• Find a bachelor's degree




    Bachelors Degree Center is an advertising-supported site. Featured or trusted partner programs and all school search, finder, or match results are for schools that compensate us. This compensation does not influence our school rankings, resource guides, or other editorially-independent information published on this site.

A dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cate is a great way to give your­self the cre­den­tials you need to advance your career. Indi­vid­u­als who have spent years work­ing in the field of dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tion can ben­e­fit from enrolling in an online cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­gram. With their years of expe­ri­ence, a cer­tifi­cate will val­i­date the knowl­edge they have already gained as well as pro­vide them with all of the lat­est advance­ments they may have missed out on. It is a great step­ping stone if they are con­sid­er­ing enrolling in a degree pro­gram at a lat­er date.

Earn­ing a dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cate online makes it easy to get the edu­ca­tion they need while stay­ing on the job. Cer­tifi­cate pro­grams can take a few weeks or a few months to com­plete, depend­ing on the type of infor­ma­tion you expect to receive. Indi­vid­u­als who are inter­est­ed in learn­ing more can usu­al­ly find a short cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­gram that will pro­vide them with the basics. Indi­vid­u­als who want to stay up to date and expand on what they already know may con­sid­er tak­ing a cer­tifi­cate pro­gram that has a lit­tle more depth to it.

Methodology: Ranking the Best Digital Communications Certificate Programs

To rank the best dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cate pro­grams, the edi­tors at Bachelor’s Degree Cen­ter focused on trust­ed, accred­it­ed insti­tu­tions. Pro­grams are ranked by fac­tors such as tuition cost, salary poten­tial, and rep­u­ta­tion, using data from Niche and IPEDS.

1. University of California, Berkeley

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia, Berke­ley’s Advanced Media Insti­tute with­in the Grad­u­ate Jour­nal­ism School offers a Dig­i­tal Media Skills Cer­tifi­cate that is cam­pus-based. Stu­dents enrolled in UC Berkeley’s dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cate online pro­gram will need nine weeks to com­plete the cer­ti­fi­ca­tion. Stu­dents meet twice a week and first focus on sto­ry­telling from both audio visu­al aspects. Lat­er in the dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cate pro­gram, stu­dents focus on audi­ence engage­ment build­ing using dig­i­tal con­tent and data visu­al­iza­tions. Cer­tifi­cate can­di­dates must also pub­lish to a port­fo­lio a cap­stone project includ­ing pho­tos, video, a pod­cast, and a data visu­al­iza­tion chart.

The Berke­ley cam­pus @ the Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia was found­ed as California’s first land-grant school in the late 1860s. It was found­ed in Oak­land before mov­ing to its cur­rent location.

What We Like: The school’s endow­ment exceeds $5 bil­lion with a stu­dent pop­u­la­tion that excessed 43,050 students.

Pro­gram: Dig­i­tal Media Skills Certificate

For­mat: Online

Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­i­for­nia, Berke­ley Dig­i­tal Media Skills Certificate

2. University of Wisconsin-Madison

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin-Madi­son offers a Dig­i­tal Stud­ies Cer­tifi­cate that allows stu­dents to explore the mean­ing­ful rela­tion­ship between dig­i­tal media and com­mu­ni­ca­tion. This dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cate online pro­gram from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin requires six­teen cer­tifi­cate cred­its, of which nine cred­its must be com­plet­ed in res­i­dence at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin in Madi­son. This dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cate pro­gram also requires that stu­dents com­plete the cer­tifi­cate con­cur­rent­ly with their bac­calau­re­ate degree. Core class­es include media flu­en­cy for the dig­i­tal age, dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tion, and the Infor­ma­tion Soci­ety, among others.

The Madi­son, Wis­con­sin cam­pus of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin was estab­lished under the Mor­rill Act in the mid-1840s. As a sea-grant school, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin serves approx­i­mate­ly 44,250 stu­dents from its lake­side cam­pus or online.

What We Like: The Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin – Madi­son, also main­tains a 1,200 acre arbore­tum locat­ed near the campus.

