Corporate University

In Kyle’s corpus, “Corporate University” is John Hoffmire’s thesis that the revolutionary move in education is corporations running their own universities. A Saïd Business School (Oxford) faculty member who is bearish on the modern two-year MBA and on theory generally, Hoffmire argues that the future is hybrid online education paired with producing real value — and that corporate-run universities are how that future arrives. The notes from Kyle’s 2014 Oxford conversation flag an open thread: what Hoffmire meant by the “evolution steps” for corporate-run universities, and the best way to speed them up.

Context: A corporate university is an in-house education and training arm run by a company to develop its own workforce (and sometimes its partners or customers) — well-known historical examples include McDonald’s “Hamburger University,” GE’s Crotonville, and Disney University — typically blending job-specific skills with broader leadership development outside the traditional degree system.

Where this appears

• John Hoffmire — his thesis that corporations running their own universities is the revolutionary move in education, alongside hybrid online + produce-real-value learning