Coffee giant Starbucks is offering to pay tuition fees for all of its UK staff who want to get a degree from online courses taught by Arizona State University in the US.
The company will begin with an initial 100 places and expand if there is demand.
A Starbucks spokeswoman said that staff were asked about what mattered most to them and many "expressed how difficult the financial strains can be to obtain a university degree".
The scheme is available for employees at all grades who have worked for the firm for three months and do not already have an undergraduate degree.
They would study part-time, outside of working hours, from October 2019 and have a choice of approximately 40 degree subjects.
A US version of the scheme launched in 2014 has seen more than 2,400 staff now having graduated.