From 1988 to 2001, corporate "universities" grew from 400 to 2,000 (National Research Council 2002). Most of them primarily offer noncredit, nondegree courses narrowly targeted at retraining the workforce and other company needs. However, some large industries have internal training at a higher education level in engineering and design. For example, Motorola University contracts with 1,200 faculty worldwide who teach business and engineering wherever Motorola is designing innovative products.

Independent nonprofit institutions are also emerging to provide training geared specifically to corporate needs. These institutions offer credit-bearing courses and degree programs through IT and distance education. Institutions such as the Western Governors University and the United States Open University are recently formed examples. Since 1984, the National Technological University (NTU), a consortium of some 540 institutions, has been developing and offering courses and degree programs for engineering-oriented companies. The programs target engineering professionals interested in obtaining master's degrees in 1 of 18 engineering, technical, or business areas. All 1,300 academic courses offered by NTU are supplied by 52 leading engineering universities, including 25 of the top engineering schools in the country (National Research Council 2002).