Sharper edges: buoyed by a better economy, more companies are sending employees to executive-education programs, where they fine-tune their skills.

• Position: EXECUTIVE EDUCATION

John Chapman says business secrets don't exist anymore. In the past, companies may have shared bits of information, but the Internet reveals all today. That makes it difficult for companies to find and maintain an advantage, says Chapman, director of business development and executive education at UNC Greensboro's Joseph M. Bryan School of Business and Economics. Employees have to think many steps ahead. "You better get to it today because your competition is getting to it today." Sending employees to executive education--noncredit graduate-level training--and traditional MBA programs helps provide that edge.

After the recession, many companies throttled that training because it was an expense that could be easily cut. Steve Allen, associate dean for graduate programs and research at N.C. State University's Poole College of Management, says the school's largest class of MBA students started in fall 2009. Then enrollment declined with the economy and did not return to pre-recession levels until 2012. Similar rebounds are happening in executive education and MBA programs across the state. The improving economy is spurring enrollment, along with the need for a new generation of leaders. Companies have to replace retiring baby boomers. "We tend to focus on upper-middle-level manager training," says Ken Middaugh, associate dean for the working professional MBA and executive-education programs at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem. "What we try to do is get people out of their comfort zone, because that's how you make change happen: Its newest executive-education course helps students improve their writing, covering topics including crafting effective emails.

Executive-education programs accelerate employees to the speed that business is changing. Northeastern University-Charlotte opened in 2011. "It's part of the university's DNA to constantly adapt to our business partners: says Cheryl Richards, CEO and regional dean. Northeastern is a 115-year-old, Boston-based research university that has cooperative learning partnerships with more than 3,000 companies in about 100 countries. "We opened with eight master-degree programs in industry areas that align with the Charlotte region. We add new programs based on the needs that industries are bringing up." Northeastern started energy-systems and engineering-management programs as well as cyber security, which is not just for financial institutions, she says.

The average Northeastern...