Corporate universities were created in the late 1980s as an enhancement to traditional training departments. This new approach was designed to align company's training divisions with the organizations' vision and strategy. Companies are recognizing that human capital is a top priority and they emphasize the need to capitalize on technology to maximize the organizational learning in their businesses.
Corporate universities can range from a training department looking to brand its offerings to divisions of companies that offer accredited degree programs. Sometimes the focus of a corporate university is on making the outsourcing of training a core competence, while in other cases, the training is developed by a team of learning professionals within the organization. Corporate universities offer a powerful model for learning that compels learners to grow and develop. Most importantly, they can have long-term positive effects on a company's financial health and stability.
The best thing you can do in launching or enhancing your corporate university
I had the priviledge of having Dr. Allen as my professor in my doctoral program at Pepperdine University and he does a tremendous job of communicating best practices from the top corporate universities in the world, straight from the organization's CLOs, themselves.
Useful Resources for Creating and Growing Your Corporate University
The Next Generation of Corporate Universities: Innovative Approaches for Developing People and Expanding Organizational Capabilities (Pfeiffer Essential Resources for Training and HR Professionals)
This book contains the latest and greatest in corporate university models. Dr. Mark Allen presents some amazing thought leaders in learning and has each one write a chapter. New thoughts on wisdom management are interesting and the approaches to ROI and assessment are critical.
Amazon Price: $69.34 (as of 01/09/2009) 
The Corporate University Handbook: Designing, Managing, and Growing a Successful Program
This resource was vital to me when I launched my first corporate university. He has a different chapter written by major leaders in corporate learning and has everything to help you design, launch, manage and grow a corporate university.
Amazon Price: $24.05 (as of 01/09/2009)
The Corporate University Workbook: Launching the 21st Century Learning Organization
If you want a tool to use in managing all of the steps in starting a corporate university - this is the workbook for you.
Amazon Price: $86.15 (as of 01/09/2009)
Corporate Universities: Lessons in Building a World-Class Work Force, Revised Edition
Meister's book is a great resource, though I think Dr. Mark Allen's is more powerful, since he uses the leaders in the field to write his chapters. This is an excellent resource, however.
Amazon Price: $34.16 (as of 01/09/2009)
Corporate University Links
Important articles, websites, and resources for people looking to launch or enhance a corporate university.
CLO Article: Corporate Universities
An article I wrote some time ago on the subject. I more...0 points
http://www.corpu.com/
Corporate University Xchange has some great resour more...0 points
http://www.innovatelearning.com
Contact us at Innovate Learning, if you would like more...0 points
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