Corporate universities: first lessons from a European learning group

Citation

(2000), "Corporate universities: first lessons from a European learning group", Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 24 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/jeit.2000.00324aab.001

Corporate universities: first lessons from a European learning group

Keywords Workplace learning, Training, Learning

In the USA, corporate universities have existed in one form or another for 40 years, with companies such as Motorola and Disney being among the pioneers. The real explosion of corporate universities, however, began five to ten years ago. Today, the USA has more than 1,000 corporate universities. A number of major European companies have joined a European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) learning group to discuss implications for companies and schools in Europe.

First and foremost, the development of a corporate university is of great concern to a considerable number of corporations, as is evident from the list of participants in the learning group. It includes companies such as the Royal Bank of Scotland, Renault, Allianz, Alcatel, Deutsche Bank, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Ericsson, KLM Royal Dutch and ABB Asea Brown Boveri.

What is a corporate university? The various responses of the participants at the outset of the first meeting ranged from "Ours was loudly pronounced, but struggles to know what to do" to "Ours is set up as a consulting company" or "We're establishing a network of companies here in Europe and need to capture best practices across the group".

A clear definition of the term "corporate university" is not available. In Europe, a variety of terms is used, including: Management Institute, Coaching Gesellschaft or Corporate Learning Centre. "To use the word "university" is a total misuse of the word" is a frequently heard criticism, "a university is a degree-granting institution, it is multi-disciplined, it has research-generated knowledge".

In spite of the definitional differences, a number of forces could be identified which drive companies to have a corporate university or corporate learning centre. Most companies see it as an effective way to link employees' education to the overall business strategy. Another important objective is to spread a common culture and values across the organization. Corporate universities are also seen as a way to drive change and to develop the employability of workers.

A look at some prominent examples from the USA shows that, until recently, corporate university teaching usually has taken place at some centralized learning centres, but increasingly this seems to be less important as companies lead the way in the use of technology and distance learning in training and development. Indeed, the term "virtual corporate university" is now in common use.

Regardless of the approach companies take - be it the "bricks and mortar" approach or the virtual campus solution - a number of best practices can be identified regarding corporate universities or learning centres. The best corporate universities:

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  underpin globalization of corporate values and corporate culture;

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  involve both line management and external faculty;

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  have very few or no internal "fixed" faculty;

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  act as centres of "knowledge networks";

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  are integrated into the whole company rather than being "owned" by one key figure (e.g. the CEO or the director of human resources);

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  assert a separate identity from traditional human resources development or training departments;

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  have some key measurables and are accountable to the business.

Further details from the European Foundation for Management and Development, 88 rue Gachard, B-1050, Brussels, Belgium. Tel: +32 2 648 03 85; Fax: +32 2 646 07 68; Web site: http://www.efmd.be