Virtual
Universities
The New Higher Education Paradigm
by
Valerie A. Akuna, Ph.D.
Introduction
Few would dispute that today’s economies require
that people invest in the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and information
throughout their lives. This reality has
converged with the proliferation of the World Wide Web as an information access
medium (Littman, 1999). The result is a
learning revolution. According to Duderstadt (1999) “the next decade will represent
a period of significant transformation for colleges and universities as they
respond to the challenges of serving a changing society.”
Facts
and Figures
Distance learning is the response to that challenge,
and as Albright (1999) observes,
“Distance education is academe’s most prominent growth industry at the
turn of the millennium.” It is perhaps
the concept of “industry” that has caused the culture of many higher education
institutions to remain resistant to this change (Maloney, 1999). Nevertheless,
the effect of the World Wide Web on distance education is well documented. The U.S. National Center for Education
Statistics report that “The percentage of higher education institutions
offering distance education courses has increased by one-third from 33 percent
in 1995 to 44 percent in 1998” (http://nces.ed.gov/commissioner/remarks99/12_17_99.asp).
However, based on data collected for the year 1997-1998 by the
A
Definition of Terms
The term “distance education” is no longer
clear. In fact, it is problematic. In
turn this ambiguity leads to reports that may be capturing only a portion
of “distance education” activities,
leading to inaccurate data. To address
this issue, a new definition for distance education has been proposed in
conjunction with the passage of a 1998 Amendment to the Higher Education Act
which reads: “The term distance
education means a process that is characterized by the separation, in time or
place, between instructor and student.
Such a term may include courses offered principally through the use of
(1) television, audio, or computer transmission, such as open broadcast, closed
circuit, cable, microwave, or satellite transmission; (2) audio or compute
conferencing; (3) video cassettes or discs; or (4) correspondence.” (p. 56).
A virtual university is defined as one that offers
all, or a credible part of its instruction in a cyberspace setting (Freeman et
al, 1998). This research does not support the notion that a virtual university
is merely one that has no campus – the concept is far too complex for this
simple definition.
This asrticle features an introduction to issues
arising from the growth of virtual universities, technology in the virtual
education arena, and profiles of leading cyber- universities both in the
Public Policy Versus Market Forces
Most people generally think of higher education as a
public enterprise, created by public policy and actions to serve a civic
purpose. Yet market forces also act on
colleges and universities. Society seeks
services such as education and research.
Academic institutions must compete for students, faculty, and resources. In the past universities enjoyed a monopoly
over advanced education because of geographical location and their control of
the accreditation of academic programs necessary for awarding degrees. Today,
however, all of these market constraints are being challenged. The growth in the size and complexity of the
postsecondary endeavor is creating an expanding array of students and
educational providers (
For example, the
Virtual Universities: a Contentious Issue
Although
new computer-based storage and communications technologies are making possible
many progressive methods for the creation and delivery of educational
resources, the new virtual university paradigm is still a contentious concept
to many faculty members, particular in the nations universities. They see the
move toward distributed learning as primarily an administrative drive fuelled
by the dollar sign. A host of questions
still remain unanswered, among them are:
·
Is electronic education as effective as
face-to-face, on-campus education?
·
Who chooses which courses to offer? Is
faculty governance affected?
·
Do those who develop a course, teach that
course?
·
Is academic freedom infringed upon in on-line
learning?
·
Who will own online materials? Are academic
standards affected?
·
Are universities involved in distributed
learning overly dependent on adjunct labor?
·
Is it basically only a question of profit
over pedagogy?
·
Is distance education a threat to educational
quality?
Whilst all of the above questions are at the center
of the growth of virtual universities, the following areas have become
critically important.
Ownership
of Courses
A Report published
in the June 5, 2000 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education
demonstrated that there are no clear intellectual property laws in the U.S. or
regulations on university campuses to protect faculty who create courses
delivery online. A few faculty may have come to an agreement with their
respective administrators on the issue of copyright, although overall there is
no comprehensive statues to protect them.
