New MSc launches through MLA College’s validated partnership with The Open University as the College expands its academic portfolio into the social sciences

The programme will be delivered by MLA College through distance learning. Students will apply to and register with MLA College. Successful students will receive an Open University validated award.

Further information, including entry requirements, course content, study duration, teaching and assessment arrangements, fees, additional costs and how to apply, is available at https://www.mla.ac.uk/programmes/degrees/msc-project-management/.

PLYMOUTH, England, Sept. 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — MLA College is taking the next step in the development of its academic portfolio with the launch of an MSc Project Management, validated by The Open University.

Established in 2012 with a specialist focus on marine and maritime education, MLA College has since expanded into sustainability and engineering, supporting hundreds of working professionals across more than 75 countries through distance learning.

Project Management takes the College into a broader discipline, but one closely connected to its roots. Maritime, engineering and sustainability professionals routinely deliver complex projects, from infrastructure and operational change to decarbonisation and sustainability initiatives. The MSc is therefore both an expansion into a new academic area and a natural extension of the sectors MLA College has served for more than a decade.

The launch also comes at a time when project management plays a significant role in the UK economy. According to The Golden Thread 2024, research commissioned by the Association for Project Management (APM) and conducted by PwC Research, the project profession employs an estimated 2.32 million full-time equivalent workers and contributes £186.8 billion in GVA annually to the UK economy.

Professor Mohammad Dastbaz, Principal and CEO of MLA College, said:

“MLA College has come a long way since its beginnings in marine and maritime education. We have expanded into sustainability and engineering while remaining focused on providing higher education that works around the realities of professional life.

“Project Management is a natural next step. It takes us into the social sciences and allows us to reach professionals across many more industries, while retaining a clear connection to our existing community. Many of our students and graduates are already managing complex projects, teams and organisational change within maritime, engineering and sustainability.

“This programme builds on where we have come from while opening up where MLA College can go next.”

The 180-credit MSc is designed for professionals seeking to develop advanced project management knowledge and leadership capabilities that can be applied across industries and organisational settings.

Delivered through distance learning, the programme builds on an approach MLA College has developed over more than a decade, giving professionals the flexibility to continue their education alongside their careers, including maritime professionals who may need to study while at sea.

Glenn Harris, Chief Operating Officer at MLA College, said:

“Project management feels like a very natural area for MLA College to move into. We have spent more than a decade developing a model of education that is designed around people who are already working, often in demanding roles and sometimes in very challenging environments.

What excites me about this programme is that it gives us the opportunity to take that experience to a much wider group of professionals. The flexible distance learning model is intended to support students who wish to combine postgraduate study with work and other commitments, and that principle has always been at the heart of how MLA operates.

Our partnership with The Open University gives us the opportunity to broaden what MLA College offers whilst retaining the flexibility and personal approach that have got us to where we are today. Project Management is the first step in that expansion, and I’m looking forward to seeing where we can take it.”

Professor Mark Durkin, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Partnerships and Enterprise at The Open University, said:

“The Open University is pleased to recognise MLA College as an approved partner, enabling it to offer higher education programmes leading to Open University validated awards.

Our validation partnerships work has helped more than 220,000 students gain higher education awards over the past 30 years. Our experienced team allows us to expand our mission and expertise across the UK and internationally. By quality assuring higher education offered locally, these partnerships address regional and national skills gaps and assist the growth plans of local employers.”

The first MSc Project Management intake begins in September 2026, with applications now open.

Notes to editors

About MLA College

Established in 2012, MLA College is a UK-registered Higher Education Institution specialising in flexible distance learning.

Originally established as the Marine Learning Alliance with a focus on marine and maritime education, MLA College has since expanded its academic portfolio into sustainability, engineering and project management.

Its approach is designed around working professionals, enabling students to pursue higher education alongside their careers and other commitments, including maritime professionals studying while at sea.

MLA College delivers undergraduate and postgraduate higher education to students around the world and is part of GEDU Global Education.

MLA College is approved by The Open University as an appropriate organisation to offer higher education programmes leading to Open University validated awards.

About The Open University

The Open University was created over 50 years ago and is one of the largest universities in Europe with almost 200,000 students of all ages and backgrounds. The University has pioneered distance learning, achieving an overall Gold rating in the 2023 Teaching Excellence Framework, and helped over 2 million people worldwide make their ambition a reality. The OU offers over 200 qualifications across a wide range of subjects, including postgraduate degrees, undergraduate honours degrees, certificates and diplomas, many accredited by leading professional bodies.

