Corporate Education Changing Fast
by Mary Lenihan
“Outsourcing,” “training the trainer,” “emerging partnerships” these buzzwords indicate that all aspects of training and education within business are shifting rapidly. At a time of significant change and re-engineering for many large corporate entities, new forms of partnerships are emerging to provide such education.
Colleges and universities now play a significant role in corporate education. Because of corporate downsizing, many companies have eliminated or severely curtailed their internal training programs and staff. Collaboration with academic institutions is a great way to bring new training resources to an organization — companies can continue to do what they do well, which is managing their operations, while colleges do for corporations what universities have always done well — teaching and training. These new partnerships are a perfect fit, and they can save money and ensure quality programs.
One school that already provides its expertise for a number of clients needing corporate education is Cal State L.A. — and it is expanding its capabilities. Since the campus has highly-ranked programs in engineering and technology, business and economics, and education, it is able to assist a wide range of businesses. Another plus is that the Cal State campus can provide training and education to the entire range of employees within an organization from top management to the entry level.
The fast-changing nature of businesses requires that training providers not only offer cutting-edge education, but also offer it via cutting-edge technology. Cal State L. A. has a sophisticated distance learning network that can enable busy executives to learn innovative management techniques virtually anytime, anywhere. The campus also has a wide range of mid-level management courses it can take directly to the workplace.
Another change has been the shift from corporate in-house trainers to outside trainers for entry-level employee education. Many private consulting firms provide this training, as do colleges and universities. But a new twist has been the advent of university-provided “train the trainer” programs, in which the college provides the corporate trainer with skills and knowledge to bring to lower-level employees. This fall, for example, Cal State L. A. will begin offering a trainer/facilitator program that will include instruction individualized for the client’s company needs. The campus can also offer completely self-directed learning programs for corporate employees, during which the employee chooses from a wide range of subject options and creates a mini-curriculum to provide the education needed.
Many colleges and universities offer corporate M.B.A. programs. Cal State L. A., which has received the highly-regarded accreditation of the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), is working hard to re-structure its M. B. A. program to better serve the needs of Los Angeles; coming soon will be the delivery of on-line classes.
Los Angeles is a huge area, and distance learning and in-house training are options already offered by Cal State L. A. that can reach virtually anywhere. Downtown has its own special needs, however, and the Cal State campus also has been working hard to establish some new programs for that specific area. Downtown Los Angeles is a priority service area for the school, and the campus’s goal is to serve the downtown employee population.
Through its Continuing Education division, Cal State is developing partnerships that will enable it to offer classes in downtown locations. With thousands of state, county, city, and federal government employees within reach, as well as the thousands more who work for corporations based there, downtown Los Angeles presents a variety of corporate education opportunities and challenges. Cal State L. A. can provide everything from short-term workshops to in-depth classes, and can even bring existing campus classes downtown through its contract degree-credit program. Employees could actually earn credits toward undergraduate or graduate degrees using their employer’s tuition reimbursement programs, without even leaving downtown.
All of these new possibilities mark the advent of an entirely new approach to corporate education. What companies once managed internally can now be managed in partnership with a university. Doing so saves money, ensures quality programs, and frees a corporation to concentrate on its own business. Community outreach is the directive for the future in higher education, and corporate education is an important part of that.
Mary Lenihan is Director of Marketing and Public Relations for Continuing Education at California State University, Los Angeles.
