Harvard Certificate Courses

Anyone have experience with the Harvard Certificate programs? Looks like courses can be completed online, but look a bit pricey. I'm considering pursuing the Certificate in Administration and Management.

 

If I were you I'd look into the UC Berkeley online business certificate programs. UC Berkeley may not quite be Harvard, but they're at least racing on the same lap, their certificate programs are reasonably priced (less than $300 per credit), and the reputation of the university in your area must surely have panache similar to the Big H.

 

Can you post the links to these programs?

 

http://explore.berkeley.edu/UCExt/certificateprog.asp?action=Internet

http://www.extension.harvard.edu/css/default.jsp

There are also some other very good schools that have these sorts of programs online, such as Tulane and the University of London.

 

Thanks. I know there are other alternatives out there at a price that is much more reasonable (UofL, eCornell, BostonU, etc.). My question was really to see if anyone had experience with their program - perhaps its not worth the expense. From what I can tell, they offer online courses for the certificate, but they aren't offered as frequently as their on campus courses.

 

I believe that's true. About the only graduate program, certificate or degree, that you could expect to manage almost exclusively online at Harvard is the Master of Liberal Arts in Information Technology. You could likely pick up a class or two online in that Admin/Mgmnt program, but it might be quite a climb to pull of the whole certificate online.

 

The Harvard certificates in Applied Sciences and Environmental Management can be done totally online. The ALM in IT requires at least a semester on campus. (Whether, unlike the liberal arts ALM programs this can be done in the summer, I'm not sure.)

I am almost certain that the CSS in Administration and Management has required courses that are offered only on campus. At any rate, it's still presented on the website as needing to be done in person.

 

Didn't know that. Thanks!

 

Interesting! It certainly wasn't clear from their website - unless I just completely missed it.

http://www.extension.harvard.edu/2004-05/prostudy/css/courses/

 

According to http://www.extension.harvard.edu/2004-05/DistanceEd/progs/

So they offer some online courses towards all those programs. The undergrad degrees need to be done mainly on campus. The grad degrees require at least a semester on campus, and most require more due to course availability. There seems to be nothing preventing the completion of certificates online except the number of distance courses offered.

The 05-06 catalog comes out in late July or early August. It's entirely possible that next year they'll offer enough courses for additional certificates to be available online. They've often made big changes from one year to the next.

 

I've spent some time at the site and the biggest challenge for potential Harvard students is in actually figuring out the tuitions! It looks as though the tuitions are:

"Online Services Login Calendar and Tuition 2005-06
Registration for the fall semester begins in August. Please see the calendar below for specific dates. The complete 2005-06 website with detailed course and registration information will be posted here in late July.

On average, tuition for courses ranges from $550 for undergraduate credit to $1,600 for graduate credit. Classes begin September 19."

I don't know about you poeple but that is some spread! Don't they know how much each course will be?

Is the Environment Cert. really somewhere between $ 6,000 and $ 1,000,000? There are 8 courses for 32 units. Anyone know how much all of this will set a student back?

Thanks,
MP

 

Course prices are listed with the course descriptions. This year, the CSS courses look to have cost about $1250 each. Summer courses are more expensive, at $2025 each.

That'll probably increase by $25 or so if past years are an indicator.

 

Thanks,

One more layer would have done it. I see that the average price for the Environmental Management Certificate is $ 1,475.00/course x 8 courses so that's not too bad. We'll have to look into this! I need to figure out how long it will take to complete the whole certificate.

MP

 

e-cornell offers acertificate program at a much better price!!

 

So, from what I gather it is not possible to do a master's degree, through the extension program, entirely on-line. Right?

Bing

 

A master's degree from Harvard Extension requires at least one full semester on campus here in Cambridge. (Fall or spring, not a single summer for liberal arts programs.) The ALM in IT could be done with only a single summer on campus. I don't know about the other professional programs.

I see that the number of "Harvard instructor" courses required in the professional programs has been lowered to six, and several of the programs don't include a thesis, which eliminates that close contact with a Harvard faculty member. That will make course selection easier for a lot of people (because a lot of courses are not taught by Harvard faculty, and they're clearly no longer trying to remedy that), but at least in my case, it would have made the program less attractive for a number of academic reasons.

 

I'm shocked to see Harvard lowering their standards in such a manner. Just imagine it! Asking students to take courses where the instructors hail from such lowly institutions as Boston University, Boston College, Tufts University, MIT, etc.
It's almost enough for me to turn in my alumni card.

Jack

 

Well, that's the thing. I do think that a Harvard degree should be taken primarily with Harvard faculty, as should an MIT degree with MIT faculty, etc. But I took a logic course with a guy from Brandeis, and it was outstanding. Obviously the professors from other universities are a great opportunity.

The ALM in IT, though, has a large number of instructors with master's degrees who work in the IT field. I've heard very mixed things about them, especially when compared to the Harvard faculty who teach in the program.

 

I've been pleasantly surprised by the non-Harvard faculty I've encountered thus far. I would posit that the nature of an IT program is better served by including luminaries closer to the trenches.

I have worked professionally with Kinstler, a senior architect from Verizon. This russian emigre works at the forefront of business process fusion and service management. I'm beside myself at the opportunity to study at her instruction.

I would prefer learning advanced networking topics from the IETF's Bradner, who helped craft some of these technologies, rather than the naunced efficiencies of algorithms - that I'll never apply - from the esteemed Mitzenmacher.

I have no intention of teaching and researching. I'm a practitioner looking to solve my client's business problems. Harvard's mixed approach to the IT program is a welcome differentiator.

 

And that's why said that if you have my goals, which do involve research, a program that provides less access to the university's faculty is less desirable. But obviously for someone with more professionally-oriented goals, the ALM in IT is a good deal.

And yes, folks like Scott Bradner are an incredible resource. (And in Scott's case, I used to work down the hall from him and he's a really nice guy.) Friends of mine do have complaints about some of the people from the trenches. I'm glad to hear that you've had good experiences.