Corporate Education Advisers works with organisations to develop effective corporate learning strategies aligned with the future direction and corporate goals of their organisation.

Traditionally, corporate training is designed to ensure an organisation continues to operate in an effective and consistent manner. However, corporate education is emerging as the competitive edge for organisations to develop their capability and anticipate strategic requirements over the short and medium-term, ie some 2 – 3 – 4 years.

The most effective corporate education programs are aligned with the strategic goals of the organisation. However, our global research finds that only 55% of companies link their corporate education and training programs to their corporate goals.

Corporate Education Advisers works closely with senior managers, including human resources and organisation development managers, to develop an holistic approach to corporate learning and development through the integration of formal education and training programs with informal and workplace learning.


The Role of Corporate Education
As the global economy increasingly evolves to a ‘knowledge economy’ the need for industry to continually innovate products, processes and services and support their employees with lifelong learning is becoming a high priority.

The challenge for organisations is to identify the skills and competencies they require into the future. Organisations participating in our global research indicated they increasingly need a flexible and highly skilled workforce. Some 86 per cent of respondents stated the primary purpose of their corporate education programs is to build the skills and competencies of their employees (Ryan, 2007).

However, factors such as globalisation, new technologies and other changes in the business environment, including rising oil prices, interest rates and inflation, make it difficult for organisations to be specific on their workforce skills and competency requirements in the future, whether this be three months’ time or three years.

While competency based training is fine for maintaining current operations, increasingly organisations need to hedge their options on the future and ensure they have the capabilities and workforce flexiibility to anticipate and respond to future challenges and opportunities.

Corporate education also plays an important role in retaining and attracting good employees as well as engaging employees with the organisation. This becomes increasingly important with growing workforce skills shortages. The shortage of skilled, capable people is not restricted to the local market. Research forecasts that by 2020 there will be a global shortage of skilled workers representing some 32 to 39 million jobs. One report predicts the United States will be short of 17 million skilled workers; China 10 million; Japan 9 million, Russia 6 million; France 3 million; Spain 3 million; Germany 3 million and United Kingdom 2 million (Gordon, 2003, Bridging the Gap, Training, VNU eMedia Inc, September, Volume 40, Issue 8)