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Corporate universities are not new, but have experienced tremendous growth during the last ten years. Predictions are that corporate universities will outnumber traditional colleges and universities within the next ten years. Reasons for the rapid growth are profiled in this article along with implications and challenges for both corporations and traditional universities. As an illustrative case, a partnering example between a corporate university and a traditional university is profiled. Costs and issues to consider in planning a corporate university are included. Changes underway at traditional universities and future implications conclude the article.

The purpose of this paper is to explore why corporations are forming corporate education partnerships with universities and the role of corporate education programmes.

The paper presents the findings from quantitative research involving 79 senior managers from North America, the UK, and Australia responsible for the management of their university‐corporate education partnerships.

The research finds that the primary reason for establishing university‐corporate education partnerships is to provide a recognised university award programme to complement an organisation's in‐house education programmes. Also, by aligning with a university an organisation is able to add strength and credibility to its in‐house corporate education programmes.

The research provides an insight into the growing role of university‐corporate education partnerships and helps to quantify some emerging aspects of these partnerships.

This study is intended to investigate the current status of corporate universities in China. It aims to explore the processes and practices of corporate universities in China, and discover the issues and challenges involved in building and running a corporate university in China.

The heads of 11 well‐known corporate universities in China were interviewed. In addition, documentary data were also collected to triangulate with the interview data.

Compared with best practice corporate universities worldwide, the 11 corporate universities in this study have done well in three aspects, namely, learning initiatives support strategy and business goals, strong top management support, and leaders as teachers in management training programs. What needs improvement is the lack of a training evaluation mechanism.

The findings of this study provide a reference point for, and insights into, the processes and practices associated with corporate universities, and afford an opportunity to gain a better understanding of the issues and challenges involved in building and running a corporate university in China.

This study represents one of the first attempts to understand how a corporate university model works in the Chinese context. As such, it helps enrich the literature of corporate universities.

Collaborations between universities and industry to develop and deliver customised corporate education programs are increasing. The purpose of this paper is to assist managers to make an informed decision on the structure and approach to their corporate education programs by exploring a range of qualitative factors in university‐corporate education partnerships.

This paper presents the findings of a series of qualitative interviews with six senior corporate managers from diverse industries and three university managers on the factors they regard as important in university‐corporate education partnerships.

The research highlights the needs for both universities and corporations to take the time to learn and understand the requirements and expectations of each other and, as in any good relationship, provide flexibility to accommodate these requirements and expectations. The research findings are intended to provide a starting‐point for understanding the nature of the working relationship between universities and corporations in order to successfully develop and deliver corporate education programs in industry.

Most papers on university‐corporate education partnerships are based on opinion or case studies. The originality of this research provides an objective insight into factors that influence the success of university‐corporate education partnerships.

Corporate universities, like other lines of business within an enterprise, have customers and other stakeholders whose wants need to be satisfied. They operate in an environment subject to demographic, technological, and political trends that could affect their business. The leaders of corporate universities need to define the business situation they face so as to leverage their university’s strengths, minimize its problems, actively seek out and select opportunities, and protect against threats. To treat a corporate university as a staff function or support activity is likely to lead to the demise of the university. Corporate universities ‐ if they are to persist past a faddish stage of lip service to “learning organizations” ‐ should be managed as lines of business serving the learning needs of internal, and at times external, personnel.

The purpose of this study is to explore the knowledge network-based intellectual capital of corporate universities and its co-evolution process with knowledge management activities.

An exploratory and multiple case study was conducted, investigating three Chinese corporate universities. Grounded theory was used for data analysis.

This paper finds that the intellectual capital of corporate universities comprises teacher network capital, knowledge process capital and knowledge ba. The steering wheel model is established through the synergistic interaction and promotion among these three types of intellectual capital. The interaction between intellectual capital and the knowledge network within corporate universities constructs the intellectual capital network, which plays the roles of coordinator, knowledge gatekeeper and innovation bridge. The intellectual capital of corporate universities is characterized by sequential inertia. Moreover, the intellectual capital and intellectual capital network are aligned with knowledge management activities at each stage of corporate university development, interacting and following the principles of ladder evolution.

A significant contribution of this paper lies in applying the concept of intellectual capital within the fourth-stage ecosystem to a broader range of knowledge networks. By exploring the dynamics and network of intellectual capital in corporate universities, especially the role of intellectual capital networks and the synergy between intellectual capital and knowledge management activities, this study enriches the existing research on knowledge management and intellectual capital of corporate universities. Furthermore, it advances the development of knowledge management promotion in corporate universities from a new perspective of intellectual capital.

