Caliber Learning Network, Inc. and The University of Southern California Marshall School of Business Announce Seven-Year Partnership to Develop and Deliver Business Education Courses.

BALTIMORE, MD--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 1, 1999--

Proposal includes development of custom programs, executive

education, and graduate degree courses

Caliber Learning Network, Inc. (Nasdaq: CLBR) and the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business today announced a seven-year agreement to jointly develop and deliver academic programs for individuals and corporations. The areas of focus will be graduate-level programs in general management and accounting as well as executive education offerings including E-commerce. Additionally, the parties announced an agreement to cross-market their services on a custom basis to corporations.

"As one of the Top 25 business schools in the nation, we have a pool of outstanding faculty and experience in delivering cutting-edge and relevant business education that will make these courses unique," said Randolph W. Westerfield, Dean of the Marshall School. "We are looking forward to partnering with Caliber so we can deliver these courses around the country."

Chris L. Nguyen, President and Chief Executive Officer of Caliber Learning Network, Inc., commented, "We are very excited to join with the Marshall School of Business and to expand our academic portfolio. Through our partnerships, the nation's most prestigious universities are able to extend their reach nationwide by offering local access to premier content offerings while effectively maintaining the highest academic standards." Caliber also offers executive and management education from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Planning underway for USC graduate courses and degree programs

In response to an industry-wide requirement for additional training of CPAs, Marshall and Caliber anticipate launching courses this fall intended, primarily, to help CPAs at the Big Five accounting firms train their employees. In order to sit for the CPA exam, participants must complete 150 hours of coursework, an increase from the average of 120 hours. The additional 30 hours will likely include technical accounting coursework as well as core business skills in areas including communication and leadership. At this time, 42 states have passed regulations to make the requirement mandatory.

According to Mr. Nguyen, there are nearly 10,000 annual new hires that will have to fulfill the 150-hour requirement within the Big Five accounting firms. "USC's top-ranked accounting program offers the content accounting firms need. Caliber has the capability to deliver this expertise quickly and across the country. This will enable national accounting firms to satisfy this new requirement," Mr. Nguyen added.

"We are uniquely qualified to teach these courses on a national level because our Leventhal School of Accounting is consistently ranked in the Top Five in the world by Public Accounting Report," said Dr. Michael L. Duffy, Vice Dean of Master's Degree Programs and clinical professor of accounting at USC. "Because of the capabilities of Caliber's nationwide network of learning centers, we will be able to offer the courses at times and locations convenient to auditors, accountants and students."

As another focus of the agreement, Caliber and the Marshall School of Business will undertake a feasibility study to jointly develop and deliver the school's highly successful Executive Master's of Business Administration (EMBA) degree. Subject to approval by USC and its accrediting agencies, the partners plan to offer the EMBA program as well as other master's degree programs in areas including accounting and taxation.

USC executive education courses anticipated this fall

Caliber and the Marshall School of Business anticipate the fall launch of an executive education certificate program in E-commerce covering the fundamentals of Internet business, marketing models and web commerce. The proposed courses would be offered to individuals through open enrollment, and made available to corporations and other institutions through Caliber's direct sales operations as part of a multi-faceted direct marketing campaign, according to Company officials.

Caliber and USC agree to cross-market custom programs and services to corporations

The Marshall School of Business has enrolled more than 2,000 participants in the United States and abroad through its existing custom distance learning programs. USC developed and delivered a non-degree program for middle- and senior-level managers at Daimler-Benz Corporation as well as custom programs for Hughes Electronics and Kaiser-Permanente. Future custom programs are intended to integrate USC's expert content with Caliber's state-of-the-art technologies including satellite broadcasting, interactivity between students and instructors, networked PCs and Internet access.

"The fact that both Caliber and USC have extensive relationships with major corporations turns our cross-marketing synergies into a significant accelerator of business development." said Caliber's Mr. Nguyen.

"Our relationship with Caliber will allow us to respond to the increasing demand to develop critical academic programs for executive associations, the professional services industry and the federal government," Vice Dean Duffy stated.

The Marshall School of Business and Caliber Learning Network

Founded in 1920, the Marshall School of Business and its several major research centers offer world-class teaching and research. The Marshall School is ranked in the Top 25 for full-time MBA programs by both U.S. News & World Report and Business Week. In the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings released in March 1999, the Marshall School's EMBA and MBA-PM programs were both ranked in the Top 10.

In addition to the Marshall School of Business at USC, Caliber's current academic partners include The Wharton School and the College of General Studies of the University of Pennsylvania, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and School of Continuing Studies, and Teacher's College, Columbia University.

Caliber distributes courses developed by leading universities and distributes professional development and training programs to Fortune 1000 corporations. The Company has established a network of more than 40 professional education and development centers to serve prominent universities, major corporations, and working adults. Caliber Learning Network, Inc. (Nasdaq: CLBR) is an affiliate of Sylvan Learning Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SLVN). The Company has leveraged Sylvan's educational expertise to create a leading-edge distribution network for adult education and professional development services.

For more information on Caliber Learning Network, Inc., visit the company's web site: www.CaliberLearning.com

For more information on the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business, visit the university's web site: www.marshall.usc.edu

This release may include information that could constitute forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any such forward-looking statements may involve risk and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results encompassed within the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include those matters disclosed in the Company's Security and Exchange Commission filings.