Liberal Education and the Corporation analyzes the interrelation of higher education and corporate management at a time when educational and industrial institutions are reassessing their basic strategies. Drawing upon research supported by the Corporate Council on the Liberal Arts, in affiliation with the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, it focuses on the corporate career paths of college graduates and on the comparative advantages of liberal arts, business, and engineering degrees, providing data and interpretations essential for policy discussions of curricula reform and corporate management development.

The book draws upon four primary sources of information: (l) a survey of major corporations, focusing on their policies and practices in hiring and promoting college graduates; (2) a parallel survey of middle and senior managers of large companies, concentrating on their career experiences and their assessment of other managers of varying educational backgrounds; (3) detailed examination of the experience of major corporations in the hiring and promotion of college graduates; (4) interviews with career counselors and corporate human resource managers.