PERFECT PARTNERS! The London Business School (LBS) recently partnered with U.S. e-learning specialist Quisic to deliver distance courses on a variety of areas in business. And - California-based e-learning firm, Pensare, has teamed up with three Stanford professors to create a new corporate- focused distance learning program on e-commerce. All indications are that business schools are increasingly using the Web and e-business as both curriculum and delivery method. The Internet has become central to businesses, prodding them to create MBA programs with e-business content and to add online courses to their portfolios. (Financial Times, Business Education, 23 Oct 00)

EMPLOYER DEMAND FOR CUSTOMIZATION - A new report in Britain's Financial Times has found that while employer demand for open enrollment programs may be static or shrinking, demand for custom programs is growing exponentially. As a result, universities are rushing to form partnerships that will increase their customization capabilities. Based on a survey of professional education programs at the top 30 open enrollment business schools in the United States and Britain, the Financial Times report sought to identify long-term trends in employer-driven continuing business education, but its findings will strike a responsive chord among continuing educators engaged in other work-related programming. The survey found several major trends:

• continuing decline in employer demand for open enrollment programs,
• a sharp upsurge in demand for customized programs and
  
• a wave of strategic alliances as universities join forces to better meet customization demands.

The latter trend even extends to executive MBA programs, according to the Financial Times, as exemplified by the recent announcement of a new executive MBA jointly offered by Columbia University and the University of London. International alliances have found particular favor as universities struggle to meet what is turning out to be a global demand for customized programming. The Fuqua school at Duke University, for example, now does more custom business in Europe than in the United States. While customization of program content has been paramount so far, there are also signs of increasing employer demand for specific instructional methods and technology. "It's not just custom content," one program director told the Financial Times, "it's customized process." Read the complete story on the Financial Times website at CLICK: http://career.ft.com/CareerAdvisor/BusinessEducation/feature.html (E-News From UCEA, 24 Oct 00)

FIRMS CUSTOMIZE INTERNET COURSES - Many high-tech companies looking for skilled workers are turning to customized distance learning to provide employees with the training they need. Technology training is expected to account for 55% of all training in two years, compared with 21% in 1998, according to International Data (IDC). Much of this training will be provided online, and IDC predicts e-learning will reach $11 billion by 2003, up from $550 million in 1998. Hundreds of firms are now participating in e-learning, but some companies are offering innovative approaches that improve online learning. For example, KnowledgeNet offers Web-based IT training in which employees gather in an online classroom at a designated time. KnowledgeNet students listen to a lecture over an 800 number while viewing visual content on their computers. (Investor's Business Daily, 19 Oct 00 - Edupage 20 Oct 00)

THE NEXT WAVE IS CONTENT! A recent set of interviews with corporate buyers indicated that 2001 will bring about a strong demand for CONTENT, CONTENT, CONTENT! However, there is a growing perception of an eLearning content deficit. Many of the managers of large organizations reported some frustration at the scarcity of content choices in core topical areas. "I can buy dozens of systems to deliver content, but I only can find three collections of content on manufacturing techniques...and these are little more than electronic page turners!" This was the complaint of a VP for Manufacturing at a Fortune 500 company, where the CEO has announced that e-learning is core to their business strategy. He is desperately looking for a diversity of content choices from both a topical and methodology perspective. (TechLearn TRENDS, 3 Oct 00