Duke Corporate Education has again been ranked the world’s #1 provider of custom executive education, according to BusinessWeek.

“For custom, Duke CE is in a class all their own,” noted BW special projects reporter Geoff Gloeckler in an October 13th online “live chat.” “Because custom education is their focus they are able to devote all of their resources to providing exactly what the client wants.”

While details of the biennial survey have appeared in the October 24th issue of the magazine, the online discussion noted a clear trend toward custom programs and away from open enrollment, citing companies’ desire for participants to be part of a dialogue, discussion, or simulation rather than auditors of a lecture. “The schools/companies that are doing it right are getting out of the classroom,” Gloeckler added.

In a related article entitled “ Head of the Class: Executive Education Programs that Deliver Real-World Examples Get the Highest Ratings,“ Gloeckler describes a PricewaterhouseCoopers program delivered by Duke CE in which partners of the well-known accounting firm learn a basketball play from coaches on the Duke men’s team. In the debrief, participants discuss the power of the metaphor for deepening their thinking on goal-setting, team-building, and the trade-offs between individual and group objectives.

Said a pleased Blair Sheppard, Duke CE’s CEO: “Our clients have made us very good at what we do by being both thoughtful and demanding. We’re extremely pleased to have been chosen as an education partner by some of the smartest people in the world.”

Sheppard added, “We also thank those who deliver our programs, without whose creativity, thought leadership, and willingness to customize to individual clients’ learning outcomes we could not exist.”

Duke CE was likewise ranked #1 by BusinessWeek in 2003. London ’s Financial Times also named Duke CE #1 for custom executive education in 2006 for the fourth year in a row here.