Trust's Funding Levels Exceeds $1 Million

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Multi Serve Education Trust Funding Levels Exceeds $1 Million

NEW ZEALAND, Tuesday, 17 October 2006: Multi Serve Education Trust (MSET), New Zealand's leading educational services provider and exporter, has donated an additional $500,000 to Cognition Education Research Trust for high quality education research to further develop standards right across the school sector.

This contribution brings the total funding provided by MSET to the Cognition Education Research Trust (CERT) to more than $1.3 million. Launched earlier this year, CERT is a non-governmental body which contributes to building a stronger research base for New Zealand's education system. It is one of the primary means through which the net surplus of MSET's earnings are ploughed back into the local educational sector.

The additional funding was prompted by the strong calibre of expressions of interest from education researchers throughout New Zealand for the current round of applications and relates specifically to funding for a second round of research grants in 2007.

"While our school system generally performs to a very high standard, we continue to have a number of students who fail to benefit adequately from the skills of their teachers. We hope to fund more research into this area of concern in order to help schools understand why these disparities exist and how schools and the education community can best overcome them," says Mary Sinclair, Executive Trustee of the Cognition Education Research Trust.

"It's clear that the education community throughout New Zealand have embraced Cognition Education Research Trust and supported the strategy of funding high quality research to lift standards right across the school sector," says Des Hammond, Chief Executive of Multi Serve Education Trust.

"We know there is a growing demand for evidence to support ongoing reform and a continuous improvement in educational outcomes, and the funding we provide is a clear and tangible way in which we can support that. Further development of the Multi Serve Group's consulting and service operations will help ensure that our beneficiaries continue to receive this valuable support," he adds.

About Multi Serve Education Trust

Multi Serve Education Trust is a charitable trust and New Zealand's largest independent supplier of consulting services to the education community. Founded in 1989, it provides a wide range of services in education to the New Zealand Ministry of Education, educational institutions and Government Ministries offshore.

Consulting services include professional development training for school staff and Trustees in governance, management and curriculum delivery, new school establishment, and information and communication technology. In addition services are provided in the areas of principal and senior management recruitment, financial consulting, relief teacher recruitment, payroll and school transport management.

Multi Serve, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Cognition Consulting, exports to the Middle East, South East Asia, North America, China and Hong Kong, where it provides a range of school leadership and pedagogical consulting services. The net surplus arising from Multi Serve's activities directly benefits New Zealand's schools. Multi Serve sponsors the Cognition Education Research Trust, a vehicle for channeling corporate funding directly into New Zealand educational research. For further information about Multi Serve, please visit the website http://www.multiserve.co.nz.

ENDS

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