WASHINGTON, US - Apple has hired the dean of the business school at Yale University to head an educational initiative to be called Apple University, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

Joel Podolny, the dean of the Yale School of Management since 2005, will join the Cupertino, California-based computer maker as vice president and dean of Apple University in early 2009, the newspaper said.

Apple declined to provide any details about the university or the position.

In a message on Wednesday, Yale president Richard Levin said Podolny had decided to step down from his position at the university from November 1 "to return to California and lead educational initiatives at Apple."

Corporate universities are a growing trend in the United States, the Wall Street Journal noted, one of the best known being Hamburger University run by McDonald's to train employees.

There is also a Pixar University for animators at Pixar Animation Studios, the company bought by Walt Disney Co. in 2006, the Journal said. Apple chief executive Steve Jobs was the largest shareholder in Pixar.--AFP