Warning: health freaks and slow food junkies, LOOK AWAY right now.

Established in 1961, McDonald’s ‘Hamburger University’ was founded by one of the most prominent faces of the McDonalds Corp, Ray Kroc.

The Hamburger University was created to train McDonald’s employees in the art of restaurant management. Today, the Hamburger University enrolls more than 5000 students annually. It has 8 campuses around the world including the ones in the UK, Australia, Germany, etc.

Although it would be ideal, classes at the University aren’t just about grilling up juicy burgers, frying up God--sent McDonalds fries, or opting for Big Mac 101 classes either.  To successfully complete their degree in Hamburgerology, students learn various disciplines such as leadership, operations, business growth, and customer appreciation.

A student is expected to complete at least 2000 hours of training in order to complete the course. Furthermore, as a cherry on the McFlurry, the credits earned at the Hamburger University can go towards an Associate Bachelor’s degree in over 1600 colleges and Universities.

The 80 acre main campus located in Oak Brooke, Illinois, has 19 full time professors who are trained to teach in over 28 different languages. The university is fitted with 17 teaching rooms, state-of-the-art simulation kitchens, 4 labs (called Grill, Beverage, Shake/Soft Serve and Fryer), a lecture hall, and twelve interactive education rooms. 

A big part of the training here are the pressure tasks . These are designed so that students can learn the most effective way of managing a

McDonald’s restaurant. From getting hundreds of perfect  ready within a given time, to serving fake customers, the course aims to provide all-round skills to its employees. Students are often given problem- based case studies, where they are expected to solve a common restaurant problem using the three solution principles - checking the operation procedure, the raw product, and finally the equipment. 

Over 300,000 successful students and future restaurant managers have graduated from the Hamburger University. And it’s not as easy as you think. According to a recent Bloomberg finding, the Hamburger University is reportedly harder to get into than the better-known Oxfords and Harvards.