Recently, in looking through some of the absolute TON of business publications I receive, I read an article about a new trend in American business. This trend sees individual companies are creating their own internal "degree programs" that emulate traditional online degree programs. In these cases, the organizations are putting together a "degree" plan (or a number of differing degree plans) that allow employees to earn a certificate that is referred to as a "degree". The degree programs can be made up exclusively of in-house training opportunities, or they can be a mix of internal and external training classes.

The obvious benefit to the company is that they create a goal system for employees which naturally encourages and challenges their staff members to make themselves more valuable to the organization through education. The benefit for the individual employee is that these programs can be undertaken at no out-of-pocket expense.

In many instances, the bulk of the training can be undertaken electronically, through the company's own intranet or through the Web sites of partner training groups. Of course, in most cases these are not actual degrees that are recognized by traditional accrediting agencies and therefore the value of the "degree" exists mostly within the organization itself. Obviously that exclusivity is of great value to the company.

Even though the degrees that are earned are not transferrable to traditional colleges or universities, I really admire this approach to learning. As someone who has managed employees for a long time, I can tell you that getting staff to attend non-mandatory training can be difficult due to demands on their time, and they often resent training programs that are considered "mandatory" for no reason other than the fact that the company wants everyone to participate.

I really like this idea, and I think that some enterprising organizations need to take the ball and run further with it, perhaps extending the program to ensure that their students earn CEU's (continuing education units) or even legitimate credit that can be applied to a real-world degree.