Prince McLeanThe dean of Yale University's School of Management has announced that he will be leaving to join Apple as a new Vice President, serving of the dean of a new "Apple University."
Apple has run the iTunes U program since the middle of last year, which helps schools publish audio and video podcasts of lectures along with coursework documents to their student population, and the company encourages schools to share their educational content with the general public as well.
Another program Apple set up earlier this year is iPhone University, which was designed to help schools learn how to develop custom mobile applications and deploy the WiFi infrastructure needed to support wirelessly connected mobile computing on campuses.
The company also manages a series of training and certification programs that range from desktop support, computer repair, and network administration to training programs that cover Final Cut Studio, Logic Pro, and the company's other software titles.
Apple also runs free classes, workshops, and presentations in its retail stores covering Mac basics and the use of software such as iLife, and sells an annual subscription pass for 'One to One' personal training related to computing. The company has also started a summer Apple Camp and fall field trip programs for students within its retail stores.
Five years ago, a journalism student at UC Berkeley profiled a professional-development program at Steve Jobs' other company, called Pixar University, intended to "build morale, spirit and communication among employees."
The purpose of Apple University is yet unknown, but a letter from Yale president Richard Levin discussing Podolny's departure said the dean was leaving to "lead educational initiatives at Apple." Levin also praised the dean's "boundless energy and dogged persistence," and noted that Podolny "took a personal hand in creating new courses and programs."
Christine McKee
Andrew Orr
Charles Martin
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Wesley Hilliard
19 Comments
I would like to see what other tier schools Apple cherry picks from too, but they are off to a good start!
Wow. This is a serious choice. Perhaps Steve sees online (Apple University being some part of that) as an eventual replacement of institutions of higher learning. Not a bad bet.
This is the dumbest move I have seen. Instead of working with US Universities to introduce Cocoa/ObjC programming as advanced programming topics across major universities we're getting a Yale Apple University Business Curriculum?
What a dickish maneuver and one as a Shareholder should have been put up for a proxy vote.
This is the dumbest move I have seen. Instead of working with US Universities to introduce Cocoa/ObjC programming as advanced programming topics across major universities we're getting a Yale Apple University Business Curriculum?
What a dickish maneuver and one as a Shareholder should have been put up for a proxy vote.
Instead of making a conclusion based on the very vague descriptions that fill a few paragraphs, perhaps you should consider a wait-and-see approach. We don't know what this means just yet and I for one am curious where this goes. Only when everything is on the table can we decide what goes on.
Or you could just sell your AAPL and walk away. However, I would bet you would never do that since you're as curious as the rest of us what Steve has up his sleeves.
Steve isn't about to start a university...
I imagine this might be about preparing educational information to help universities teach how to use, and make the most of Macs. It might also be the reverse as well, helping apple support universities better (through improving iTunes U for example)...
I don't see online ever replacing face-to-face universities entirely, you just can't learn so well that way. It certainly has potential to do away with some courses - the Open University here in the UK run all their courses remotely, and seems to do fairly well at it. It could be that Apple want to expand iTunes U into proper courses (which you pay for), which could have quite a lot of potential. I'd expect we'll hear something next summer (before the next academic term starts) if this is the case.