Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/61380
each other, and I think in the future we're going to depend on each other even more." While four-year universities can bring structure, experi- opportunities in other areas, Livingstone says. "A company that is working with a university on educational programs might also have a research project for which it needs an aca- demic perspective, so these partnerships can lead to other opportunities.We've got to be open to those new avenues for delivering our services." Four-year universities that don't want to be left out of the ence, cutting-edge research, and degree-granting programs to such partnerships, corporate universities can offer traditional universities another revenue stream—and a chance to hone their theories in a real-world environment. In addition, long-termeducational partnerships can lead to community, recruiting students or talking about our execu- tive education," says Livingstone. "We're trying to integrate those areas so that if we go to a corporation, we're talking about the whole package of what we can do." corporate loop might need to invest more energy in market- ing their programs and their capabilities to big businesses, these representatives believe. Schools also must show how they can add practical value in the corporate setting. "Many individuals at our schools are out in the corporate his develop between private companies and public universi- ties. However, he thinks universities would need to select carefully the right business entity with which to develop a strong partnership. "There are so many points you have to work through. Gallup does advising differently than we do at the university, so how do we merge each of our best prac- tices? You have to understand that you both have different models and language, but you come to a point of integra- tion that can benefit students." parties, and Gallup manages accounts, hires the faculty, and signs the paychecks. Gallup's role makes it easy to bring in professors from other schools to participate, Avolio notes. Institutions like University of Toyota also collaborate with the partnership, allowing Gallup and UNL to use their facilities and faculty for some parts of the program. "Toyota delivers great information on lean thinking and production," says Avolio. Other universities may soon also come on board with their own specializations. Avolio expects to see more degree-level partnerships like Leadership at the University of Nebraska and director of the Gallup Leadership Institute. He co-directs the partnership program with Connie Rath, Dean of Gallup University. "We have many students working on breakthrough projects for their organizations, and we advocate that they tie them to the educational experiences throughout the program." The legal partnership contract spells out the roles of both what the university offers. For instance, he expectsmoreman- agers to get involved in employees' training experiences. This mightmean themanager and employee complete a pre-course assignment together, or it might mean the manager becomes a part of the employee's action plan. "Say an employee leaves the leadership program with three professional goals he wants to achieve," says Doyle. "The manager is now going to get a copy of this action plan, and the manager and the employee will work on it jointly and report back to us. It requires them to show some accountability for what they've learned." Because all corporations are sensitive to the fluctuations of Changes Ahead While corporate universities are here to stay, they are still in a process of evolution. Forecasting what lies ahead for them is tricky. "To tell you where we're going to be five years from now is predicting where our business is going to be five years from now," says Doyle of Menlo. "Corporate universities need to deliver educational experiences that will help our businesses achieve our objectives, so we have to be nimble and flexible. We started the university last year, and I'm already offering courses I did not offer then." Nonetheless, he sees some internal changes that will affect the market, Livingstone fears that if the economy continues to be poor, less money will be poured into corporate univer- sities in the near future. "Training and development are essen- tial to the health of an organization, but those are often areas that are cut when the economy is slow," she notes. Allen is more optimistic. He notes that the growth rate of corporate universities has been consistent over the past ten years, especially as more corporations develop real corporate universities, not just glorified training departments. "Moreover, what I'm seeing worldwide is a global expansion, where corporate universities are huge in Europe and South America. This year I'll be going to Africa to talk to some com- panies there about corporate universities." A boom in the corporate university field could mean a boom for traditional universities as well, if business schools market their particular strengths and skills to this definedmar- ket. Today, when many business schools regard their students as consumers, corporations can be seen as the ultimate con- sumer: demanding, focused, and hungry for knowledge. When business schools can provide exactly what corporations need, everybody wins. ■ z BizEd MAY/JUNE 2004 37