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Corporate Universities is a generic name given to educational structures based in private and public, commercial and non-commercial organizations, to help implement—through education— the organization's strategies in human, economic, financial, technological, social and environmental terms. Corporate Universities are spreading on a global scale. Their initial purpose was to provide employees with a broad range of skills and help companies adapt to business imperatives. Not only must they pursue these goals, but corporate universities must also play a key role in the major issues and the guiding principles that govern contemporary society.

The laudable principles of Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainable Development, and Corporate Citizenship have been knitted together by ideologists, companies, international organizations, and civil society. However, these fine and intelligent principles are only worthy if they leave the drawing board! Responsibility isn't something that can be bought in a supermarket – it has always been something that needs to be learnt and put into practice.

The author invites companies tomake their Corporate University a lever of their corporate responsibility. It is not only a question of fashion or of image. It is a question of ethics. It is also a question of global regulation. It is urgent to help directors of education and sustainable development and social responsibility officers to work together, with internal and external stakeholders, in order to ensure that corporate responsibility becomes a true leadership tool and above all a way of working. In this order, Annick Renaud-Coulon gives a strong business case for implementing corporate responsibility through corporate universities. She also delivers her vision of what a Corporate University should be in today’s global world, as well as relevant guides for building and re-energizing Corporate Universities.

"Your book is chock full of insight and sage counsel for me at this juncture in my career as I embark upon building a corporate university for Shinsei Group. It put many ideas into print and will be instrumental in helping me to gain key stakeholder engagement and providing an appropriate governance structure for the Shinsei CU. I am very excited and so is our CEO. He has asked to read your book and I loaned it to him with the pages highlighted and turned."

Tom Pedersen,
Chief Learning Officer, Shinsei Bank (Japan)