Introduction
Developing a degree program is a challenging task that involves a diverse range of stakeholders and interactions. With a growing need for students to graduate with contemporary digital skill sets, certification can play a key role in degree programs. The role of certification includes alignment with academic learning outcomes to enhance graduate employability and opportunities.
Maybe you've been involved in the development of a degree program before, or maybe you're just starting out and want to understand more about the role certifications might have in a program of study. Or, maybe you're interested in certification as an extracurricular course opportunity.
Academic degree programs usually don't offer industry-focused, integrated certifications. Instead, they focus on academic concepts, with appropriate academic assessment. We'll use a case study as a scenario to provide contextualized examples of academic and industry requirements when Microsoft certification is implemented in a degree program.
In this module, you'll learn about the academic and industry requirements that are part of creating a new technical program that implements certifications. You'll also learn how you can modify an existing program’s courses to implement certification. And, you'll learn how Microsoft certification can help prepare students for careers that are aligned to industry digital skills and job roles. This module shows you how to get started developing a proposal to infuse certifications into a degree program at your institution.
Learning objectives
When you finish this module, you'll be able to:
- Choose the most suitable approach to implement certifications at your institution.
- Identify academic requirements for developing new programs that offer certifications.
- Identify industry requirements for developing new programs that offer certifications.
- Describe how to create a new program proposal document.