CorpU partners with academics to tailor learning programs for employer needs

While online training and development courses may have a bad rap for being mundane, new strides are being taken to create more innovative and engaging programs with a focus on human achievement.

CorpU — a Philadelphia-based tech company that provides an online platform allowing universities to partner with companies and provide educational benefits to employees — has partnered with business leaders and academic institutions such as Penn State Smeal College of Business, Georgia Tech and the University of Pennsylvania to reconstruct featured courses and tailor them to Fortune 500 companies.

Also see: Employers partner with academic institutions to create specialized programs

CorpU provides access to development programs in a cloud-based, social learning platform.

There are currently several course offerings, including China and globalization, talent management, and driving customer value.

In addition to providing continued education, CorpU CEO Alan Todd says that the programs can drive employee engagement, leading to increased productivity, happiness and retention. “We’ve rebuilt what virtual education looks like,” he says.

The programs create an open dialogue for employees, providing for peer-to-peer and peer-to-expert conversations. This approach to continued education has shown a dramatic increase in completion rates, which reach upward of 80%, says Todd. “I think you will see more of this in the future,” he adds.