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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.
Customized degree programs such as the one CMU developed for GM are "the Mercedes of the education industry," said Vicky Phillips, founder and chief executive of GetEducated.com, a Vermont-based Web directory and information center for distance learning and online degrees.
The automaker scouted several schools before it settled on CMU for a master's degree designed to give students management as well as technical skills, Mr. [Chris Tipton] said. Neither the university nor GM would disclose tuition, but Mr. Tipton said it was "competitive" with other graduate programs.