Pro­gram: Dig­i­tal Stud­ies Certificate

For­mat: Cam­pus

Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin-Madi­son Dig­i­tal Stud­ies Certificate

3. Michigan State University

The Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Arts/Sciences Col­lege at Michi­gan State Uni­ver­si­ty offers a grad­u­ate Dig­i­tal Media Cer­tifi­cate that requires can­di­dates to hold a bac­calau­re­ate degree. This dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cate online pro­gram from Michi­gan State requires stu­dents to com­plete nine grad­u­ate cred­its. Class­es for Michi­gan State University’s dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cate pro­gram include branding/image com­mu­ni­ca­tion, dig­i­tal media strate­gies, and dig­i­tal con­tent cre­ation, cura­tion, and pro­mo­tion. Grad­u­ates will apply the­o­ret­i­cal tech­niques using the lat­est in art tech­nol­o­gy and communication.

Estab­lished in the mid-1850s as a land-grant school, Michi­gan State Uni­ver­si­ty is now a com­pre­hen­sive uni­ver­si­ty with a stu­dent enroll­ment of approx­i­mate­ly 49,650 stu­dents. Addi­tion­al­ly, Michi­gan State Uni­ver­si­ty is a space-grant and sea-grant school and one of the largest of pub­lic schools in the nation.

What We Like: Michi­gan State Uni­ver­si­ty served as the mod­el school for oth­er land-grant uni­ver­si­ties estab­lished under the Mor­rill Act.

Pro­gram: Dig­i­tal Media Certificate

For­mat: Cam­pus

Michi­gan State Uni­ver­si­ty Dig­i­tal Media Certificate

4. Villanova University

Vil­lano­va Uni­ver­si­ty offers a cam­pus-based Wire­less and Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Cer­tifi­cate pro­gram that explores both the prac­ti­cal and the­o­ret­i­cal con­cepts of wire­less & dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tion media. This fif­teen-cred­it unit dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cate online pro­gram includes two core class­es, plus three elec­tives from a choice of six course options. Elec­tives avail­able in Vil­lano­va University’s dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cate pro­gram info the­o­ry & cod­ing dig com, array proc. Wire­less com­mu­ni­ca­tion and detection/estimation, to name a few. Core class­es include state sig­nal pro­cess­ing and com­mu­ni­ca­tion sys­tems engineering.

Estab­lished as a pri­vate Catholic high­er learn­ing insti­tu­tion, Vil­lano­va Uni­ver­si­ty is now a space-grant with a stu­dent enroll­ment of approx­i­mate­ly 10,650 students.

What We Like: The school is sit­u­at­ed on more than 200 acres on what was once an arbore­tum – about a dozen miles from down­town Philadel­phia. Villanova’s cam­pus is home to approx­i­mate­ly 1,500 trees.

Pro­gram: Wire­less and Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Certificate

For­mat: Cam­pus

Vil­lano­va Uni­ver­si­ty Wire­less and Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Certificate

5. University at Buffalo

The Uni­ver­si­ty at Buf­fa­lo offers a Pro­fes­sion­al Writ­ing and Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cate pro­gram that requires the com­ple­tion of four class­es or twelve grad­u­ate cred­its. The exact study path for stu­dents enrolled in the Uni­ver­si­ty of Buffalo’s dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cate online pro­gram will depend upon the stu­den­t’s elec­tives, which include class­es in the areas of edu­ca­tion, dig­i­tal human­i­ties, lit­er­a­cy, or rhetor­i­cal the­o­ry, among oth­ers. Core class­es include pro­fes­sion­al writ­ing, dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tion, and tech­ni­cal communication.

Found­ed by Mil­lard Fill­more as a med­ical school in the mid-1840s, the Uni­ver­si­ty at Buf­fa­lo is a mem­ber school of the State Uni­ver­si­ty of New York with a stu­dent enroll­ment that is approx­i­mate­ly 32,150 stu­dents vying for an aca­d­e­m­ic degree offered by the university’s thir­teen colleges/schools.

What We Like: The Uni­ver­si­ty at Buf­fa­lo is home to New York’s largest state-run med­ical, den­tal, busi­ness, engi­neer­ing, and edu­ca­tion school.