For example, the majority of faculty in the virtual university component
of their operations put courses together themselves. However, the ownership of
those courses belongs to the university. Historically, universities have
protected books and art, but not works of teaching. The AAUP took a stand on
this issue when it adopted a report titled “Distance Education and Intellectual
Property” The report was prepared by the Association’s Special Committee on
Distance Education and Intellectual Property Issues. It set out why the
protection of faculty intellectual property rights is crucial. In fact, at the
University of Hawaii, the issue of ownership of intellectual property has been
the number one issue for the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly (UHPA)
during 1995/1999. Some universities are
now creating intellectual property policies such as the University of Texas (http://utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty
Over
Reliance on Adjunct Labor
Jones University,
which now refers to itself as the University of the Web, as of Spring 1999 employed
fifty-four adjunct professors, and only two full-time faculty. Forty-seven
percent of all instructional faculty in higher education work part-time, and
this figure, whilst unsatisfactory, has not caused the degree of alarm as the
figure emanating from Jones University (Maloney, 1999). The central concern is that as more
institutions offer online programs, will they use adjunct-instructors, rather
than invest in full-time faculty.
The
Question of Quality
The main concern relating to quality
issues are focused, not on private universities who are seen to receive large
endowments, but on public universities. One of the embedded questions in the
quality issue is whether distance and traditional classroom based instruction
differ in terms of learning outcomes. The concern has become known as “What’s
the-difference” debate. In April 1999 a report titled “What’s the Difference? A
Review of Contemporary Research on the Effectiveness of Distance Learning in
Higher Education written by Merisotis and Phipps (http://www.ihep.com/PUB.htm) was
released by the Institute for Higher Education Policy in Washington D.C. This
report failed to arrive at a definitive answer to the question. Nevertheless, it did state that technology is
playing and will continue to play a critical role in teaching and learning, and
as a pedagogical tool, probably leads to different educational outcomes from
those achieved with traditional classroom-based instruction – some better, some
worse.
Traditional views of quality are
generally regulatory in nature: x-number of contact hours equals credit hours;
x-number of credit hours equal certification or degrees. This type of
indicator, however, does not work particularly well in the virtual university,
consequently there is a movement toward more performance-based assessments.
What skills and knowledge do students possess after the learning experience is
now becoming the way many virtual universities are addressing the quality
issue. According to Matthew Rutledge,
Student Services Manager for Western Governors University (personal
communication, May 18, 2000) this is a tenet of the University in assessing
student
progress.
Virtual Universities
When
Jones International University based in Colorado became the first fully
accredited online university, the American Association of University Professors
expressed its consternation.
Nevertheless, prestigious universities such as Harvard, Stanford, Duke,
Columbia and the University of Chicago are now virtual universities, and the
Harvard Extension School served nearly 60,000 part-time students in 1998,
realizing a credible $150million. The most lucrative of all populations is the
“executive education” market. Perhaps
the most preeminent example being UCLA Extension that enrolls about 70,000
students per year, earning revenues of roughly $42 million (http://www.unex.ucla.edu/index.htm).
Whilst there are no definitive models for virtual
universities, Baker
& Tan (1997) suggest the use of four basic building blocks in the
construction of a virtual university: (a) a virtual library; (b) one or more
virtual laboratories; (c) online lectures that are delivered through a virtual
lecture theatre, and (d) facilities to support teleteaching. Since this publication, however, Baker &
Tan have added administration mechanisms to their initial quartet, citing Clyde
Virtual University in Great Britain which has the above four components, and an
“Administration Office” (Baker, 1999).
Characteristics
of a Virtual University
The following represent some of the
major characteristics of virtual universities:
·
Offer learning any time and any place via
technology
·
Willing to use the most sophisticated information
and telecommunication technologies
·
Provide educational products tailored to the
learner’s needs
·
Offer convenience and flexibility
·
Encourage life-long learning
·
Willing to collaborate with business and
industry
·
Provide just-in-time information and learning
that can be accessed asynchronously
·
Focus on result-oriented learning
·
Require students to accept responsibility for
his/her learning
·
Require persistence and dedication on the
part of the student
What
Audiences are Served?
Jorge Klor De Alva, the president of the University
of Phoenix in his article “Remaking the Academy in the Age of Information”
featured in Issues in Science and Technology, Winter 1999 suggests the
needs of working adult students can be condensed into six basic propositions –
these are:
1.
Need to complete their education while
working full-time
2.
Require a curriculum and faculty that are
relevant to the workplace
3.
Must have a time-efficient education
4.
Want their education to be cost-effective
5.
Expect a high level of customer service
6.
