Vocational education specialist City & Guilds has acquired learning and technology provider Kineo.
The move sees the bringing together of Kineo’s learning technology and City & Guilds’ quality assurance and qualifications. Kineo will continue to operate under the same brand, as part of the City & Guilds Group.
City & Guilds has also acquired Kineo’s share of Totara LMS, a custom version of Moodle for businesses.
City & Guilds CEO Chris Jones said: “We’re thrilled to welcome Kineo into the City & Guilds Group. Like Kineo, we believe in the power of technology to help businesses keep learning, sharing knowledge, and performing at their best. Together we aim to create the leading workplace learning company, as we believe a skilled workforce is the essential ingredient for economic growth.”
Kineo CEO Steve Rayson said: “This is a terrific next step in the growth of Kineo. From the beginning, we’ve aimed to help transform performance through learning with great design and innovative technology.”
We’re proud to become part of an organisation with such an important purpose: ‘To enable people and organisations to develop their skills for personal and economic growth’. Together I’m convinced we will transform learning in the workplace.”
Commenting on the purchase on his blog, industry blogger and City and Guilds Council member Donald Clark said:
This is a huge boost for vocational learning in the UK, both in organisations and colleges, as C&G now have a smart technology platform and production house for deliverables straight to employers, including technology, consultancy and content. It has also given C&G a much larger international profile and reach for their qualifications and future deliverables. This is all about moving towards real deliverables over and above accreditation. This is a 2+2=5 deal.