Pro­gram: Pro­fes­sion­al Writ­ing and Dig­i­tal Communication

For­mat: Cam­pus

Uni­ver­si­ty at Buf­fa­lo Pro­fes­sion­al Writ­ing and Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Certificate

6. Arizona State University

Ari­zona State Uni­ver­si­ty offers two of Arizona’s best dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cate online pro­grams with its Tech­ni­cal Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Cer­tifi­cate pro­gram or its Dig­i­tal Audi­ence Strat­e­gy Cer­tifi­cate pro­gram. The dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cate that focus­es on audi­ence strat­e­gy requires the com­ple­tion of 15 cer­tifi­cate cred­its over five class­es. Ari­zona State Uni­ver­si­ty’s tech­ni­cal com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cate requires stu­dents to com­plete 18 cred­its over six total class­es. Class­es for this tech­ni­cal com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cate include prin­ci­ples of visu­al com­mu­ni­ca­tion, the prin­ci­ples of tech­ni­cal edit­ing, and the prin­ci­ples of web author­ing, to name a few. Class­es for the dig­i­tal audi­ence cer­tifi­cate include SEO for dig­i­tal audi­ences and social media cam­paigns, to name a few.

Found­ed before Ari­zona was a state, Ari­zona State Uni­ver­si­ty (Ari­zona State) was estab­lished in the mid-1880s but now oper­ates as one of the largest pub­lic schools in the nation.

What We Like: Ari­zona State Uni­ver­si­ty was orig­i­nal­ly found­ed as a teacher’s train­ing school, where Pres­i­dent Ted­dy Roo­sevelt once spoke.

Pro­gram: Tech­ni­cal Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Cer­tifi­cate or Dig­i­tal Audi­ence Strat­e­gy Certificate

For­mat: Online

Ari­zona State Uni­ver­si­ty Tech­ni­cal Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Cer­tifi­cate or Dig­i­tal Audi­ence Strat­e­gy Certificate

7. Texas Tech University

The Media & Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Col­lege at Texas Tech Uni­ver­si­ty offers a Grad­u­ate Cer­tifi­cate in Advanced Dig­i­tal & Social Media that is con­sid­ered among the Lone Star State’s best dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cate online pro­grams. Stu­dents enrolled in Texas Tech University’s dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cate pro­gram are required to com­plete twelve grad­u­ate hours to earn the cre­den­tial. Stu­dents must com­plete one core class in strate­gic com­mu­ni­ca­tion plan­ning and writ­ing, plus three elec­tives. Avail­able elec­tives include mul­ti­me­dia sto­ry­telling, spe­cial top­ics in strate­gic com­mu­ni­ca­tion, and dig­i­tal media con­tent, among others.

Found­ed in the 1920s as a tech­no­log­i­cal col­lege, Texas Tech Uni­ver­si­ty is the pri­ma­ry cam­pus of the TT uni­ver­si­ty sys­tem. The school’s urban cam­pus in Lub­bock is home to approx­i­mate­ly 40,150 stu­dents vying for the more than 140 aca­d­e­m­ic degrees offered by TTU.

What We Like: Texas Tech Uni­ver­si­ty is an offi­cial des­ig­nat­ed His­pan­ic serv­ing high­er learn­ing institution.

Pro­gram: Grad­u­ate Cer­tifi­cate: Advanced Dig­i­tal & Social Media

For­mat: Online

Texas Tech Uni­ver­si­ty Grad­u­ate Cer­tifi­cate in Advanced Dig­i­tal & Social Media

8. University of Pittsburgh

The Gen­er­al Stud­ies Col­lege at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Pitts­burgh offers a Dig­i­tal Media Cer­tifi­cate that can be com­plet­ed with anoth­er degree or as a stand­alone dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cate online pro­gram. Stu­dents enrolled in the Uni­ver­si­ty of Pittsburgh’s dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cate pro­gram must com­plete 18 semes­ter cred­its, of which nine cred­its are core class­es, and the rest are select­ed elec­tives. Core class­es include visu­al lit­er­a­cy, visu­al lit­er­a­cy, media crit­i­cism, and the mass com­mu­ni­ca­tion process.