Require a “campus” that is convenient
The For-Profit Virtual University
The market forces unleashed by technology and driven
by increasing demand for higher education are powerful. There has been a dramatic
upheaval in the labor force and in its educational and training needs that has
created an unprecedented focus on human capital as the primary productive asset
of companies. As a result, the new
for-profit, post-secondary institutions, such as the University of Phoenix,
Nova Southeastern University, Walden University, and Jones International
University have created new education models that have molded themselves to fit
the needs of our progressively more knowledge-based economy. These models are also
based on the need to provide learning experiences everywhere and at any time
and to use the most sophisticated information and telecommunications
technologies. These models are also characterized by a desire to provide
educational products custom-made to the learner’s needs (Confessore, 1999).
Competitive Strategies for
Higher Education
Education
watchers, such as Katz (1999) suggest that higher education institutions are
faced with considerable financial pressure in the 21st century, and
that their responses are relatively limited.
According to Katz, the options are: (a) cut costs (with or without
cutting quality), (b) raise prices, (c) exist existing markets, (d) pursue new
markets, (e) create new products, and (f) pursue any combination of these
strategies. Some institutions have aggressively pursued strategies that extend
the reach of their instructional offerings, and have become more economic and
entrepreneurial in their outlook.
Consequently, many universities are beginning to embrace the most
important phenomenon in the evolving information technology era referred to as
“convergence”. Convergence is the “accelerating trend of companies involved in
broadcasting, cable television, computers, entertainment, and retailing
businesses to form various combinations in order to gain competitive
advantage…” (Allen, Ebeling, and Scott,1995).
Clearly, although universities and
colleges tend not to express their policies in competitive terms, the emergence
of technology-based education delivery systems will force competitive thinking,
and we will see more and more alliances with nontraditional partners.
Signs
of Change
In the United
States one of the best examples of a university assimilating business values,
and entering into the virtual university arena is the University of Phoenix
(UOP) which focuses on the educational needs of working adults. UOP is an accredited, degree-granting
institution. It is worth noting that
UOP’s growth in revenues exceeds that of the higher education industry as a whole.
Evidence of change is most notable
in the rise of the independent for-profit corporations such as the Home
Education Network that has acquired the right to distribute the content of UCLA
Extension’s courses via CD-ROM, online services, and direct broadcast
satellite. Motorola University contracts
with colleges and universities around the world to develop and deliver a
curriculum to Motorola Corporation employees.
Elsevier Publishing is working with universities to deliver the full
text of its materials science journals over the Internet. Microsoft Corporation is working with many
colleges and universities to license the distribution and sale of these
institutions’ library holdings. Finally,
as the price-performance ratio of important technologies, particularly
network-based video, continues to improve, nearly every U.S. university will
engage in offering “distance education”.
According to Porter (1998), competitive advantage will accrue to those
who deliver education cheaper, better, and to in a more targeted fashion.
Distance Education Technologies
National
Center for Education Statistics Report
The
1998 report released by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
gives details on the state of distance education in the U.S. in higher
education, including the most frequently used distance education
technologies. NCES, in one of it’s
surveys, posed the question “….which types of technology do you use as a
primary mode of instructional delivery for distance education courses.” The results were as follows:
|
58% |
Internet
courses using asynchronous computer-based instruction |
|
54% |
Two-way
interactive video |
|
47% |
one-way
pre-recorded video |
|
19% |
Internet
courses using synchronous computer-based instruction |
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2000013
A broad array of virtual universities have appeared
differing greatly in structure. The following
table shows the leading universities in the virtual university environment.
