Thomson NETg Introduces Strategic Skills Series.

Business Editors

TechLearn 2003

ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 3, 2003

New competency-based curricula responds to a growing need for

enterprise learning that builds leadership skills and

abilities in key business categories

Thomson

NETg, a part of The Thomson Corporation (TSX: TOC; NYSE: TOC), has introduced its new Strategic Skills Series, responding to a critical need for effective enterprise learning designed to help key individuals throughout complex organizations achieve important new skills and abilities.

The series focuses on four different competency areas of importance to businesses today: Strategic Skills for Project Management, Strategic Skills for Business Acumen, Strategic Skills for Leadership, and Strategic Skills for Human Resources. Additional curricula are in development, including Strategic Skills for Sales, as well as programs targeted to specific job roles such as Finance and Marketing.

These skills-based curricula draw upon multiple methods of learning and delivery to achieve fast, targeted outcomes - what Thomson NETg calls Open Learning. Each series is designed to map e-Learning courseware, e-Referenceware and other learning interventions to critical competency areas and is segmented by level of proficiency. This ensures that each training intervention needed throughout every phase of the learning lifecycle achieves very specific results. In addition, each Strategic Skills curriculum comes with expert, individualized consulting services as part of the offering to help ensure specific training and development objectives are fully realized.

General Motors, for instance, the world's largest manufacturer of quality cars and trucks, identified an opportunity to equip its human resources professionals with a strategic perspective on their role and a common set of business skills to fulfill it effectively. According to Larry Godfrey, Assistant Dean of the company's Human Resources & Labor Relations College, GM sought a cost-effective solution that would enable it to map HR learning to specific business goals.

"We knew that with the right training," he said, "everyone in HR, from a benefits administrator in Brazil to a regional vice president in Germany, would be better equipped to identify opportunities and solve problems proactively."

GM deployed the HR curriculum quickly and its employees embraced it enthusiastically. According to Godfrey, they realized their goal of aligning its HR professionals with strategic imperatives while also dramatically reducing their overall training costs.

"Our Strategic Skills Series was designed to achieve important learning objectives using a competency- and proficiency-based model that provides highly targeted learning to individuals at the appropriate time in their professional development cycle," said Joe Dougherty, president of Thomson NETg. "We've drawn content from across the Thomson NETg offering to cover common, technical and specific skills based on an individual's job role. This ensures the right people get the right information right when they need it."

Each series draws on award-winning content developed by Thomson NETg, Cardean University, Safari Books Online, and others to help the people of an extended enterprise achieve personal, professional and collective success through learning. Each series also comes with individualized expert consulting service by Thomson NETg Learning Consultants and can include support for planning, launch and evaluation of every implementation in order to help meet enterprise goals and objectives. And, every Strategic Skills Series curriculum can be delivered according to the exact needs of any given organization: via the Internet using the Thomson NETg learning portal, NETgLearning.com, or via a corporate intranet using Open Access Learning, which enables companies to leverage existing investments behind the firewall.

About The Thomson Corporation and NETg

The Thomson Corporation (www.thomson.com), with 2002 revenues of $7.8 billion, is a global leader in providing integrated information solutions to business and professional customers. The Corporation's common shares are listed on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges (TSX: TOC; NYSE: TOC). Its learning businesses and brands serve the needs of individuals, learning institutions, corporations and government agencies with products and services for both traditional and distributed learning.

NETg (www.netg.com), a part of The Thomson Corporation, is a global leader providing Open Learning Solutions with a comprehensive offering of award-winning content, multiple delivery options, cutting-edge technology and expert consulting services. NETg delivers Success through Learning by offering a fully integrated solution that can include e-Learning courseware, e-Reference materials, books, online books and instructor-led training manuals, hosted learning, NETgLearning.com, and Wave accelerated IT Boot Camps and self-study kits, as well as an online executive education and e-MBA program. After more than 30 years, NETg continues to be the learning and professional development partner of choice for innovative global organizations worldwide.