Austin, Texas, Jan. 30, 2006 – Datatel, Inc. recently announced that The University of Texas Center for Performance Excellence (UTCPE) has awarded the Level II Progress Award to the Austin Community College (ACC) Information Technology Department, a Datatel client since 1997. UTCPE functions within the Division of Continuing Education at The University of Texas at Austin, and its program operates under the umbrella of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award program.

“We are honored to have received this award,” said William Carter, associate vice president of Information Technology at ACC. Carter, whose department has been working with the Baldrige criteria for the past three years, stated that Datatel Colleague, along with other solutions, has enabled the department to supply clients with a broad range of quality services. He added that by using the Baldrige methodology, ACC has been able to better analyze its processes and recognize how well their customers are being served.

“Our next goal is to advance to the Regional Level III category and eventually to the state level,” Carter said. “Companies like Datatel have played a key role in helping institutions such as ACC move forward in our quest to improve user services.”

“Datatel is extremely honored to be associated with ACC, and we congratulate the

College for its achievement,” said H. Russell Griffith, Datatel chairman of the board, president, and CEO. “As a company that strives for continuous quality improvement, Datatel understands the tremendous effort involved in attaining such prestigious recognition.”

Named in honor of Malcolm Baldrige, the 26th Secretary of Commerce, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award is America’s highest honor awarded to U.S. organizations for business achievement and performance excellence. It is presented annually by the President of the United States. Awards are given in manufacturing, service, small business, education, and healthcare.

Datatel is a leading provider of fully-integrated enterprise information management solutions for higher education. Headquartered in Fairfax, VA, the company has more than 720 client institutions throughout North America. For more than 25 years, Datatel has exclusively focused on meeting the needs of colleges and universities, helping institutions operate more efficiently so they may better serve their constituents. For more information, please visit .

Austin Community College is a public, two-year college offering associate degrees and certificates in more than 180 areas at six Central Texas campuses. Serving as the regional leader in workforce training, university transfer and adult access programs, ACC opens its doors each year to more than 65,000 credit and continuing education students who benefit from the College’s great faculty and staff. ACC is the eighth largest community college in the nation, according to the U.S. Department of Education. Visit .