HELP! I have been charged with researching, designing and implementing a corporate university for my organization. Has anyone had experience with this type of project? I'd like to receive ideas and suggestions on how to move forward with this project.

Congrats, Joyce! That's a mighty broad subject/request, though -- can you be a bit more specific?

My company is a financial organization that finances and services student loans. One of our training goals this year is to create and implement leadership training as part of our formal succession. I would like to utilize a "self-directed" learning format and it seems that a corporate university would fit this. Unfortunately, I have never had any experience with a CU and don't know where to start. I have completed preliminary research and know that there are LMSs out there that might fit the bill. However, I'd like to use a blended approach which would combine CBT/web-based learning with book-clubs, class-room, projects,etc. I've also explored the option of partnering with a local college to possibly offer online classes that would fit our needs. I've met with our executive management team and will be conducting focus groups with middle management soon. I have lots of ideas, but I'm curious if anyone else has gone through this process and could give me some tips on how to manage this project, share ideas that were successful, etc.

I think this question has been asked before - there should be good info on it somewhere on this forum. Just hit the find button and type in the subject.

Joyce D,

Jeanne Meister is the guru of corporate universities. Look for her book, Corporate Universities: Lessons in Building a World-Class Work Force, Revised Edition, on amazon.com.

She has written several articles for T+D on this subject. You can find them in the ASTD store by typing in "corporate university" in the search box.

Sounds like an exciting project!