(FORTUNE Magazine) – It's so obviously a good idea that you have to wonder why nobody thought of it long ago. More and more companies are approaching local universities and asking for customized degree programs aimed at teaching their employees specific skills needed on the job. In one case, Motorola officials in Tempe, Ariz., persuaded Arizona State University to put together a technology MBA program. The classes, taught by professors from the ASU business, engineering, and applied-science schools, take place in a company facility. Intel, Boeing, and AlliedSignal have all developed technology-management courses at local universities as well, and dozens of their employees are enrolled.

Techies aren't the only ones enrolling in such custom-made courses. For example, employees from Johnson & Johnson and Bristol-Myers Squibb are enrolled in a pharmaceutical MBA course of study at Farleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey.

For companies involved in these types of programs, there's a double benefit. They get the highly trained workers they desperately need, and they also can be sure that the cash they shell out for tuition reimbursements is being used on courses that have some relevance to the workplace. No more Basket Weaving 101.

--Sheree R. Curry