Academica's flagship applicant surveys evolve for 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
London, Ontario | December 3, 2007

Over the past 12 years, hundreds of Canadian colleges and universities have turned to Academica Group's national syndicated applicant studies, the UAS (University Applicant Survey) and CAS (College Applicant Survey), to provide reliable, detailed and actionable market intelligence about consumer perceptions, attitudes, and decision factors. The two studies became the largest and most comprehensive post-secondary market research studies conducted in North America, and together survey almost 100,000 Canadian applicants each spring.

"As colleges offer more baccalaureate degrees, institutions move to polytechnic status, and one-quarter of university applicants also consider college," observes Academica Group CEO Rod Skinkle, "it has become increasingly clear that the binary divide between college and university is blurring. Particularly in jurisdictions like Alberta and British Columbia, colleges and university colleges are frequently part of the university applicant's consideration set."

To address the evolution of the Canadian post-secondary landscape, and achieve enhanced analytic power and efficiencies, Academica Group announced today that in 2008 the two studies will be integrated for the first time. The 2008 University & College Applicant Study (UCAS) will survey at least 100,000 applicants to Canadian PSE, and allow participating institutions to compare themselves to a competitive set including universities, colleges, or a selection of both.

Thanks to economies of scale and new automation, Academica Group is also pleased to announce new lower pricing for the four levels of UCAS report in 2008, starting at just $4,900. "For less than the price of a single focus group," observes Skinkle, "institutional marketers and recruiters can gain immense detail and competitive intelligence based on a survey of thousands of potential applicants. This is quite simply the best starting point for educational market research in Canada."

For detailed information about the 2008 UCAS Applicant Study, see http://www.academicagroup.com/UCAS

For media information, please contact:

Ken Steele, Senior Vice-President, Education Marketing
tel. 519.433.8302 ext. 205 1.866.922.8636 ext. 205
ken@academicagroup.com

Oded VanHam, Director, Research & Product Development
tel. 519.433.8302 ext. 224 1.866.922.8636 ext. 224
oded@academicagroup.com

About Academica Group:

Academica Group Inc. has long been the North American leader in education-sector quantitative consumer research. Originally founded in 1995 as Acumen Research Group, the company pioneered the application of consumer research to higher education policy, branding, alumni and student recruitment challenges. Academica's annual University Applicant Survey (UAS^TM) and College Applicant Survey (CAS^TM) survey almost 100,000 post-secondary applicants every spring, and the company has provided research and strategic consulting to more than one hundred college, university, and education clients. Academica Group is involved in a number of innovative national educational policy research projects, such as the development of an instrument to measure Perceived Return on Investment in Post-Secondary Education (PRoI-PSE).

In the past three years, Academica Group has grown tenfold, and expanded to become the only provider of full-cycle research, marketing and web technology focused exclusively on the higher education sector. Academica Group's recent acquisition of Toronto-based x2idea Corporation, a leading web development and creative services company, greatly enhances the company's product and service offerings, now including a website Content Management System called x2clicks^TM and an application for the Facebook platform, SkoolPool^TM.

Academica Group^TM, SkoolPool^TM, UAS^TM, CAS^TM, UCAS^TM, University College Applicant Survey,^TM University Applicant Survey,^TM and College Applicant Survey^TM are trademarks of Academica Group Inc.
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