"Training" magazine taps 2012 Training Top 125 winners and Top 10 Hall of Famers to provide their learning and development best practices in each issue. In this article, Jamie Leitch (American Infrastructure) and Mary Beth Alexander (The Economical Insurance Group) share strategies for tuition reimbursement and professional designations.

Laureate International Universities (LIU) embodies an emerging international phenomenon in which a multinational corporation (MNC) functions as a holding company that acquires and operates brick-and-mortar higher education institutions in a for-profit model; each individual portfolio institution granting degrees under its own name with any…

Coursera has been operating for only a few months, but the company has already persuaded some of the world's best-known universities to offer free courses through its online platform. Colleges that usually move at a glacial pace are rushing into deals with the upstart company. But what exactly have they signed up for? And if the courses are free,…

Few issues have drawn such persistent and divisive debate in recent years as tobacco-industry funding of university research. Although a number of institutions have developed policies to prohibit such funding in the last few years, others have taken large grants from tobacco companies. Today, a number of prominent hospitals, medical schools, and…

This review of the research literature was commissioned by the New Zealand Post-Primary Teachers Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua as a means of informing the decision-making of the Association and its members about the Teach For All (TFA) scheme seeking to prepare teachers for New Zealand's schools. The systematic review is about fast track…

As the common core state standards become reality, teachers have reason for concern. In this article the author outlines the roots of what has been called the corporate reform in education and its effects on the arts, poverty, and disabilities. The financial contributions of the Gates and Broad foundations led to the corporatization and nationwide…

Research on volunteer mentor programs has demonstrated mostly positive outcomes for mentees. As a result, many schools seek to attract and retain volunteers to assist children in need of support. The researchers interviewed 26 adult volunteers (from Australian companies) who help children with reading difficulties and examined intervention effects…

In 2013, Alabama adopted the Alabama Accountability Act, an education reform measure that includes two new school choice programs that extend a lifeline to Alabama students trapped in failing public schools. One program offers a tax credit to help offset the cost of tuition for families who move their children from public schools designated as…

When Tim Clevenger became executive director of the University of Oregon Alumni Association in 2011, he was dismayed to learn that revenue, including paid memberships, was steadily declining. The association staff and board of directors considered multiple strategies to boost earnings, with stabilizing and growing dues revenue high on the list.…

To compensate for declining public school budgets, an increasing number of local public education organizations are soliciting and accepting financial support from U.S. corporations. There is considerable debate as to whether corporate involvement ultimately aids or hampers students' academic achievement, and there are many conflicting opinions as…

From Louisiana to West Virginia to North Carolina--and many states in between--a growing number of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are coming off the sidelines and finally getting into the major fundraising game. In the face of a cash crunch, the colleges are rushing to launch serious capital and planned giving campaigns.…

This article presents an interview with Marion Nestle, the New York University food scientist and author of "Food Politics." Marion Nestle is Paulette Goddard Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University. From 1986 to 1988, she was senior nutrition policy adviser in the Department of Health and…

Over the past 2,000 years, the concept of charity has moved from the personal care of the poor mandated by religious conviction to a multibillion dollar business. The culture of technological efficiency helped create this transformation. The authors explore the origins of charity and show how technology has drastically altered its form and…

Scaling up good corporate social investment practices in developing countries is crucial to realizing the "Education for All" and "Millennium Development Goals". Yet very few corporate social investments have the right mix of vision, financing, cross-sector engagement and leadership to come to scale. Globally, 67 million…

E-training has developed into a revolutionary way of learning in Malaysian organizations due to rapid growth in information technology infrastructure. The present study endeavors to determine the critical factors that influence e-training effectiveness in multinational companies (MNCs) in Malaysia. By integrating Technology Acceptance Model (TAM),…