LONDON , England ( CNN ) -- It would be news enough in itself -- the departure of one of business education 's brightest young stars to the private sector -- but Joel Podolny 's announcement that he is to stand down as dean of the Yale School of Management carries a wider impact . Back to school ? An Apple store in downtown Munich , Germany . Podolny , still only 43 and credited with helping applications to the school rise by 50 percent in his four-year tenure , is leaving to become the first ever dean of the so-called Apple University . The computer and tech company has yet to say exactly what Apple University is -- an Apple spokesman called it only an `` exciting new project '' -- but many people assume it is likely to be an in-house executive education and training facility for employees . If confirmed , Podolny 's move highlights the way in which increasing numbers of corporations set up their own `` corporate universities , '' designed to provide tailor-made training to staff . According to one academic study of the phenomenon , by 2001 there were already around 2,000 corporate universities around the world . These are not necessarily intended to replace MBAs or EMBAs at traditional business schools . They tend instead to be far more narrow in focus and specifically geared to the individual needs of the corporation in question . And yet , corporate universities have increasingly borrowed ideas and methods from business schools , a trend which with Podolny 's departure has now apparently extended to poaching staff . Podolny was seen as a hugely successful dean for Yale , overseeing a revamp of the school 's curriculum as well as a notable boost to its reputation . In an email to staff and students announcing his departure , Podolny spoke of his regret but said he had long harbored a passion for all things Apple . `` While there are many great companies , I can not think of one that has had as tremendous personal meaning for me as Apple , '' he wrote . `` I remember writing my first computer program on an Apple II , remember pulling an all-nighter to watch the Laserwriter ( attached to my 128K Mac ) print my undergraduate thesis at seven minutes per page . '' So what will the former professor of economic sociology , who was at the Stanford and Harvard schools before Yale , be doing at Apple ? The Yale Daily News quoted unnamed Apple `` company insiders '' as saying Podolny would mastermind executive education programs within the computer company . This would not be a first for Silicon Valley . While the most famous corporate universities have been in industry and the service sectors , most notably the 47-year-old Hamburger University , which has trained generations of McDonald 's managers , technology firms have taken this idea a stage further . Animation film studio Pixar -- where Apple boss Steve Jobs was formerly CEO -- runs a huge range of courses for staff at its own corporate university . Pixar University is intended to teach more than just the nuts and bolts of modern day computer animation , but to inspire employees ' creativity with a wide range of classes , more than a dozen a week , which staff are permitted to miss work to attend . `` We offer the equivalent of a B.A . in fine arts through our courses , '' says Pixar University 's dean , Randy Nelson .
Joel Podolny , dean of Yale School of Management , is to step down . He is to head `` Apple University '' at the tech firm of that name . " The school will be headed by former Google executive and current Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella who has been in charge since last year.