AMSTERDAM – June 11, 2009 – Blackboard Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBB), a global leader in education technology, today announced that the London College of Beauty Therapy (LCBT), recognised as a center of vocational excellence for its outstanding development and delivery of specialist training – has selected Blackboard to deliver its unique BTEC Beauty Retail Consultant Diploma online to reduce barriers for learners who might not otherwise have the time or opportunity for professional training.

Working with key retailers and employers, the LCBT – the only college in the U.K. dedicated to the beauty industry – has developed a unique 16-week BTEC Beauty Retail Consultant Diploma that can be delivered online using the Blackboard Learn™ flexible learning platform. With the delivery of the course, the LCBT has helped to meet the needs of companies who can train consultants without interrupting their current work and employees who can enhance their skills while maintaining employment.

“For employers there are three main barriers to staff training which are still too imposing for the vast majority of companies to surmount: time, cost and opportunity,” said Eileen Cavalier, CEO of the LCBT. “The beauty industry needs to find ways to overcome these impediments because it is undoubtedly nullifying commercial growth within the sector, and stifling the financial performance of beauty salons that depend heavily on highly trained and committed staff to deliver increasingly complex and technologically advanced treatments.”

“One of the resolutions to this problem involves adopting a dynamic online learning solution which is exactly what we have achieved with Blackboard,” Cavalier continued. “We have embraced the opportunities offered by 21st century training methods which literally take training into the workplace, immediately removing two of the traditional obstacles, the time and opportunity arguments.”

LCBT’s BTEC students can study the 16-week diploma fully online through the Blackboard platform, which enables them to submit assignments, receive tutor feedback online and interact virtually with their tutors and peers through forums and blogs. In the process, students remain truly motivated and are achieving better results through the greater engagement they have with the course.

“The BTEC in Retail Beauty Consultancy qualification is one of the most important beauty consultant training initiatives in the U.K.,” said Mat Tinker, LCBT’s E-Learning Developer, “and now with the online delivery the qualification has the inbuilt flexibility to be tailored to meet individual company needs. Learning is a 24-7 culture driven by today’s external pressures and demands on students, and this course acts as evidence that traditional learning environments are no longer considered to be the only way to obtain new skills.”

While it is difficult for a city center college to physically expand in order to accommodate more students, the Blackboard platform has given LCBT the facility to do this virtually. The BTEC diploma has successfully trained beauty consultants online across the U.K., and the next stage will be to do this globally. Eventually the college plans to make all of its courses available through Blackboard Learn, to better support the college’s 1,500 beauty retail and therapy students.

For more information about Blackboard, please visit http://www.blackboard.com

Blackboard Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBB) 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.

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-Q filed on May 7, 2009 with the SEC. In addition, the forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company’s views as of June 11, 2009. 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 June 11, 2009.