Regional and National
consortia
Consortia Members
|
|
Alaska, Arizona, Colorado,
Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Mexico,
Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming |
|
Southern Regional Electronic Campus |
Alabama, Arkansas,
Delaware, Florida, Georgia Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North
Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West
Virginia |
|
Common Market of Courses and
Institutes |
University of Chicago,
Indiana, Michigan State, Northwestern, Pennsylvania State, Purdue, and Ohio
State Universities, Universities of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Iowa,
Michigan, at Ann Arbor, Minnesota – Twin Cities, and Wisconsin at Madison |
|
State Initiatives |
California Virtual
University |
|
|
Indiana College Network
(Ball State, Indiana, Indiana State, Purdue, Vincennes Unversities, the
University of Southern Indiana, Ivy Tech State College, and the Independent
Colleges of Indiana |
|
|
Distance Learning Honors
Courses a pilot project created by
public universities and colleges in Massachusetts to offer four
distance-learning honors courses. |
|
|
Pennsylvania Virtual
University a distance learning
alliance of West Chester, Millersville, and Shippensburg Universities of
Pennsylvania |
|
The Community College Distance
Learning Network |
Cuyahoga Community
College, Dallas Community Colleges, Foothill/De Anza Colleges, Kern Community
College District, Kirkwood Community College District, Miami-Dade Community
College District, Rio Salado College, and Sinclair Community College |
Virtual Universities - Case Studies
California
Polytechnic State University
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis
Obispo (Cal Poly) has transformed the way in which it delivers education. In
the early 1990s plans for an integrated, online administrative system (OASIS)
voice-response registration, online library services, improved telephone
service, a campus-wide fiber optic data network, and instructional access to
UNIX was deployed. This was shortly
followed by is drive to become an electronic campus, and later developed into a
strong virtual university component. The
University provides access to all major resources through its Fiber Distributed
Data Interface (FDDI) backbone network that links thirty-nine campus buildings
and residence halls. Online
administrative systems provide access to student records, class schedules,
financial aid, grades, and other information.
California Polytechnic State University still continues its Mega Server
concept initially begun in the mid 90s with the help of IBM. Initially an IBM ES/9000-743 mainframe was
installed, multimedia development
workstations. The Mega Server currently supports token ring network access, but
most faculty offices and instructional facilities have Fast Ethernet
connections (Baker and Gloster, 1998).
According to Michael Buriss,
Technology Director at Cal Poly, Pomona (personal communication May 4, 2000),
Cal Poly has videotaped and digitized lectures, which are stored on the
MegaServer along with course materials, and can be retrieved “on demand” due to
its ATM network. IBM has provided
optical storage, telecommunications technology, wireless LAN technology, and
other support in order to allow full-motion video over the University’s fiber
optic backbone network. The initial FDDI
hubs have been replaced by ATM hubs capable of using the existing fiber. In order to continue with its growth as a virtual
university, Cal Poly has developed strong partnerships with Hewlett-Packard,
Pacific Bell, AT&T, SP Telecom and IBM.
The University of North Carolina (UNC)
has a virtual university component that is a leader in using high quality video
in its courses. It maintains an advanced
video transmission network that transports high quality video images to its
students in areas such as telemedicine.
It also uses videoconferencing as an integral part of many of its
programs.
UNC’s Academic Technology and
Networks (ATN) group is responsible for developing and maintaining the network
infrastructure that transports these images, enabling different departments to transport
compressed and uncompressed full-motion images.
The University’s backbone transmits images from different sites to the
studios that send them on to the end user.
Departments send the images in a variety of formats. This means the backbone must support
everything from 28.8 modem and compressed video to fully compressed digital and
high-definition video. Martin Johnson,
the University’s IT Director (e-mail communication, April 2, 2000) explained
that the university uses mainstream, standards-based technology that works in a
multi-vendor environment. The University uses Artel Video Systems products that
Johnson feels maximizes their fiber investment.
UNC is an Internet 2 site, and is carrying out research on transporting
video streams over high-speed, packet-based IP networks.
Among the degrees offered through
the virtual university are a Masters of Textiles, a Master of Textile
Chemistry, and a Masters of Engineering.
Stanford
University
According to Harris
and DiPaolo (1996) there have been three major trends in education that have
propelled asynchronous education and advanced the concept of virtual education.
First, education has now become a lifetime pursuit, and retooling a continuous
necessity. Secondly, many longstanding assumptions regarding education have now
become archaic, and thirdly, education has become increasingly expensive.
Stanford University, one of the
early pioneers in the virtual university arena. The Center for
Telecommunications, in partnership with the Stanford Center for Professional
Development, used the Internet and two experimental ATM-based high-speed
network test-beds to deliver courses incorporating multimedia to distance
learners. Stanford took advantage of the enormous strides that were being made
by the PC industry – increasing processing power and improved storage. They also recognized that enormous strides
were being made in the area of distance-education enabling software such as
information management systems (IMS), software to facilitate live and asynchronous
conferencing, and multimedia authoring tools. Above all, they recognized that
bandwidth constraints ware quickly being overcome. ADEPT (Asynchronous Distance
Education Project T) was launched – a collaboration between the Center for
Telecommunications at Stanford and associated industry partners. What distinguished ADEPT was its focus on
education being delivered via high-speed communications networks.
