Undergraduate Certificates Guidance for MSU Units

An undergraduate certificate (UGC) is a set of programmatic or thematically linked curricular and co-curricular activities that serves as a micro-credential distinct from majors and minors.

The certificate provides a focused, structured, and interrelated set of experiences that enhances the participant’s expertise in an area of specific disciplinary, interdisciplinary, or thematic topics or that addresses a defined professional development need.

UGCs might broaden participants’ ability to work across disciplines, deepen their ability to work within a discipline, and/or make their individualized academic work more distinctive and demonstrable on their academic record.

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UGC offerings should advance MSU’s mission and support its strategic planning efforts. Specifically, the UGC initiative seeks to:

Strengthen MSU’s ability to attract and meet the needs, goals, and aspirations of dynamic undergraduate students
Increase the number and diversity of learners MSU serves by providing wider access through targeted programs and proactive engagement with underserved communities
Strengthen students’ educational experience to eliminate opportunity gaps and support success through graduation and beyond
Develop and implement new strategies to recruit and retain highly talented and more diverse students across all disciplines
Ensure students and stakeholders have access to MSU and its resources to address current and emerging issues that affect Michigan and the world through micro-credentials and certificates

Minors

Sub-set of a major or collection of interrelated courses related to a theme
Minimum of 15 credits
Serve MSU students
Transcriptable
Done as part of a degree program
Does not necessarily include non-course components

UGCs

Disciplinary, interdisciplinary, thematic, or professional
Minimum of 9 credits or their equivalent
Serve MSU students & external stakeholders
May be transcriptable or not
May be completed separately from degree
Can include co-curricular and experiential opportunities

9 to 12 credit-hours or the equivalent in contact time (i.e., 126 – 168 hours of engagement)
Stated learning outcomes and assessment process for all aspects of the program—curricular and co-curricular
Stated admission criteria and application process
Transparent policies on acceptance of transfer or credits taken before admission, as well as standards for double-counting and unique credits
Sponsoring academic unit (e.g., APUE, College, Department, or School)

Types of UGCs

Type 1 – inclusive of MSU courses and directly related to a major or minor program; open to MSU undergraduates; offered by a college, department, or school; and is transcriptable.
Type 2 – inclusive of MSU courses and distinct from a specific major or minor; open to MSU and guest students; offered by APUE or a college, department, or school; and is transcriptable.
Type 3 – may or may not include MSU courses; designed for guest students and external stakeholders; offered by APUE in collaboration with content-expertise units or a college, department, or school; and is not transcriptable as certificate. If inclusive of MSU courses, then participant must be enrolled as lifelong education, and the coursework would appear on an MSU transcript.
Type 4 – inclusive of MSU courses with university-wide focus; open to MSU and guest students; administered by APUE in collaboration with content-expertise units; and is transcriptable.
Type 5 – offered by the Institute of Agricultural Technology.

Explanation of UGC Types 1 - 4

Target Audience – MSU students in specific majors or minors
Focus – Disciplinary and/or interdisciplinary study related to specific majors or fields of study
Credits – 9 to 12 credits, or fewer credits with co-curricular/experiential learning
Administering Unit – Degree-granting college, department, or school
Approval Process – Unit curriculum committee, college curriculum committee, UCC, and UCUE
Transcriptable – Yes
Admission – Defined and administered by responsible academic unit
Program fee – Allowable to cover co-curricular and experiential components; funding goes to sponsoring unit(s)

Type 1: Characteristics & Examples

Type 1 Certificates are highly-focused, specialized micro-credentials in an area of study related to a major or minor; they serve MSU students

Type 1 Certificates would typically be offered by academic Departments or Schools for students in specific majors
Admission requirements could be predicated on a certain academic background or knowledge

Examples:

Drone Technology, Departments of Geography and Civil Engineering
Companion Animal Care and Grooming, Department of Animal Science
Herbs and Supplements, Departments of Horticulture and Human Nutrition
Social Media Law and Administration, Department of Advertising and Public Relations

Questions or Need Support?

