium study toolsthat leveragegenerative AI to support and enhance student engagement and learning, delivering on the desire for students and educators to explore AI through institutional-aligned tools.”
Poppy Tshabalala, the Managing Executive of Public Enterprise Sales in South Africa for Vodacom Business, commented:
“Vodacom wants to create a Connected Digital Society that transforms lives and connects everyone for a better future. This agreement with Kortext will help us to build on the successes of our ConnectED programme, to bring education via mobile devices and networks to universities,
students and gig economy workers looking to progress their careers. This will also help to close the attainment gap between students of all backgrounds, a key agenda item for Vodacom, which aims to bridge the digital divide.”
Amit Chakrabarti, Head of Ventures, Vodafone, said:
“Education is an important vertical market for Vodafone and Vodacom. Working with Kortext we can now provide an end-to-end service for educational customers and their students spanning connectivity, hardware, software and content This will deliver real value to our customers and, most importantly their students, in line with our mission of being the new generation connectivity and digital services provider.”
About:
Kortext is the leading student experience and engagement expert, pioneering digitally enhanced teaching and learning in the global higher education community. Our smart study platform, Arcturus, gives institutions and their students a gateway to millions of academic eBooks and other digital resources from over 4,700 publishers. Kortext also provides a student predictive analytics platform, StREAM, that helps institutions better understand student engagement, identify a range of risks to progression and support students through targeted, personalised interventions. Engagement insight used in this way provides a powerful tool to support student retention, well-being and attainment initiatives with the aim to help every student reach their full potential. Kortext is a Microsoft Gold Education Partner and through the development of the Kortext Premium offering has had access to their latest technologies in supporting the application of AI in the development of students engagement tools.
