The growth of corporate education is a stimulus to both internal collegiate debates and public policy decision making. Many profitable educational ventures have been initiated that were provoked by employers' recognition of their responsibility for developing their employees. The American University, for example, using its own faculty, offers an MS in toxicology at Litton Industries, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology cooperates in an education program with IBM and Digital Equipment. An indirect benefit to colleges resulting from an increased awareness of conditions in higher education on the part of business and industry has been the use of modern technology by colleges and universities to educates future employees. And a national discussion on the role of colleges and universities in American society has been stimulated by heightened awareness of shared national needs.
Corporate education is well established, a large enterprise, and increasingly more professional.
The factors that led employers to begin to educate and train their employees continue to affect their choices as technology changes, as businesses create proprietary information to share with their employees, and as employees need to learn new skills or enhance current skills to make a contribution to the workplace. If traditional collegiate institutions and associations ignore or discount corporate education, they will do so at their own peril. There is room for accommodation and cooperation that will serve learners and their providers as well. Carnevale, Anthony P. 1986. The Learning Enterprise.