Travelers' new Claim University might not have the traditional college staples of streets dotted with drinking establishments, co-ed dormitories, and NCAA sports teams, but it more than makes up for it with its state-of-the-art training facility, which aims to keep the company's property and casualty adjusters in top mental form. And isn't that what it's really all about?

Saying it is an impressive campus is an understatement. Travelers says its Claim University houses the industry's first heavy-equipment lab, which contains cranes, backhoes, bulldozers, and other heavy-duty vehicles. How can it fit all of this equipment? When you have a sprawling 108,000 square feet to work with, storage space isn't at a premium. In addition to this, Travelers says it is also the first insurance training facility to receive the Chief Automotive Fuzion Vehicle Repair and Sectioning System as part of the auto appraisal lab. This equipment will help teach auto appraisers how to properly read vehicle diagnostics and measure for damage, and how structural repairs on vehicles can be accomplished with precision accuracy.

Not to be outdone, the training facility's property lab contains two full-scale furnished homes and a full-size convenience store complete with mechanical systems (electric, plumbing, heating/air conditioning), which provide real-world scenarios and damages that adjusters will encounter in the field. The facility also includes eight classrooms, a 400-seat auditorium, a media center and reference library, an in-house workshop to build and refurbish training displays, and numerous smaller-scale demonstrations to support material identification, damage reparability, and installation procedures.