Videotron and ChallengeU team up to help adults finish school

MONTRÉAL, March 28, 2019 /CNW Telbec/ - Videotron is pleased to announce that today it is launching a special program for adults who want to finish high school on their mobile phones, in conjunction with ChallengeU and partner school boards. Videotron and ChallengeU are joining forces to help adults across the province go back to school and to demonstrate how businesses can play an active role in the process.

The first corporate high school completion program

The Videotron program is the first of its kind in Québec and will be rolled out over the next few months. It will provide users with support in three key areas:

• Education: Videotron will reward adult learners who use the ChallengeU platform by offering them special privileges such as passes to big-ticket sporting events or concerts, or mobile phone accessories.
• Employability: Videotron will help ChallengeU users prepare to join the workforce by offering them workshops led by the company's talent acquisition experts. The topics covered will include how to write a resume, prepare for interviews and choose the right career path. In addition, adults who complete high school through the ChallengeU platform will be bumped up in the hiring process for sales agent, customer service and technical support agent jobs at Videotron. The idea is to help new graduates enter the workforce and land attractive jobs.
• Opportunity: Videotron is launching a pilot project under which it will hire adults who are only a few credits away from completing high school, on the condition that they finish their studies on the ChallengeU platform within a reasonable time frame.

"As an engaged corporate citizen, Videotron is proud to be helping adults finish high school," says Jean-François Pruneau, President and CEO of Videotron. "Given the current labour shortage, it has become all the more important to help talented individuals enter the workforce. I firmly believe that businesses can make a difference by including adults who want to complete high school in their teams and providing them ith the tools they need to develop their full potential. That is exactly what Videotron intends to do!" 

"Adults who want to complete high school are often faced with the challenge of juggling family, work and studies," says Nicolas P. Arsenault, CEO of ChallengeU. "The ChallengeU platform is a technological solution that provides thousands of adults across Québec with much-needed flexibility. Considering that there are more than 333,000 employees in the province who don't have a high school diploma, businesses can play an important role in helping people go back to school. That's why we created a solution to enable organizations like Videotron to make room for adult learners on their teams."

ChallengeU launched in February 2017 and it has taken off since. Mixed martial arts legend Georges St-Pierre challenged former Montréal Canadiens player Steve Bégin to "finish high school on your cell phone!" The hockey player rose to the occasion, completing his studies just in time for his 40th birthday last fall. Bégin's high school diploma was presented by Education Minister Jean-François Roberge.

ABOUT VIDEOTRON 
Videotron (www.videotron.com), a wholly owned subsidiary of Quebecor Media Inc., is an integrated communications company engaged in cable television, interactive multimedia development, Internet access, cable telephone and mobile telephone services. Videotron is a leader in new technologies with its illico interactive television service and its broadband network, which supports high-speed cable Internet access, digital cable television, and other services. As of December 31, 2018, Videotron was serving 1,597,300 cable television customers. The Club illico over-the-top video service had 420,900 members. Videotron is also the Québec leader in high-speed Internet access, with 1,704,500 subscribers to its cable service as of December 31, 2018. As of the same date, Videotron had 1,153,800 subscriber connections to its mobile telephone service and was providing cable telephone service to 1,113,900 Québec households and organizations. For the fourteenth consecutive year, Videotron ranked as Québec's most respected telecommunications company in the annual Léger survey.

ABOUT CHALLENGEU 
ChallengeU is a Québec-based company that has developed a comprehensive distance education solution based on the Québec high school curriculum, working with the non-profit Diplômatiqc. ChallengeU's goal is to increase general education completion rates among adults. For more information, go to www.challengeu.ca/entreprise.

ABOUT DIPLÔMATIQC 
Diplômatiqc is a non-profit organization that liaises between the school boards' adult education centres and ChallengeU. Diplômatiqc provides assistance with the implementation of ChallengeU's educational services, including adult education teacher training.

ABOUT THE PARTNER SCHOOL BOARDS
The Lac-Saint-Jean, Fleuve-et-des-Lacs, Lac-Temiscamingue and Riverside school boards use the ChallengeU platform to provide distance education to adult learners across Québec. Their teachers, professionals and administrative staff work with students directly and oversee all matters related to their education, progress and certification of studies (including informing the Québec education ministry of student enrolment, administering and grading exams, and sending the results to the ministry). By going digital, these school boards are making it possible for Québec adults to finish high school through the ChallengeU platform. They are taking the lead in distance education and playing a crucial role in student success.

SOURCE Videotron

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