High-demand fields
Some schools, with the help of private companies, are developing certificates that build toward a specialization in high-demand fields of global interest. Among these are cybersecurity, management and leadership in health care, and entrepreneurship and innovation, said Jaquelyn Scharnick, a spokeswoman for Academic Partnerships, which works with UT-Arlington. Those specializations consist of three progressive certificates that are offered in multiple languages and can be earned in nine months.
Rice University, which works with Coursera, another private company, is creating its first specialization: the fundamentals of computing, which builds off existing computer science certificates students can earn through Rice’s MOOCs.
“I think it’s a logical next step,” said Andrew Hanson, a researcher at Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce. “That’s sort of the reason we think that certificates are rising so fast, is because college costs are rising so much and the vast majority of students are going into colleges to get jobs.”
The University of Houston system offers 19 certificate programs that are fully online and taught like any other online class. The courses charge the same tuition as is charged for other classes.
The cost for a certificate can vary, but a four-course certificate in construction management, for instance, costs about $6,000. The subsea engineering certificate requires three classes at $3,000 a piece. The advanced subsea engineering certificate requires an additional three classes at the same price.
UH made $1.4 million off certificates in 2013.
Rice has 22 MOOCs, with subjects ranging from computer science to nanotechnology, electrical engineering and religion. The courses range in price. The computer science courses–three of which build the specialization–are $49 each. Officials at Rice would not say how much the university has made off the certificates.
In Arlington, officials say the certificates are too new for potential revenue to be known. Academic Partnerships launched its specialization initiative in January and has its eye on developing countries that don’t have the same academic opportunities as the U.S.
Scharnick said American universities can take advantage of a large untapped market outside of the U.S. and Western Europe.
©2014 the Houston Chronicle. Visit the Houston Chronicle at www.chron.com. Distributed by MCT Information Services.
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