University Of Toyota, New York University, Form Learning Alliance
Partnership Combines Learning and Development Initiatives to Advance the Visions of Both Institutions
TORRANCE, Calif., May 17 -- The University of Toyota's School of Retail Professional Development (SRPD) and New York University's Corporate Learning Services (CLS), a division of its School of Continuing and Professional Studies, have announced the formation of an alliance designed to enhance the learning and development visions of both institutions.
The goal of the alliance is to integrate Toyota's demand for continuous performance improvement with NYU's approach to education.
"We're very excited about partnering with a renowned institution like NYU, the alliance represents a win-win opportunity for both parties," said Bryan Bergsteinsson, Group Vice President, University of Toyota, in making the announcement. "Their faculty, staff and course offerings represent a range of developmental opportunities for the University of Toyota's professional and managerial programs. It also gives NYU an opportunity to increase its exposure within the automotive industry. All told, the alliance represents a tremendous leap forward for both parties."
NYU's CLS provides a variety of educational experiences to some 82,000 students in corporations such as jetBlue, Chase, American Express, MCI and the New York City Fire Department. SRPD develops and delivers automotive retail education for close to 100,000 Toyota, Lexus, Scion dealer employees nationwide.
Areas of collaboration will initially focus on synchronous learning, training and conferences.
"This alliance represents a wonderful opportunity for NYU to partner with one of the most respected companies in the world to help them expand their learning opportunities," said David Balderson, Director, Corporate Learning Services, at New York University. "We are very excited about the mutual benefits both parties will realize from this partnership."
In training, the two universities will integrate their own training programs for Sales Consultants and Sales Managers to provide a more comprehensive offering for Toyota sales professionals. New joint developments will address content gaps in the curriculum. Joint marketing of the schools' comprehensive offering to non-Toyota personnel will also be explored.
In the area of synchronous learning, CLS' library of synchronous learning programs covers a wide variety of disciplines and will be offered to Toyota dealerships and associates. These programs will provide Toyota personnel the opportunity to learn from world-class instructors without having to travel to remote sites.
CLS will also provide synchronous learning "boot camps" designed to teach University of Toyota course developers and instructors how to produce their own synchronous learning programs.
The first joint SRPD/CLS conference, The 2004 Leadership Conference, takes place May 20 in New York. During the conference, both parties will integrate their resources to offer a leadership conference that focuses on employee retention.
Additional collaborative activities are under investigation for 2004 and beyond.
About NYU'S SCPS
Founded in 1934, NYU's School of Continuing and Professional Studies (NYU SCPS) enrolls more than 50,000 adult learners annually, offering 2,500 credit and non-credit courses that span more than 125 fields. The School, a nationally-known leader in adult education, offers busy professionals the choice of 12 masters degree programs, nine bachelors programs, six associates degrees and seven graduate and 110 other professional certificate programs to educate them for leadership in New York City's key business sectors, ranging from real estate, healthcare, management and hospitality to marketing, finance, law, film entertainment and publishing. Please visit NYU SCPS online at www.scps.nyu.edu for more information.
NYU SCPS's Corporate Learning Services division is a leader in corporate training, serving over 80,000 employees from Fortune 1000 companies. In the past three years the division has won an APX award, an HR Executive Top Ten, and a Department of Commerce Presidential "E" Award.
About SRPD
The University of Toyota's School of Retail Professional Development (SRPD) provides education for nearly 1,400 Toyota and Lexus dealers nationwide. Educational offerings include classes, performance groups, in-dealership consulting and comprehensive performance improvement solutions on topics that cover all aspects of automotive retail, including sales, service, parts, finance, management, and leadership. The University of Toyota is a division of Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., the sales, marketing, distribution and marketing arm of Toyota in the USA, located in Torrance, Calif. (www.toyota.com).
