PHILADELPHIA -- The University of Pennsylvania will offer a graduate degree program for learning leaders through a partnership between Penn's Wharton School and Graduate School of Education.

The Executive Program in Work-Based Learning Leadership will provide a formalized education in business, leadership, technology and strategy within the context of work-related learning.  The goal is to enable the learning leader, often called the chief learning officer or head of talent development, to function at the same strategic level as other senior executives.

The program will welcome its first class in January 2007.

Both in the number of students and in the amount of money spent, workplace learning now dwarfs higher education.

"Most adults learn on the job rather than in a formal educational setting," said Doug Lynch, vice dean of the Graduate School of Education.  "The average Fortune 1000 company spends 2.5 percent of its operating budget on learning. For many of these companies, that amounts to tens of millions of dollars.  We developed the Executive Program in Work-Based Learning Leadership to help elevate the status and competence of the organizational learning leader."

"Developing talent is one of the most important initiatives for an organization to undertake," said Jon Spector, Wharton School vice dean of executive education.  "By joining with Penn's Graduate School of Education, we are able to formalize the educational training of those in, or in line to assume, a learning-leader position."

The need for learning leaders exists across all industries, and learning leaders play a key role in strategy development and implementation, working closely with CEOs and high-level teams to improve individual, team and organizational effectiveness.

The program is executive in nature and the only one of its kind among top-tier universities.  It allows students to continue working while they study. Using a blend of on-site classes and distance learning, the University of Pennsylvania Executive Program in Work-Based Learning will use the students' expertise and experience to inform the curriculum.

Doctoral and master's students are expected to ground their research, their master's theses and their dissertations in the workplace.

Certificate programs in individual course blocks are also available.