Corporate Social Responsibility – Social Impact

Changing Lives Through Education

In 2015, the Cengage Group organization, led by the Executive Team, penned and ratified the Credo. This purpose statement has been our guide ever since. Through our Credo, we clearly state that, collectively, we believe in the power and joy of learning, and that we enrich the relationship between educators and students through innovative and meaningful digital learning experiences. Through engagement, empowerment and discovery, we touch the lives of millions of people globally, one student at a time.

Our Credo guides our corporate responsibility strategy over the long term, as well as the daily decisions we make on behalf of the learners we serve. It also guides the impact we hope to have on individual learners, communities and society.

Our Social Impact - Putting Education within Reach

Cengage Group is a global education technology company dedicated to tearing down barriers and providing anyone access to a quality education and a brighter future. Through our digital learning materials, our partnerships and our product innovations, such as Cengage Unlimited, we’re working to make education more accessible and affordable for all. This first-of-its-kind all-access digital subscription service has helped more than 3.3 million higher education students save more than $330 million in the cost of education materials since its launch in 2018.

In addition to our affordability efforts, our state-of-the-art digital platforms enable us to reach millions of learners globally, across each of our brands. Today, our technology and content serve millions of users each year. Trusted by thousands of institutions and tens of thousands of faculty and librarians, our quality branded content is used worldwide. Through our platforms, we integrate content, courseware, assessments, adaptive tools and analytics, expanding our reach globally.

Breaking Social Value Stigmas - Putting Job Skills Within Reach

There are many reasons why millions of people are un- and under-employed in the US today. Degree stigma, for one, excludes millions of capable adults from securing meaningful employment simply because they did not pursue a multi-year degree conferring program. This stigma overlooks the actual capabilities and skills of a given applicant. Instead, it defaults to an arbitrary requirement as the primary marker of employability. Increasingly, more innovative institutions and employers are recognizing that the sole act of acquiring a degree does not equate to successful employment. With millions of jobs unfilled, the time is now to focus on being job ready, not just degree ready. We aspire to be socially responsible by supporting learners’ job and career aspirations. And we are uniquely positioned to help reinvent education towards Education for Employment (E4E) and support all learners in finding the shortest path to meaningful employment.

 

At Cengage Group, we are approaching degree stigma both internally, through the requirements of our own job descriptions, and externally, through our Workforce Skills business segment and ed2go brand. Ed2go has enrolled more than 3.3 million adults seeking to reskill or upskill to improve their lives and achieve their dreams. Internally, Cengage Group has supported employees’ learning and development efforts through programs covering a range of topics and skills areas; since 2017, Cengage Group has invested more than $5 million in employee skills training, learning and development.