Harvard Extension School Offering Microcertificates

https://extension.harvard.edu/academics/?live_global%5BrefinementList%5D%5Blevels%5D%5B0%5D=Microcertificate


Harvard Extension School is now offering Microcertificates in the following:

•Business Management
•Sustainability
•Technology

Each credential cost $6,440 (2 Courses) and can be completed in 1 to 3 semesters.

 

Wow! How many semesters to pay for it?

 

You can get a doctorate or two master's degrees in Kenya for that kind of money. Also, you can add a few more thousands and get an AACSB-accredited master's degree at LSU-S or Lamar.

 

Thanks but no thanks. LOL.

 

The incremental cost for some students will be zero: These microcertificates can stack toward full-fledged graduate certificates and/or master's at Harvard Extension. An interim credential along the way, and eventually an additional point on the résumé maybe highlighting a more specific knowledge or skill area.

 

You could always visit Harvard's campus. I don't think one would be lying if after their visit they tell people they "went" to Harvard.

 

You mean Haaaaaaahvahd, I believe.

 

I saw so many people visiting Harvard for clout! (When I attended on campus. Be your own judge of my reasons!)

 

It sounds like a cash cow for HES, which adds no value to an individual resume.

 

Note that the microcertificates are from the subject areas Business Management, Sustainability, and Technology, but those are not titles of microcertificates. The microcertificates currently offered are:

Applied FinTech and Digital Assets
Project Management Methodologies
Wellbeing at Work

Circular Economics
Life Cycle Assessment
Regenerative Agriculture
Sustainable Finance

Database Management
Web Application Development
Data Modeling and Ethics

 

With the low understanding of what even a full graduate certificate is, 6 grand for a “micro certificate” sounds crazy. What’s the market, people with too much money who just want “Harvard” on their CV?

 

I did and I don't.

I did a strategic leadership program at the JFK School, but I don't really list it anywhere--certainly not on my resume. I don't think it's on my website or LinkedIn page, but I never look at those so I don't know. And I certainly never say I "went to Harvard" because it would leave the wrong impression. Interestingly, even doing that course has Harvard deeming me an alumnus, but I don't.

 

When one takes a degree from a university--especially a foreign (to them) one, one also takes on the culture. I learned this first hand teaching at a yet-to-be-accredited school whose student body was entirely foreign. The actual reputation of the individual school mattered not one bit. That the student had studied in the US? Priceless.

If I lived in the U.S.--and I do--I would be very cautious about studying for a degree from a university in many of the countries I've seen mentioned on this board, unless the individual reputation of the school was distinct from its host country.

 

The micro credentials offered by Harvard and MIT among others are cheaper via EDX or Coursera.
Good way to add skills and demonstrate continues developement.
I recently completed 9 course specializations.
That meet my employers CEs requirements and also updated skills.
A name recognition is good and most of the material used are from Harvard, MIT etc graduate coriculum including the capstone project.

 

Abracadabra, alakazam! (To pull a rabbit out of.)

 

The proof is in the pudding!

 

Regarding credentials, I use Pierre Bourdieu's Capital Theory. You have two exchanges of capital here. You give your hard work and money, and the school provides the learning opportunity and the credential.

We spend most of our time chatting about the credential's value. But what about the education that comes with it? When you pony up that much money, do you get a lot of useful learning out of the deal?