About the MSc Project Management

The MSc Project Management is a 180-credit postgraduate degree validated by The Open University.

Delivered through distance learning and available on a full-time or part-time basis, the programme is designed for graduates and professionals seeking to develop advanced project management knowledge and skills applicable across industries and sectors.

The first intake begins in September 2026.

Source

Association for Project Management, The Golden Thread 2024: A Study of the Contribution of the Project Profession to the UK’s Economy, research conducted by PwC Research.

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BEIJING, Sept. 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — On September 8, Waterdrop Inc. (NYSE: WDH) released its unaudited financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2026. In Q2 2026, the company’s operating revenue reached RMB1,448.2 million, up 72.8% year-over-year; net profit attributable to ordinary shareholders was RMB125.8 million, marking 18 consecutive quarters of profitability. As of August 31, 2026, the company had cumulatively repurchased approximately 62.9 million ADSs (American Depositary Shares) from the open market.

With solid performance in Q2, the company achieved rapid revenue growth. Going forward, Waterdrop will continue to increase investment in AI technology innovation, making healthcare and financial services more accessible to the public.

Insurance Business Grows Steadily, AI Penetration Continues to Rise

This quarter, the insurance business maintained strong growth, with insurance-related revenue up 80.5% year-over-year. Meanwhile, profitability continued to improve, with insurance business operating profit reaching RMB183.6 million, up 20% quarter-over-quarter. Waterdrop is comprehensively accelerating the application of AI technology across the entire insurance value chain. Premiums facilitated by ‘AI Medical Insurance Expert’ rose by 25.6% quarter-over-quarter. First-year premiums for long-term insurance grew 33.4% quarter-over-quarter.

In terms of product innovation, leveraging its massive claims data and user profile analytics, Waterdrop has broken the traditional static logic of blanket rejection for people with chronic diseases, removing barriers to coverage for users with pre-existing conditions one by one. This quarter, Waterdrop launched ‘Rongyibao,’ the market’s first long-term critical illness insurance product that requires no health disclosure and offers five-year guaranteed renewability, covering more than 100 critical illnesses with optional riders for accidental death and disability benefits. At the same time, the company expanded ‘Jixing Gaozhao’ series with the market’s first lifetime specified disease insurance product requiring no health disclosure.

Waterdrop Medical Crowdfunding: 499 Million Users Have Donated RMB74.7 Billion to 3.82 Million Patients

This quarter, Waterdrop Medical Crowdfunding continued to fulfill its role in providing emergency relief. Since its launch in 2016, approximately 499 million donors have cumulatively contributed RMB74.7 billion to 3.82 million patients with critical illnesses through Waterdrop Medical Crowdfunding.

Waterdrop Medical Crowdfunding has always practiced the philosophy of “tech for good,” building a dual safeguard system for case authenticity verification and transparent fund flow through AI technology. This quarter, Waterdrop Medical Crowdfunding introduced AI in risk management: relying on the semantic parsing capabilities of large models combined with strategic analysis, it built an intelligent identification matrix for multiple high-risk scenarios, precisely detecting dimensions such as fundraiser sensitive-identity recognition and abnormal assets. This has significantly improved the accuracy and efficiency of platform risk identification, ensuring the authenticity and reliability of fundraising cases.

In addition, Waterdrop Medical Crowdfunding has launched AI fundraising assistants in 548 cities nationwide. Leveraging intelligent, round-the-clock service, the assistants provide professional support to fundraising users across the country — especially those in remote areas and those unfamiliar with internet operations. Services cover end-to-end fundraising Q&A, basic critical-illness health education, and efficient fundraising guidance, making critical illness relief more precise and convenient and filling gaps left by human service coverage.

E-Find Platform: Q2 Revenue RMB35.2 Million, Partners with 255 Pharma Companies and CROs

Waterdrop’s digital clinical trial solutions business grew steadily, with E-Find Platform’s net revenue reaching RMB35.2 million, up 26.8% year-over-year. This quarter, E-Find Platform established partnerships with 255 well-known domestic and overseas pharma companies and CROs. As of June 30, 2026, it had cumulatively delivered 1,873 clinical trial projects with 17,052 enrolled patients.

