BEIJING, Oct. 12, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ChinaCast Education Corporation ("The Company" or "ChinaCast") (Nasdaq:CAST), a leading for-profit, post-secondary education and e-learning services provider in China, today announced the signing of a nationwide distance learning joint venture agreement with the China University of Petroleum ("CUP").

The partnership will be held 60% by ChinaCast Education, which will invest $4.4 million, and 40% by China University of Petroleum, which will invest $2.9 million. The joint venture's distance learning programs will offer greater flexibility to current and new students by leveraging broad geographic distribution of existing and new content through ChinaCast's nationwide e-learning platform. The joint venture will begin offering distance learning classes at remote classrooms throughout China by the fourth quarter of 2009 and expects to be profitable during the 2010 calendar year.

Ron Chan, ChinaCast Education Corporation Chairman and CEO, commented, "This strategic partnership with China University of Petroleum, one of the most prestigious state-owned universities in the country, marks an important milestone in our company's ability to build a nationwide online presence. CUP is one of only 68 schools with a nationwide distance learning license granted by the PRC Ministry of Education. Not only will we be providing e-learning services to CUP's existing 40,000 distance learning students but we will now have the ability to build our own nationwide network of distance learning centers to deliver adult continuing education, vocational training and international education programs using CUP's distance learning license. We will also be operating the online learning portal, www.e-e.net.cn, which is essentially the online continuing education and vocational training portal for China's energy industry professionals."

About the China University of Petroleum

Founded in 1953, China University of Petroleum is one of the elite major universities under the direct jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education. It is the top petroleum engineering school in the country, ranks among the top 5% of all universities in China, and is part of the "211 Project," which the central government launched to develop 100 globally competitive elite universities during the 21st century. CUP has two campuses in Qingdao and Dongying, which have a combined land area of 511 acres with approximately 7 million square feet of floor space. The university has 54 undergraduate programs, 99 masters degree programs, 32 doctoral degrees programs and has 26 state research centers. The university currently has over 20,000 undergraduates, 3,300 postgraduates and 1,497 teaching staff on its two campuses.