More than 25 community colleges and Northeastern University now offer credit to people who complete the Google IT Support Professional Certificate.
Google officials said colleges can easily modify the content of the certificate to create a custom certificate or a stackable path to a degree, Inside Higher Ed mentionted.
Grow With Google senior product manager Natalie Van Kleef Conley said, “We've built the curriculum to be structured in modular units.”
“It's very flexible for them to use it as they see fit.”
Source: AFP/Getty Images North America/Justin Sullivan
The Google IT Support Professional Certificate spans five courses and includes a curriculum that prepares participants for an entry-level role in IT support, such as in-person or remote help desk work at a small business or a global corporation such as Google.
Most IT support roles require prior experience, but not a college degree. Struggling to find suitable candidates for IT support positions, Google designed this online program to create a pool of students with the education and experience needed to solve this problem.
It's part of Grow with Google – an initiative produced by the tech giant to create economic opportunity for Americans – and is aimed at those new to the field or with little experience.
A combination of media – video lectures, quizzes, hands-on workshops and visuals – introduces students to troubleshooting and customer service, networking, operating systems, system administration and security. More than 40,000 students have enrolled in the program since it began in January this year, with 1,200 having completed.
At Northeastern University—the first institution in the nation to integrate this certificate into its course offerings—completion of the certificate earns 12 credits toward a Bachelor of Science degree in information technology. The university said this reduces the time it takes to complete the degree and students can save more than US$6,000 in fees.
#GrowWithGoogle @Google's IT Support Professional Certificate can now count toward a degree at Northeastern University @NortheasternCPS
— CCIS Northeast (@CCISatNU) September 20, 2018
“Google's IT Support Professional Certificate provides a low-risk, low-cost way for people to gain the skills they need to land a well-paying entry-level job in IT support, where there are tens of thousands of open jobs nationwide” , said Kemi Jona, Associate Dean for Digital Innovation and Enterprise Learning at Northeastern's College of Professional Studies.
“By recognizing the Google certificate for credit toward our Bachelor of Science in Information Technology degree, we're helping people get the degree they need to move beyond that entry-level job and advance their IT careers to higher positions of higher pay'.
There are about 150,000 open IT support jobs in the U.S., according to data from Burning Glass Technologies, which analyzes job trends. Government data shows a median starting salary of US$52,000.
Trainees who complete the certificate can share their resume directly with employers who have signed the Google certificate and are looking to hire IT support talent such as Cognizant, Bank of America, GE Digital, Hulu, Infosys, Intel, Kforce, MCPc, PNC Bank , RICOH USA, Sprint, TEKSystems, UPMC, Veterans United Mortgageand 10 members of the Walmart family: Sam's Club, Shoes.com, Jet, Allswell, Bonobos, Hayneedle, Modcloth, Moosejaw, Store No. 8, Vudu and, of course, Google.
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