Found­ed as an aca­d­e­m­ic acad­e­my in 1787, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Pitts­burgh now oper­ates as a pub­lic high­er learn­ing uni­ver­si­ty orga­nized into sev­en­teen colleges/schools. The school is home to approx­i­mate­ly 38,150 stu­dents study­ing online or on the school’s urban campus.

What We Like: The Uni­ver­si­ty of Pitts­burgh holds the dis­tinc­tion of being the sec­ond largest (non-gov­ern­men­tal) employ­er in the greater Pitts­burgh metro area.

Pro­gram: Dig­i­tal Media Certificate

For­mat: Hybrid

Uni­ver­si­ty of Pitts­burgh Dig­i­tal Media Certificate

9. Florida International University

Flori­da Inter­na­tion­al Uni­ver­si­ty offers a Cer­tifi­cate in Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Media that is among the Sun­shine State’s best dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cate online pro­grams. FIU’s dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cate pro­gram requires cer­tifi­cate can­di­dates to com­plete fif­teen semes­ter cred­its. This pro­gram includes five required class­es like social media and glob­al­iza­tion, dig­i­tal the­o­ries, and audi­ence and pub­lic opin­ion, to name a few. Flori­da Inter­na­tion­al Uni­ver­si­ty’s dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tion cer­tifi­cate allows stu­dents to explore the fun­da­men­tals of design com­bined with mod­ern media options.

Found­ed in the mid-1960s as a research school, Flori­da Inter­na­tion­al Uni­ver­si­ty oper­ates now as a com­pre­hen­sive uni­ver­si­ty and is con­sid­ered an ‘emerg­ing pre­em­i­nent’ school in South Flori­da. FIU’s urban cam­pus is home to approx­i­mate­ly 58,550 students.

What We Like: In its first year, more than ¾ of the stu­dent enroll­ment were grad­u­ates of a local junior college.

Pro­gram: Cer­tifi­cate in Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Media

For­mat: Cam­pus

Flori­da Inter­na­tion­al Uni­ver­si­ty Cer­tifi­cate in Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Media

10. California State University, Fullerton

Cal­i­for­nia State Uni­ver­si­ty, Fuller­ton offers a dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cate pro­gram that inte­grates the fun­da­men­tals of cre­ative con­tent, dig­i­tal design, and tech­nol­o­gy. Cal State Fullerton’s best dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cate online pro­gram includes core course­work in visu­al com­mu­ni­ca­tions, advanced inter­ac­tive media design (1 and 2), and com­mu­ni­ca­tions tech­nol­o­gy. In addi­tion, stu­dents select one elec­tive to com­plete a total of twelve semes­ter units. Avail­able elec­tives include culture/communication, soci­ol­o­gy of com­mu­ni­ca­tion, anthro­pol­o­gy of dig­i­tal media, ado­les­cents & the media, dig­i­tal media lit­er­a­cy, and the com­put­er impact, among others.

Cal­i­for­nia State Uni­ver­si­ty Fuller­ton cam­pus was found­ed in 1959 and is the largest of the 23 mem­ber schools of the state’s uni­ver­si­ty sys­tem. The stu­dent enroll­ment on Cal­i­for­nia State University’s cam­pus in Fuller­ton (and online) is approx­i­mate­ly 41,150 students.

What We Like: Cal­i­for­nia State Uni­ver­si­ty Fuller­ton is rec­og­nized as a His­pan­ic-serv­ing insti­tu­tion of high­er learning.

Pro­gram: Dig­i­tal Communications

For­mat: Cam­pus

Cal­i­for­nia State Uni­ver­si­ty, Fuller­ton Dig­i­tal Communications

11. George Washington University

George Wash­ing­ton Uni­ver­si­ty offers a grad­u­ate Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cate pro­gram that pre­pares stu­dents and cer­tifi­cate can­di­dates to enter the work­force with the skills required to man­age dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions plat­forms. The course­work com­plet­ed for GWU’s dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cate online pro­gram includes four class­es of twelve grad­u­ate cred­its – all of which can be applied towards the strate­gic man­age­ment grad­u­ate degree pro­gram offered by George Wash­ing­ton Uni­ver­si­ty. Specif­i­cal­ly, the class­es include max­i­miz­ing social media, strate­gic pub­lic rela­tions prac­tices, dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions, and media rela­tions in a dig­i­tal world. This grad­u­ate cer­tifi­cate in dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions was devel­oped to meet the needs of work­ing pro­fes­sion­als in and around the nation’s capital.