IEEE Transactions on Education, 1998
Personal e-mail communication with
Christopher Kong (May, 4, 2000) Stanford Online Production Supervisor, Stanford
Center for Professional Development (SCPD) revealed that their infrastructure
has basically remained the same to-date, however, he did draw the writer’s
attention to the partnership between SCPD and Compaq. As part of its strategic
partnership with SCPD, Compaq has enabled SCPD’s award-winning Stanford Online program to
deploy breakthrough Internet delivery and audio and video streaming. Kong
explained that while Stanford Online uses powerful compression technology to
allow for the deployment of video over the Internet and corporate intranets,
dealing with video remains an extremely data-intensive task. With an ever-expanding 85 gigabytes of
digitized video and other data such as course outlines and slides, Stanford
Online requires a strong solution for storing and managing huge volumes of
information. To back up its video
servers, back-end systems and growing library of video and multimedia content,
the Stanford Online program uses a Quantum DLT7000 half-inch cartridge tape
drive. In addition to conducting
incremental backups nightly and full backups weekly, Stanford Online uses the
tape drive to archive courseware.
Presently Stanford offers more than 250
continuing education courses in engineering and computer science to more than
6,000 professionals who want to pursue an advanced degree, or need to enhance
their technical knowledge while maintaining career momentum. In l997 Stanford
Online was awarded “Most Significant Advancement in Distance Learning” by the
U.S. Distance Learning Association. In
addition to delivering full-length university courses, Stanford online also
offers a video-on-demand sequence of non-credit courses and lectures made
available to a worldwide audience in a pay-per-view model.
Virginia
Tech and Fixed-Wireless
The Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) have agreed to enable last-mile broadband for many
universities, and Virginia Tech (http://www.vt.edu/)
is one university taking full advantage of this to enable their virtual
university component. Although it is not a perfect solution, Local Multipoint
Distribution Service (LDMS) can offer solutions for high-speed campus
connection, without the cost of laying or upgrading wireless
infrastructure.
LMDS is a fixed-wireless last-mile
access technology, competing with both local telephone companies and cable
provides. Because it is a flexible,
two-way broadband pipeline, it can be used for both point-to-point and
point-to-multipoint communication within its range. LMDS is a low-power microwave technology with
a high frequency that can travel only a short distance, usually limited to a
cell radius of about 10 kilometers. It can transmit data to multiple points at
4.5 megabits/sec. It has the ability to
offer two-way full-motion video, Internet Protocol voice and analog
voice, and increased Internet downloading speed -- about 80 times faster than
any dial-up method (http://www.lmds.vt.edu/). Although line-of sight is a major constraint
to this technology, LMDS has great potential, particularly rural areas within a
state. For example, Virginia Tech
University became the first university in the nation to participate in an FCC
spectrum auction, and was awarded four LMDS licenses covering 16,507 square
miles of Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. The Virtual University component of Virginia
State relies heavily on LMDS technology that now allows it to offer a broad ranch
of courses and programs using this technology. The University also uses LMDS to
remove the bottleneck to New.Work.Virginia and other advanced networks (http://www.lmds/vt.edu/Main/lmds_brochure.htm).
Virginia Tech offers a Masters of
Arts in Political Science (http://www.cyber.vt.edu/psci/olma/the_program.html).
This on-line Masters of Arts program is conducted over the Internet through a
mix of synchronously and asynchronously conducted on-line graduate
courses. The real-time, on-line video
capabilities of NET.WORK.VIRGINIA, a statewide broadband ATM network, is also
used http://www.cyber.vt.edu/psci/olma/the_program.html).
University
of Kansas
The University of
Kansas has entered the virtual university arena. The University of Kansas
Medical Center (KUMC) (http://www.kumc.edu)
chose the Informix (www.informix.com)
Dynamic Server with Universal Data Option and the Web DataBlade Module to power
its core curriculum web site. The new
system runs on Sun Solaris Enterprise 450 running Solaris 2.6. The hard disk
capacity is six 4 gigabyte hard drives.
