Certificates A Growing Trend At North Dakota Colleges
State schools holding graduation this weekend.
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It鈥檚 graduation weekend for North Dakota鈥檚 public colleges, with the University of North Dakota and North Dakota State University accounting for more than half of the degrees and certificates to be handed out.
Which of the nine remaining schools would be next in line? If you guessed Bismarck State College, you get an A.
UND accounts for about 33% of the graduates and NDSU 28%, according to 2023 figures. Bismarck State accounts for 9.6% of program completions.
Not all the program completions mean a two-year or four-year degree.
Bismarck State offers a list of certificate programs that are less than one year, such as mobile app development, as well as two-year programs such as nursing and a few four-year programs.
She said that in the last year alone, out of the 210 academic programs that came through the North Dakota University System office and were approved by the State Board of Higher Education, 142 out of those were certificate programs.
鈥淪ome of that is just campuses looking at programs, for example, an associate degree, and thinking about how to bundle, how to repackage existing programs into smaller sort of increments that students might complete as a certificate, possibly even as a student in high school,鈥� Johnson said.
While the number of graduates from North Dakota colleges and universities has declined almost 6% in the past five years, the number of program completions is down only about 3%, with some students completing multiple degrees or certificates.
Johnson looked at data from 2019 through 2023, the last year of complete data on program completions that includes fall, spring and summer graduates.
While the 11 public colleges are having their graduations either Friday or Saturday this weekend, Johnson said the data for the 2024 class isn鈥檛 finalized just yet.
She said the graduation trend aligns with the enrollment trend.
A factor in recruiting students is the strong job market. The unemployment rate in North Dakota was at just 2% as of March.
The number of graduates for the spring semester, as compiled by the NDUS office, are:
- North Dakota State University 鈥� 1,988
- University of North Dakota 鈥� 1,896
- Bismarck State College 鈥� 903
- North Dakota State College of Science 鈥� 660
- Minot State University 鈥� 385
- Dickinson State University 鈥� 224
- Dakota College at Bottineau 鈥� 179
- Lake Region State College 鈥� 145
- Mayville State University 鈥� 138
- Williston State College 鈥� 136
- Valley City State University 鈥� 119
Many of the certificate programs are aimed at filling specific needs in the workforce, such as meat cutting at North Dakota State College of Science and Dickinson State University.
Some are designed to help professionals acquire or maintain a license.
鈥淪ometimes teachers will come back and get a certificate, for example, working with individuals on the autism spectrum, because that was something they didn鈥檛 have when they went through college,鈥� Johnson said. 鈥淏ut maybe they鈥檝e changed jobs, or they鈥檙e trying to have some additional job responsibilities, so these certificates nicely complement those without having to return to get an entire two year or four year degree in these very specific areas.鈥�
Other certifications may be for personal enjoyment or a side business.
鈥淵ou鈥檒l see photography and digital design, and those two meet the needs of the community from a different angle,鈥� Johnson said.
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