Christopher Prince

The dynamics of the corporate education market and the role of business schools

Highlights the rapidly growing market for corporate management education, and the emerging role business schools are playing in this market. The article draws on 30 interviews conducted with both HR managers and academics from both new and traditional universities. The first part of the article, drawing on a number of case studies, highlights a number of emerging trends, while the second part of the article examines business school responses. The article closes by highlighting a number of implications for both business schools and organisations seeking company specific management education programmes.

Corporate universities – an analytical framework

The purpose of this article is to offer a contribution to enabling an understanding of the concept of the corporate university to be developed. This contribution is in the form of a conceptual framework, drawing on the significant concepts of knowledge management, organisational learning and learning organisation. The resulting framework – corporate university wheel – represents what might be termed an “ideal type”, in the Weberian sense, of a corporate university based human resource development strategy. Though the framework is offered as a descriptive and analytical device rather than as a prescriptive model, it highlights four core processes which, it is argued, represent the key functions that an ideal type corporate university should perform. The paper suggests that the success of corporate universities of the future could hinge on their ability to manage and harness the complex interaction of organisational learning subsystems and less on their ability to manage training and education programmes.

Developments in the market for client‐based management education

This article explores the growing popularity and importance of client‐based management education. The article argues that an increasing number of UK organisations are seeking to develop partnerships with business schools to deliver and accredit their management development initiatives. The article describes a number of innovative developments in client‐based management education using case illustrations drawing upon the experience of Nottingham Business School’s Corporate Business Unit. The article concludes by providing guidance to organisations seeking to develop partnerships with higher education institutions.

Corporate Education and Learning: The Accreditation Agenda.

This paper explores a number of important issues surrounding accrediting work‐based learning for the award of university level qualifications. The paper is divided into sections. Section one of the paper defines accreditation and explores its historical development in the UK. This is followed in section two by a description of the various types of accreditation that are open to organisations, drawing on real life case histories. The paper concludes by highlighting a number of factors organisations should take into account when considering accrediting their corporate training and development activities.

University accreditation and the corporate learning agenda

This paper explores the increasingly important issue of the accreditation of work‐based learning for the award of university level qualifications and divided into a number of sections. Defines accreditation and explores its historical development in the UK. This is followed by a review of the various types of accreditation options that are open to organisations drawing on real life case histories. Concludes by highlighting a number of factors client organisations and providers should take into account when considering accrediting corporate training and development activities.

Transforming the university business school for the 21st century

University business schools are on the verge of a period of rapid transformation. The current characteristics of British business schools are examined. Implications for business schools of the new competitive reality are discussed. Challenges are identified. Copyright

University Business Schools 2 Business The Changing Dynamics of the Corporate Education Market

There is a substantial and growing body of evidence to suggest that organizations are increasingly recognizing the importance of individual and group learning and knowledge management as ways of attaining competitive advantage (Thomson et al, 2001). A consequence of this phenomenon is the growing demand for management education and training, and this is increasingly linked with the imperative of integrating management development with other organizational systems and processes to ensure their effectiveness in delivering business goals. This paper analyses this trend from the perspective of a ‘new university’ business school (‘new universities’ are the post-1992 universities in the UK, created by the demise of the polytechnics and their subsequent transfer to university status). The authors suggest and identify potential market development opportunities and highlight the competencies required by business schools if they are to compete successfully in this potentially profitable, yet increasingly competitive market. The significance of the corporate education market should not be underestimated. The UK Association of Business Schools (1997) estimated that this kind of activity accounted for up to two-thirds of the programmes offered by its members in their provision.

Redefining the role of the corporate university: a UK perspective

There is a growing recognition by senior managers in many large organizations of the strategic impact that corporate universities are having on their companies. This can be viewed as a consequence of many organizations recognizing the power of learning and knowledge as fundamental drivers of strategic change. The authors contend that this growing recognition is leading to the emergence of more sophisticated forms of corporate university, which are predicated on the principles of organizational learning and knowledge management. In order to explore this issue a model of an ideal type corporate university is developed. This model is then applied to two case illustrations of corporate universities in the UK.

The Changing and Developing Role of the Corporate University Post-Millennium:

A review of the literature on corporate universities finds that the peak for research and publishing on the topic occurred between 1998 and 2002 and fell away considerably after 2005. Given the apparent lack of research during the past decade, the purpose of this paper is to present an insight into what has been happening to corporate universities, what changes have occurred and what the emerging trends are in corporate university development. The paper includes two short cases, one from the UK and one from Australia, reflecting developments and trends in corporate universities in the banking industry. The authors examine the move away from corporate universities as highly resourced, geographically based training centres to virtual entities facilitated by the development of digital technologies. At the same time, there appears to be greater emphasis on the alignment of corporate training and people development with the strategic objectives of the organization, so that employees at all levels can provide leadership to the people and functional areas for which they are responsible. The authors conclude by arguing that in an increasingly global and unpredictable digital disruptive age the corporate university must evolve from being a primarily social and knowledge transfer mechanism to facilitating company renewal and transformation; in effect, becoming the organizations learning laboratory.

Commercial and Corporate Activities of New University Business Schools: A Critical Review.

Commercial and corporate activities and the income they generate are of increasing importance to all UK higher education institutions. For new or modern university business schools in particular, the falling unit of resource attaching to undergraduate student teaching income and the virtual disappearance of research revenues as a result of the poor results in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise have combined to produce a scenario in which commercial activity is likely to be an increasing priority as business schools attempt to remain effective and solvent. While there has been considerable research into management development in general, there has been very little research into the structuring and operation of commercial activity in new university business schools. Indeed, what research there has been into university commercial activity has examined all UK universities at a level of aggregation that makes it impossible to determine levels of business school commercialization, let alone the level of individual performance. The research presented in this paper focuses on the commercial activity of new university business schools and reveals findings about the nature and choice of strategy, product portfolio, delivery, client expectations, organization and management structure. The evidence suggests that many business schools have a considerable way to go if they are to grow commercial revenue in what will be an increasingly competitive and volatile market.