UK's Edexcel, Arena ink pact

Arena Multimedia, the multimedia education leader and Edexcel International, a premier UK-based provider of academic and vocational qualifications worldwide, announced a tie-up on Tuesday designed to offer the highly-rated BTEC Higher National Diploma or BTEC HND in multimedia in India through select Arena Multimedia centres.

Arena Multimedia's career program -- Arena Multimedia Specialist -- leads to the BTEC HND and will enable students to gain two internationally accepted certifications at one go. At the end of the course, students will receive an Arena certificate accompanied by a BTEC HND from the UK. This diploma will enable BTEC HND students to move to the final year of select universities worldwide. The mode of teaching will be online.

The association will add considerable value to Arena students seeking to gain entry to top UK and US universities. BTEC Higher National Diplomas are accepted in, among other countries, the UK, USA, Australia and Canada.

Pramod Khera, CEO & managing director, Aptech said, "As Aptech moves up the value chain in its aim to become a world-class knowledge corporation, students at Arena centres will be able to avail of increasing benefits. Our tie-up with Edexcel International is a step towards achieving this objective."

Speaking at the signing of the agreement, Ian Reed, general manager, Edexcel Intl said, "BTEC HND's will provide students progression to final year of degree in select universities worldwide. Aptech being a leading global provider of IT education, this tie-up will enable students to avail of qualifications from universities worldwide."