In terms of social responsibility, in response to severe rainstorms and floods across multiple areas of Guangxi and debris-flow disasters at the Jilong Port in Jilong County, Shigatse, Tibet, Waterdrop urgently established a disaster relief emergency response team and quickly launched rescue operations. Waterdrop Charity immediately launched a “Relief” special section on its homepage and, in collaboration with multiple foundations, rushed aid to affected areas — delivering over 2,000 relief supply packages to the Guangxi disaster zone and doing its utmost to help affected communities through the crisis.

Shen Peng, Founder and CEO of Waterdrop Inc., said: “Waterdrop has always regarded technology as our core driver. With AI embedded across our platforms, we are well positioned to capture the growing demand in our existing businesses. In the future, we remain committed to delivering greater value for our shareholders in the years to come.”

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/waterdrop-inc-reports-second-quarter-2026-unaudited-financial-results-302872182.html

SOURCE Waterdrop Inc.

Purpose-built AI agents connect interaction intelligence, behavioral analysis, coaching, and performance measurement in a continuous system designed to improve the behaviors that shape customer and business outcomes

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 8, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Built on Observe.AI’s Agentic platform for CX, Performance Agents apply AI coaching across the performance management cycle. They move from analyzing conversations and identifying coaching opportunities to assembling evidence, preparing personalized plans, and measuring subsequent performance. Supervisors retain control over every plan shared with frontline teams.

“The purpose of coaching is not to complete a coaching session. It is to change behavior that results in meaningful impact to the business,” said Swapnil Jain, Co-Founder and CEO at Observe.AI. “Performance Agents turn the intelligence within customer conversations into clear, timely actions for supervisors and frontline teams. These AI agents apply a consistent standard for coaching, personalize development to each individual, and measure whether that coaching improves performance.”

Performance Agents address a persistent gap in contact center performance management. CX organizations can now evaluate customer interactions at a scale that manual quality programs could never reach, but converting that data into effective coaching remains time-consuming. Today, supervisors must interpret reports, find relevant conversations, document examples, prepare plans, and determine whether performance improved afterward.

Performance Agents connect these steps in a continuous system grounded in real customer conversations. They use transcripts, QA scoring, and identified winning behaviors to evaluate performance. By analyzing patterns across multiple interactions, they can distinguish an isolated issue from a recurring behavior and prepare bespoke coaching plans for each frontline support agent.

Organizations identify and then define the behaviors that matter to business outcomes. These can include objective requirements such as compliance and process adherence, as well as nuanced human behaviors such as empathy, active listening, discovery, objection handling, and expectation setting.

Organizations can configure Performance Agents by team, role, line of business, or cohort. Each agent can use the organization’s terminology, behavior definitions, tone, QA forms, and coaching methodology, including frameworks such as GROW, SMART, IDEA, or a custom model. This enables large CX organizations to apply consistent coaching and evidence standards across teams while tailoring each plan to the individual.

Supervisors review, edit, approve, and share coaching plans. Performance Agents do not make autonomous employment or performance decisions, and no plan is delivered to a frontline teammate without human review. Frontline teammates can access the same plan and evidence, acknowledge the coaching, and provide additional context, creating a shared record of what was discussed and what improvement is expected.

Performance Agents continue measuring performance after coaching occurs. Subsequent customer interactions provide new evidence, allowing organizations to monitor trends, compare progress over time, and inform the next coaching plan. Coaching effectiveness reporting shows when coaching was provided, how performance changed, and whether targeted behaviors improved.

The system reduces the time supervisors spend preparing for coaching. Performance Agents can reduce preparation to under five minutes in applicable workflows, allowing supervisors to focus on judgment, context, and employee development.

The launch expands Observe.AI’s portfolio of purpose-built AI Agents across the Customer Experience organization. The Observe.AI platform brings together AI Agents for Customers, Companion Agent for Frontline Teams, AI Agents for Operations, and Interaction Intelligence, which connects customer conversations, quality, assistance, insights, and performance.

With Performance Agents, CX organizations can establish a consistent approach to coaching across the entire organization and with their BPO partners, deliver personalized guidance at scale, and connect coaching activity to measurable frontline improvement.

To learn more about Performance Agents, visit https://www.observe.ai/

About Observe.AI

Observe.AI is the AI platform for Customer Experience, helping organizations automate customer interactions, assist frontline teams, and analyze every conversation to improve customer and business outcomes. The Observe.AI platform combines AI Agents for Customers, Companion Agent for Frontline Teams, AI Agents for Operations, and Interaction Intelligence to give organizations a connected system for understanding and improving Customer Experience at scale.

CONTACT:
John McMullan Communications
Observe.AI 
press@observe.ai

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SOURCE Observe.AI