Mickey Mouse's appearance at the 2000 graduation ceremony of Valencia Community College provided more than a few laughs to those in attendance. He also came bearing gifts in the form of a one million dollar check made out to the college for the school's Hospitality and Tourism Institute.
Like partnerships at thousands of colleges and universities across the country, Walt Disney World's relationship with Valencia is based on a alliance in which a corporation provides funding for a college which in turn creates courses to designed to help train the company's employees.
Disney's presence at Valencia's graduation ceremony is indicative of the consistent growth of corporate universities across the country.
Corporate universities, which have been springing up in schools of all sizes, are a means of continued education and corporate development. The corporation foots the bill, the college or university designs the specific class and the employees continue their education.
Although some smaller schools are fully dedicated to corporate partnerships, most corporate universities are programs within larger schools which work with the same faculty employed for teaching regularly enrolled undergraduate and graduate students.
"A corporate university is the internal education function of the company," explained Jeanne Meister, president of Corporate University Xchange, an education-research and consulting firm in New York. "It's the strategic umbrella for all education and development for employees, customers and suppliers of an organization."
According to an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, the number of corporate universities in the United States has grown from 400 in 1988 to over 2,000 currently. During the same period, more than 100 four-year colleges have closed their doors.
If these rates of change continue, Meister notes, the number of corporate universities will exceed the number of traditional institutions within the next decade.
Meister argues that this trend means colleges and universities must take into account and embrace the growing corporate presence on campuses across the nation.
"Workers need to constantly replenish their knowledge and skills in order to stay competitive in the workforce. It's not going to be a threat to universities, but universities must wake up to the fact that education is no longer a monopoly business," Meister said.
Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, accounted for a growing population of "non-traditional learners," defined as those over 25 and seeking education, by creating its Center for Special and Professional Studies.
Through the Center, the university has formed and maintained partnerships within the business community, training employees for Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Wells Fargo and The Principal Financial Group, among others.
"The reasons that Drake University created this center [were] that they had communications from business leaders that they wanted a closer connection with solid training and development options and they felt that the university would have that," Center Director Connie Sanders said. "It's really a bridge between the community and the college."
Sanders also said that Drake's partnerships are a great source of revenue in several different areas, a phenomenon that Meister said he has noted at most corporate universities. According to a Corporate University Xchange survey, on average, the annual revenue gained from partnering with a corporatation is 4.8 million dollars.
"This is a huge emerging revenue stream for academic institutions," Meister said.
Valencia's partnership with Walt Disney World provides similar benefits. Todd Deery of Valencia's Marketing and Media Relations said that Disney's presence is a shadow over all of Orlando and, more specifically, plays a key role in the shaping of the college, both in the bank and in the classroom.
"It is sort of a win-win situation or a two-way street that we have with Disney," said Deery. "They help to develop our curriculums, and we'll help to train their workers."
Corporate partnerships are especially prominent in postgraduate business schools. Indiana University's Kelley School of Business recently developed an online MBA program for General Motors.
Like many other business schools, the Kelley school has - for the past decade - only accepted employees of its corporate clients or partners. These clients explain what they want from a specific program, and then the school and corporation work together to create it.
"The clients are purchasing the product as they build the product," General Manager of Executive Partners at the Kelley School Ron Thomas said.