Estab­lished in the 1820s by a con­gres­sion­al act, George Wash­ing­ton Uni­ver­si­ty main­tains sev­er­al cam­pus­es in the Wash­ing­ton, DC area. George Wash­ing­ton University‘s s stu­dent enroll­ment is approx­i­mate­ly 29,950 stu­dents study­ing for degrees offered by its four­teen schools.

What We Like: GWU holds the dis­tinc­tion of being the largest high­er learn­ing school in Wash­ing­ton, DC.

Pro­gram: Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions grad­u­ate certificate

For­mat: Cam­pus

George Wash­ing­ton Uni­ver­si­ty Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Certificate

12. University of North Texas

The May­born Jour­nal­ism School, in con­junc­tion with the Infor­ma­tion Col­lege at the Uni­ver­si­ty of North Texas, offers a Grad­u­ate Cer­tifi­cate in Inter­ac­tive and Vir­tu­al Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tion that offers stu­dents an explo­ration of the inter­dis­ci­pli­nary inte­gra­tion of design, social media, and tech­nol­o­gy, among oth­ers. The Uni­ver­si­ty of North Texas’s dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cate online pro­gram requires the com­ple­tion of 18 grad­u­ate semes­ter units to earn the cre­den­tial. Among the required six class­es for UNT’s dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cate pro­gram are infor­ma­tion behav­ior, new tech­nolo­gies of instruc­tion, and com­put­er graph­ics for medi­at­ed com­mu­ni­ca­tions, among others.

Estab­lished as a pub­lic teacher’s train­ing school in the 1890s, the Uni­ver­si­ty of North Texas is orga­nized into four­teen colleges/schools that serve approx­i­mate­ly 40,550 stu­dents. UNT serves as the Uni­ver­si­ty of North Texas system’s flag­ship cam­pus­es with mul­ti­ple campuses.

What We Like: The Den­ton, Texas area in which the school is locat­ed in the most pop­u­lat­ed area of Texas.

Pro­gram: Grad­u­ate Cer­tifi­cate in Inter­ac­tive and Vir­tu­al Dig­i­tal Communication

For­mat: Cam­pus

Uni­ver­si­ty of North Texas Grad­u­ate Cer­tifi­cate in Inter­ac­tive and Vir­tu­al Dig­i­tal Communication

13. University of Baltimore

The Yale Arts/Sciences Col­lege at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Bal­ti­more offers a Cer­tifi­cate in Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tion online pro­gram designed for work­ing pro­fes­sion­als that include graph­ic design­ers, cre­ative direc­tors, or web pro­gram­mers, among oth­ers. UB’s dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cate pro­gram requires stu­dents to com­plete a min­i­mum of twelve grad­u­ate semes­ter cred­its to meet the certificate’s require­ments. Course­work cov­ers the top­ics of dig­i­tal plat­form options, social media usage, inte­grat­ed dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tion strate­gies, and dig­i­tal adver­tis­ing & mar­ket­ing, among others.

Estab­lished in the mid-1920s as a pub­lic busi­ness school, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Bal­ti­more is now a full uni­ver­si­ty with a stu­dent pop­u­la­tion of approx­i­mate­ly 2,800 stu­dents. UB offers aca­d­e­m­ic degrees in law, busi­ness, pub­lic affairs, and the arts/sciences.

What We Like: UB was found­ed by a group of busi­ness­men who under­stood the future need for busi­ness edu­ca­tion in the area.