Informix was selected because the entire web site can be managed within
the database. Also, because the database
stores information as objects, the University was able to define its own data
types such as video, image and sound. The virtual university component of the
University of Kansas Medical Center offer courses in the areas of nursing and
allied health (personal communication with Cheryl Pace, Assistant Director,
KUMC, March 22, 2000).
University
of Wisconsin Extension Virtual University
The University of Wisconsin offers
several full degree programs through its virtual university such as:
·
B.Sc in Nursing
·
M.Sc in Engineering
·
M.A. in Administrative Medicine
·
M.A. in Criminal Justice
·
M.B.A.
(http://www1.uwex.edu/topics/distance.cfm)
According to Sandy Hildebrandt, Program Assistant
Supervisor for ICS (personal communication April 3, 2000 the University’s
Instructional Communications systems (ICS) manages the following array of
technologies that enable the virtual component of the university:
·
ETN - the Educational Teleconference Network,
a statewide audio teleconferencing network;
·
WisLine, an international conference call
service; The system offers 144 phone lines and a new state-of-the-art digital
bridge which gives high quality audio. In the near future, the university will
upgrade to 240 lines.
·
WisView, a statewide audio/data conferencing
network;
·
a
satellite videoconference support service;
·
an
interactive compressed video network;
·
a full motion fiber optic video conference
network;
·
an audio production facility, and an audiotex
information retrieval system.
Eastern
Kentucky University
Creating a virtual
university that offers a frustration free environment is quickly becoming a
critical goal of many institutions. Such articles as “Students’ Frustrations
with a Web-based Distance education Course: A Taboo Topic in the Discourse”
written by Noriko Hara, and Rob Kling (http://www.slis.indiana.edu/CSI/wp99_01.html)
contain disturbing reports of student frustration, and distress due
particularly to ineffective technology.
Addressing this issue, the Eastern Kentucky University’s virtual
university, and virtual library initiatives have selected CacheFlow’s Internet caching appliances
According
to Kevin Wallace, the University’s network manager (personal communication,
February 27, 2000) users are now able to download pages up to 10 times more
quickly. The CashFlow appliances enable the university to make use of more
sophisticated bandwidth-intensive online education applications. To encourage the growth of those
applications, Kentucky’s state government has interconnected its state
universities with asynchronous transfer mode links through the state capital in
Frankfort. According to Wallace, Eastern
Kentucky University’s previous proxy-server system would not have been able to
make efficient use of the additional 10 Mbps of bandwidth supplied by the
state.
Business Partnerships and Virtual Corporate Universities
More and more
alliances are being forged between virtual universities, and businesses such as
OnLineLearning.net, UNext, and Global Education Network to offer graduate
courses to specific audiences, usually vendor certification seekers, graduates
of business programs, and corporations that want to strengthen their staff’s
skills.
OnlineLearning.net (http://www.onlinelearning.net/Index.html?s=127.r010a902t.065m505c80)
is
a private Los Angeles company loosely affiliated with the University of
California at Los Angeles. It holds the
exclusive worldwide electronic rights to classes developed by UCLA Extension
for online delivery. Accredited courses are offered in such areas as Business,
Management, Computer & Information Systems, and Education. OnLineLearning
has also entered the highly lucrative area of vendor technology certification
covering Microsoft Certification, Novel Certification, and Cisco
Certification.
UNext.com (http://www.unext.com/unext-index.jsp)
has created a partnership with the University of Chicago, Stanford University,
Carnegie Mellon University, and the London School of Economics and Political
Science to deliver graduate courses over the Internet. The Virtual University component of the four
universities will develop course materials that make it possible for business
professional to quickly learn advanced material, including economics,
accounting and finance.
Technology
may be driving the new global economy, but organizations have come to realize
that people are steering it. This means
that it is more important than ever for organizations to invest heavily in
training and educating their work force.
New and innovative learning strategies are absolutely crucial for
achieving success in the current economic climate. Corporate universities have emerged,
therefore, as a primary way for companies to link employee education to
business strategy and provide organizations with a competitive advantage in the
global marketplace. Following are
several of the leaders in the corporate university arena:
·
Lufthansa Corporate University
·
Ford Motor Co. Corporate University
·
Intel University
·
Motorola University
·
PeopleSoft University
·
Anheuser-Busch University
·
Duke University and Deutsche Bank University
·