Over the past few years, corporate universities, as they are called, have become increasingly common. Independent of this, strategy process theory is also finding a place in international management research. In this paper, it will be shown that strategy process theory demonstrates an affinity with the concept of the corporate university. A survey of the 1,000 largest German companies for the “Federal Ministry of Education and Research” is examining for the first time how widespread corporate universities are in Germany and how they are organized. On the basis of this empirical data it will be shown to what extent the concept of the corporate university in practice is in line with the theoretical findings of strategy process theory.

This study attempts to ascertain the essential dimensions and components of university brand image, including the cognitive attributes (service/educational quality) and affective attributes (corporate brand image) of the university.

The study develops, explores and presents a student-consumer behavioral response model based on students’ experiences at university, exploring the relationship between these attributes with satisfaction and behavioral response [word-of-mouth (WOM)].

Findings reveal that both branding aspects – brand experience and corporate brand image – follow a rational thought process first before an affective component is then taken into account, resulting in brand promise and loyalty. The study identifies several important cognitive brand image attributes and experiences that guide brand positioning for the Malaysian market, linking these to satisfaction and WOM.

It was conducted in a single case-university and future research could replicate this in other schools/institutions. Cross-validation to other private institutions lies outside the scope of this study. Furthermore, although the study has identified specific attributes of university brands, they tend to be seen or interpreted as overall for both brand experiences and corporate brand image attributes because of the reflective nature of the construct, and also they tend to be seen as higher order rather than at individual levels. Further research is needed to analyze these dimensions using a quantitative approach at individual levels and testing the conceptual model as presented in the conceptual model. The study is focused on one Asian market (Malaysian students in X University) chosen for its potential growth in the future.

The present study contributes to the identification of specific students’ needs and attributes including courses and modules, reputable schools, the environment (e.g. campus – near to lecturer, international), helpful lecturers and the university location. Addressing the right brand attributes enhance and clarify the positioning aspect of the university brand, while simultaneously addressing the needs and wants of consumers. For example, by understanding the culture – consumer buying behavior within this setting, marketers or school administrators can identify exactly, which behaviors could be changed and by which mechanism i.e. talking to sponsors, and introducing activities to increase visibility/image in Malaysia. Interacting with sponsors can influence them toward sending students to X instead of to other universities in the UK.

The study contributes to theoretical knowledge in at least two different ways: by identifying possible corporate brand image attributes and experience that guide brand positioning (for the Malaysian market), and by exploring the relationship between these attributes and satisfaction and behavioral response (WOM) as proposed in the study’s conceptual framework. The study has identified the specific attributes that influence Malaysian students’ early interest in selecting X University via, for example, a recommendation from existing students at X, their sponsors, employers, the courses or modules X offers and location – in London. The study further revealed that corporate brand image attributes of business schools (cognitively and effectively) enhance corporate brand differentiation and positioning (Rauschnabel et al., 2016).

The use of e‐learning in corporate universities enables access and broadens the curriculum. This paper assesses the use and implementation of e‐learning through case material, and explores some of the challenges and emerging concerns.

The paper reviews the corporate university concept and considers how an e‐learning pedagogy might contribute to its success. Three case reviews of e‐learning adoption within corporate universities in the UK are included.

The paper argues that if corporate universities do not incorporate both the pedagogical and learner preferences perspectives into their use of e‐learning, this will seriously devalue the training experience. It concludes that the advantages of an online pedagogy are not fully exploited due to limitations in technology and other strategic priorities. In addition, a number of lessons have been learned by the pioneers of corporate e‐learning, including the evolutionary nature of the programmes and the need to create “organisational readiness”.

Further research into the views of learners in this debate is necessary.

Provides evidence of the potential of e‐learning as a key learning and development strategy within corporate universities.

The purpose of this paper is to examine corporate social responsibility (CSR) partnerships from the often-overlooked perspective of nonprofit beneficiaries, situated in the rapidly evolving higher education funding environment.

In-depth interviews with corporate relations officers from public research universities across the USA were conducted. Qualitative coding procedures from Lindlof and Taylor (2019) were employed to analyze transcript data.

Three main factors have contributed to a rapidly evolving climate for corporate partnerships: CSR partnerships help universities build their reputations rather than endowments; feature new preferences in communication-based stewardship practices; and raise questions about university autonomy and authority.

New interpretations of interdependent relationships and stewardship may be needed to explain new corporate funding models, while threats to nonprofit organizational authority and autonomy may be growing.

Nonprofit practitioners may better understand how to position their organizations as more attractive to corporations while learning how to advocate for mutual benefits. They may also benefit from a new understanding of corporate stewardship.

While previous research has documented detrimental effects to nonprofits in CSR partnerships, higher education fundraisers in this study detail their struggles with new models of measuring success, new expectations for stewarding corporate partners and perceived threats to autonomy. Their voices add to a fuller understanding of rapidly evolving relationship management practices in higher education.