The New York Times reports today that Bentonville-based Wal-Mart will launch a new initiative to help its employees gain more formal education and position themselves for promotions.
Through a partnership with an online university, Wal-Mart will make available courses for study in the retail arena to its workforce of nearly 1.4 million U.S. workers. The retail giant says as much as 50 percent of its workforce could qualify for the training.
The purveyor of inexpensive jeans and lawnmowers is dipping its toe into the online-education waters, working with a Web-based university to offer its employees in the United States affordable college degrees.
The partnership with American Public University, a for-profit school with about 70,000 online students, will allow some Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club employees to earn credits in areas like retail management and logistics for performing their regular jobs.
The university will offer eligible employees 15 percent price reductions on tuition, and Wal-Mart will invest $50 million over three years in other tuition assistance for the employees who participate.
Wal-Mart estimates that about 50 percent of its employees in the United States have a high school diploma or the equivalent but have not earned a college degree. You can read more on the new initiative at this link.