There's a new trend in online education: custom-made degree programs for employees of large corporations.

Termed " the Mercedes of the education industry,&lrquo; programs like the one designed for General Motors technology managers are finding favor both in the classroom and the boardroom.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports:

Instead of taking time off to attend classes and complete their projects in Pittsburgh, the GM employees viewed lectures delivered on campus via CD-ROM disks that were sent to Michigan, and communicated with CMU faculty and fellow students via e-mail, telephone and Internet sites. At test time, the students went to sites near their homes or offices where a proctor supervised the exam.

"For universities, it's a huge, growing and lucrative market because if they can partner with a corporation, then the corporation Actually agrees to underwrite the program. It's very expensive for a college to go out and try to recruit students one by one."

"Particularly in the business schools, faculty like to partner with a large corporate brand because it reflects better on their [school] brand," said Ms. Phillips. "Whether it's GM or Intel, it's brand affiliation."As the lines between business and education grow more and more blurred, we have to ask: where are we heading?