What are Corporate Universities?

Corporate Universities are born in a very specific context: that of Learning Organizations, i.e., organisations in which people improve their ability to achieve results.

Corporate Universities are focused on the development of people, their career paths, and their training.

Their function is obviously closely related to the corporate strategy, which they support by implementing and training employees with the aim of achieving innovation and excellence in the business itself.

But what does it mean that Corporate Universities support the corporate strategy and aim for innovation?

Their primary function, that is, the development and training of people, results in a dissemination of corporate culture and consequently support for change for each employee, through refresher courses and training.

Corporate Universities should not be seen only as places of learning but also as places to enhance the talents present within the company.

The creation and development of a Corporate University is a long process that we can define in steps:

• formation of a governance system, in which the training objectives, the links between these and the business, are identified, and the training philosophy for development is made explicit;
• then we move on to the formulation of the mission that the Corporate University will have to pursue;
• a financial strategy is applied to sustain its costs;
• its organisation is created;
• stakeholders are identified;
• the products and services that the Corporate University will offer to employees are created;
• agreements with Learning Partners who will provide the training are sought and made;
• technology is implemented to support the identified training needs;
• a monitoring system of the Corporate University’s progress is created.

Why develop a Corporate University?

As already mentioned, developing it means improving all those aspects related to corporate strategy and business needs, but it is also a knowledge management tool and a dissemination of new learning techniques. Another fundamental aspect is the fact that it helps organisations and people in phases of change, precisely because of its ability to develop and train.

What characteristics will the Corporate University of the Terme Italia Group have?

Technically, CUs are educational entities, tools to help organisations; tools that “serve” to achieve corporate goals by providing training to employees and developing their skills necessary for success, emphasising that there are many tools that help the company achieve its goals, but only the corporate University does so through people.

The characteristics of our CU in a list:

• A CU that addresses multiple professional profiles or professional families.
• Create a CU because we do not just want a “revisitation” of the typical Training function in HR, but a CU focused on the entire organisation, adopting a systemic approach aimed at facilitating the achievement of business strategies.
• A CU that accompanies the entire company in the path of Change Management in the implementation of the business plan in the coming years.
• The CU that leverages on the history of our assets/BU/brand, our experience, our products and all the knowledge acquired from each BU’s individual stories; but also from studies, innovation, and research.
• Creating a CU not only to provide training on “job-specific topics” but an organisational entity supporting corporate transformation and growth.
• A CU to achieve the goals of improving both individual and organisational performance, attracting and retaining talent, developing a common and shared corporate culture.
• An entity where HR management processes and tools converge from recruiting, onboarding, performance appraisal, professional development, to career paths, etc.
• Where trainers are not only external experts or lecturers but also internal people and professionals (co-teaching) and, obviously, WITH Partnerships with Universities and Research Centres.

Knowledge, Awareness, Action

Imagine a staircase with three steps:

1. Knowledge
2. Awareness
3. Action

Knowledge is essential for making choices and being Aware. Awareness is the necessary condition for Acting at your best!

Our Academy will exist to impact the first step: we want to get you passionate about knowledge; we want to distribute sparks to ignite bombs of knowledge.

And we are just at the beginning.

GIUSEPPE DI CESARE
Terme Italia Group Human Resources Director