For support with learning outcomes, certificate development, or partnerships with the Office of Undergraduate Education, please contact the Interim Associate Dean for Curriculum in Undergraduate Education, Stephen Thomas, sthomas@msu.edu.

For support related to submitted transcriptable certificates through the MSU curriculum process, UCC, and related academic policies, please contact the Office of Accreditation, Assessment, Curriculum and Compliance, Kari Stone-Sewalish, stoneka3@msu.edu.

Target Audience – MSU or guest students with specified background
Focus – Inter-disciplinary, competency, and professional skills
Credits – 9 to 12 credits, or fewer credits with co-curricular/experiential learning
Administering Unit – Degree-granting College, Department, or School; APUE to serve as primary academic Unit for non-degree granting colleges and departments
Approval Process – Unit/college/APUE Curriculum Committee, UCC, and UCUE
Transcriptable – Yes
Admission – Defined and administered by lead academic unit
Program fee – Allowable to cover co-curricular and experiential components; funding goes to lead academic unit and may be split with collaborators

Type 2: Characteristics & Examples

Type 2 Certificates are broader in focus than Type 1, and they serve a larger audience with less focus on a specific discipline; they serve MSU and guest students

Type 2 Certificates would typically be offered by a degree-granting College or unit in collaboration with APUE and serve student across multiple majors and/or colleges

Examples:

Corporate Leadership & Decision-Making, Colleges of Business and Social Science
Thinking in Systems, Colleges of Engineering and Agriculture and Natural Resources
Art as Social Justice Protest, College of Arts and Letters, Music, and RCAH

Target Audience – Guest students
Focus – Specialized disciplinary, interdisciplinary, or professional study
Credits –Experiential learning opportunities at least 9 SCH of contact time
Administering Unit – Degree granting College, Department, or School
Approval Process – Unit curriculum committee, College curriculum committee, APUE, and UCUE; if offered by non-Academic unit, starts with APUE
Transcriptable – No
Admission – Defined and administered by responsible academic unit
Program fee – Allowable to cover co-curricular and experiential components; funding goes to sponsoring unit(s)

Type 3: Characteristics & Examples

Type 3 Certificates are co-curricular in design, do not require courses, and serve external stakeholders

Type 3 Certificates might have parallel Type 2 and Type 4 offerings for MSU students, but these Type 3 UGC are designed to serve audiences without enrollment in MSU classes

Examples:

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for Educators, College of Education
Culturally Competent Health Care, APUE with medical colleges
Coding for Mid-Career Professionals, College of Engineering

Type 3: Special Notes

These credentials need to mimic certain administrative processes, such as the creation of student group codes, as would occur during the curriculum process
They need to embed assessment of student learning and outcomes
If coursework is required for credit, then the credits will appear on a lifelong education transcript; however, the certificate itself is not transcriptable

Target Audience – MSU and guest students
Focus – Inter-disciplinary, competency, and professionally based skills
Credits – 9 to 12 credits, or fewer credits with co-curricular/experiential learning
Administering Unit – APUE in collaboration (often with non-degree granting units)
Approval Process – APUE curriculum committee, UCC, and UCUE
Transcriptable – Yes
Admission – Defined and administered by APUE
Program fee – Allowable to cover co-curricular and experiential components; funding goes to APUE and can be shared with collaborators

Type 4: Characteristics & Examples

Type 4 Certificates are similar like Type 2 certificates, but they either do not directly relate to content associated with a degree-granting College or provide content that crosses multiple Colleges

They serve a pan-institutional and guest audience , often with focus on professional skills

Type 4 Certificates are offered by APUE in collaboration with relevant campus units

Examples:

Career Readiness and Professionalism, APUE and Career Services
First-Year Leadership, APUE and REHS
Globally-Engaged Leadership, APUE and ISP