Survey of College Policies in Developing Certificate Programs

Report Highlights

This study looks closely at how colleges are devising certificate programs to supplement or broaden their traditional course offerings and meet the demand for flexible and lifelong education increasingly demanded by the American public. The report presents data from 35 colleges and two trade associations and helps its readers to answer questions such as: how much are colleges spending on developing and marketing new certificate programs? Who develops the programs? To what extent do they rely on existing coursework? To what degree do they use online learning? What are their enrollment prospects compared to traditional degree programs? In which subject areas have they been most fruitful? How do colleges come up with ideas for certificate programs? How much market research do they do and how confident are they in the data backing up their program development decisions? How much do they spend on traditional marketing venues such as radio and print ads and how much on Facebook, Google and other pay per click ads? How involved are alumni in developing new certificate programs? What role does local industry play?