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New Oriental and Heinle ELT Partner to Develop Custom English-Language Learning Materials
11/27/2007 at 12:00 AM EST

Heinle ELT to create customized course materials created for New Oriental's iEnglish brand courses

BEIJING, Nov. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- New Oriental Education and Technology Group Inc. (NYSE: EDU), the largest provider of private educational services in China, and Heinle ELT, a part of Cengage Learning, announced a partnership to launch a line of custom learning materials tailored to New Oriental's iEnglish brand conversational English language classes.

Under the agreement, Heinle ELT will work with New Oriental's instructors to develop a line of localized English language learning materials, including textbooks, audio and video programs, and Internet-based content, for use in New Oriental's iEnglish brand courses and via New Oriental's Koolearn.com online learning platform. Heinle ELT will not only provide pedagogical expertise, but also will support ongoing instructor training and research activities for New Oriental.

"This highly customized approach to program and materials development is, we believe, a first for the Chinese education industry," said Dennis Hogan, president of Heinle ELT. "In the past, English-language schools in China had to develop learning materials themselves or rely on publishing companies' existing offerings, which didn't always reflect the most advanced pedagogical approaches or meet students' new and evolving needs. As a global leader in the development of tailored, research-based learning materials, we are thrilled to be collaborating in bringing more customized-and more customer- responsive-materials to best support their students in this significant market."

"The demand for English-language instruction in China has grown dramatically in recent years," said Michael Yu, New Oriental's chairman and chief executive officer. "Students of all backgrounds and academic levels are turning to New Oriental for innovative, effective programming and materials. Heinle ELT's research-based and outcomes-focused learning solutions will allow us to keep pace with demand and, more importantly, support our students' academic goals by providing them the most relevant and effective curricula and materials."

iEnglish, which translates to "love English" in Chinese, is New Oriental's specially branded English-language learning program that focuses on improving students' listening comprehension and speaking abilities. The iEnglish program is designed to teach students "three-dimensional English" through a focus on grammar, vocabulary and culture.

About Cengage Learning and Heinle ELT

Cengage Learning, formerly Thomson Learning, (www.cengage.com) delivers highly customized learning solutions for colleges, universities, professors, students, reference centers, government agencies, corporations and professionals around the world. Heinle ELT is a leading provider of materials for English language teaching and learning throughout the world. Heinle is committed to helping learners become more effective readers, writers, and communicators, and to helping teachers become more effective in guiding learners to achieve their goals. For more information, visit: www.heinle.com.

About New Oriental

New Oriental is the largest provider of private educational services in China based on the number of program offerings, total student enrollments and geographic presence. New Oriental offers a wide range of educational programs, services and products consisting primarily of English and other foreign language training, test preparation courses for major admissions and assessment tests in the United States, the PRC and Commonwealth countries, primary and secondary school education, development and distribution of educational content, software and other technology, and online education. New Oriental's ADSs, each of which represents four common shares, currently trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "EDU." For more information about New Oriental, please visit http://english.neworiental.org.

Safe Harbor Statement

This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the ''safe harbor'' provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as ''will,'' ''expects,'' ''anticipates,'' ''future,'' ''intends,'' ''plans,'' ''believes,'' ''estimates'' and similar statements. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about New Oriental's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Information regarding these risks and uncertainties is included in our registration statement on Form F-1 and other documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. New Oriental does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law. All information provided in this press release is as of November 27, 2007, and New Oriental undertakes no duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.