Non-degree certificate programs at the graduate level are rarely researched, an issue that the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) aimed to address with the release of its new report.
Dr. Matthew LintonCouncil of Graduate Schools
Through surveys, focus groups, and interviews of employers, researchers, and higher ed institutions, CGS sought to expand on what is known about non-degree programs – referred to in the report as microcredentials – at the post-baccalaureate level. The end result, "Microcredentials and the Master’s Degree" dives into a number of questions surrounding the emerging field of microcredentials, including their purpose, legitimacy, and equity.
CGS researchers focused on examining microcredentials that are credit-bearing, are documented on academic transcripts, and require bachelor’s degrees. This focus was mainly to avoid confusion among the various types of microcredentials out there, some which are still nascent in the higher ed landscape, the report noted.
Though graduate-level microcredentials are often perceived and talked about as alternatives to master’s degrees, findings indicate that that is commonly not the case, said report co-author Dr. Matthew Linton, senior manager for programs and publications at CGS.
“What we saw in our research was that, often times, individuals are getting these certificates and other microcredentials alongside master's degree programs or on the way to master's degree programs,” Linton said. “So really, it's not an 'either-or.' Often times, it's an 'and.'"
According to the report, the most common post-baccalaureate microcredential programs at colleges and universities are in the fields of teaching, data science and analytics, interdisciplinary programs, management, psychology, and health care.
At most of the surveyed institutions (77%), academic departments and programs were the entities developing and administering the microcredential, with the same faculty most likely to teach both the certificate and degree programs. And many of these microcredential programs were found to be rather small – 12 students per program was the median.
