EDITORIAL

The European Club of Corporate Universities is now in its seventh year (from 30 September 2008). Since 2002, it has given me great pleasure to bring together, five times a year, men and women, whose job—that of Corporate University director—is a pragmatic and complex one, and not easily understood, as it lies somewhere between HR and Corporate Strategy. These directors often have to cope with the loneliness of a long-distance runner and, in their constantly changing environment, they have to prove their competence in many areas, be open-minded and question absolutes, formulate new ideas, be innovative, create value, and find ways of making savings.
The progress they are making can be seen both within and outside the organization, in the short- and long-term development of companies and individuals. They have to tread a fine line between suppliers with their rapidly expanding information, technology, and logistics, and prescribers pursuing sometimes-contradictory objectives, while satisfying the needs of their target customers, who increasingly belong to different cultures.
Everyone can, of course, advance on their own in their company by monitoring innovations, following the worldwide development in the creation of Corporate Universities, and carrying out their own benchmarking studies. However, it is widely accepted that sharing their research with others—in an environment of mutual trust, where there is freedom of expression—saves a considerable amount of time and generates economies of scale, while providing a very qualitative sounding board. Although I called the Club ‘European’ in 2002, it had nothing to do with hegemony; it was quite simply because France is a European country and it was important to develop European educational models. Experience has since shown that the learning models vary widely depending on the culture and country.
Today, it would be more appropriate to say that the Club is international, as there are non-European members, such as Sonatrach and Sonelgaz—the first Algerian companies! This convivial community of practice—founded on a certain number of guiding, operating, and membership principles that have made it the success it is—now comprises around thirty companies.

Annick Renaud Coulon
Founder and President

THE FOUNDING VISION

The founding vision of the European Club of Corporate Universities is to provide an influential network that is recognized by Corporate University directors, academies and corporate institutes:
For the quality and dynamism of its members;
For the vitality and pertinence of its work, research, and innovative proposals for the future.

AMBITIONS

The Club aims to bring together Corporate University professionals in a convivial and efficient effective network, enabling them to:
develop fruitful and meaningful interchanges with other members,
strengthen the identity of their job and internal educational organization,
question their own strategies and develop them in line with the demands and concerns of contemporary society,
innovate and optimize their resource management,
and continue creating value in their organization.

The aim is to help member companies save time and money by managing, dynamizing, or creating their Corporate University through various initiatives:
by preparing theme-based meetings and dossiers,
by getting specialists to intervene in the analysis or illustration of the working themes,
and by organizing work through member networks.

The Club also encourages the development of the cultural and organizational aspects of Corporate Universities in every major region of the world, in order to aid member companies integrate the market contingencies in which they operate into the management of their University or project to establish one. This can be achieved:
by helping them to work on the differences and complementarities within their own organizations,
and by facilitating exchange between Corporate University Directors from different cultures, and enabling them to collaborate on the experimentation of new learning methods.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Company members agree to act in accordance with a club spirit—relationships are based on contribution, active interchange, trust, reciprocity, confidentiality, respecting differences, and collaborative exchange between peers, who are all Corporate University, institute, or academy Directors.