Pro­gram: Cer­tifi­cate in Dig­i­tal Communication

For­mat: Cam­pus

Uni­ver­si­ty of Bal­ti­more Cer­tifi­cate in Dig­i­tal Communication

14. Northern Arizona University

North­ern Ari­zona Uni­ver­si­ty offers a Rhetoric, Writ­ing and Dig­i­tal Media Stud­ies Grad­u­ate Cer­tifi­cate pro­gram that allows three the com­ple­tion of eigh­teen semes­ter units. Stu­dents grad­u­ate from North­ern Ari­zona University’s dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cate online pro­gram to find reward­ing careers in grant/science writ­ing, teach­ing at a col­lege or high school lev­el, or dig­i­tal con­tent writ­ing and mar­ket­ing, among oth­ers. This online dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cate pro­gram from North­ern Ari­zona Uni­ver­si­ty is also avail­able on the Flagstaff cam­pus. Many stu­dents choose to con­tin­ue doc­tor­al work in a relat­ed field or in writ­ing, rhetoric, and communications.

North­ern Ari­zona Uni­ver­si­ty was found­ed in 1899, twelve years before Ari­zona was adopt­ed as a state. North­ern Ari­zona Uni­ver­si­ty was the last land-grant school opened in the Ari­zona ter­ri­to­ry but is now home to approx­i­mate­ly 29,350 students.

What We Like: North­ern Ari­zona University’s astro­nom­i­cal pro­gram is rec­og­nized for a num­ber of dis­cov­er­ies in the sky.

Pro­gram: Rhetoric, Writ­ing and Dig­i­tal Media Stud­ies, Grad­u­ate Certificate

For­mat: Cam­pus

North­ern Ari­zona Uni­ver­si­ty Rhetoric, Writ­ing and Dig­i­tal Media Stud­ies Grad­u­ate Certificate

15. New Mexico State University

New Mex­i­co State Uni­ver­si­ty offers a grad­u­ate Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Cer­tifi­cate pro­gram that explores the many effec­tive ways to trans­mit infor­ma­tion from one place to anoth­er using some form – for exam­ple, RF wire­less tech­nol­o­gy of medi­um. New Mex­i­co State University’s grad­u­ate Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Cer­tifi­cate online pro­gram requires stu­dents to com­plete twelve semes­ter units to meet the certificate’s require­ments. Required class­es for New Mex­i­co State Uni­ver­si­ty’s dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cate pro­gram include dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tion sys­tems and ran­dom sig­nal analy­sis. Elec­tives include mod­ern cod­ing the­o­ry, infor­ma­tion the­o­ry, and wire­less com­mu­ni­ca­tion, among others.

New Mex­i­co State Uni­ver­si­ty was estab­lished under the Mor­rill Land Grant Act in the late 1880s. The school’s urban cam­pus in Las Cruces (and online) is home to approx­i­mate­ly 23,850 students.

What We Like: New Mex­i­co State Uni­ver­si­ty offers stu­dents an impres­sive 16 to 1 stu­dent-to-fac­ul­ty ratio.

Pro­gram: Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions — Grad­u­ate Certificate

For­mat: Cam­pus

New Mex­i­co State Uni­ver­si­ty Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Certificate

16. DePaul University

The Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Col­lege at DePaul Uni­ver­si­ty offers a Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Cer­tifi­cate pro­gram that requires stu­dents to com­plete a min­i­mum of 24 quar­ter units to earn the cer­tifi­cate. Stu­dents enrolled in DePaul’s Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Cer­tifi­cate online pro­gram com­plete one class in the intro­duc­tion to dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tion, plus three tech­nol­o­gy-relat­ed class­es a two final class­es from the School of Design at DePaul Uni­ver­si­ty. Design elec­tives include audio, still-image, design, web or mov­ing-image work­shops, or foun­da­tions of dig­i­tal media, with dig­i­tal design options that include sto­ry­telling writ­ing for the web and writ­ing across media, among others.

Found­ed as a Catholic high­er learn­ing insti­tu­tion in the late 1890s, DePaul Uni­ver­si­ty is now con­sid­ered the largest Catholic insti­tu­tion of high­er edu­ca­tion, with regards to enroll­ment, in the nation with a stu­dent enroll­ment of approx­i­mate­ly 22,350 students.

What We Like: DePaul is pri­mar­i­ly a com­muter school, with about 90% of the stu­dent body that lives off-campus.

Pro­gram: Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Certificate

For­mat: Cam­pus

DePaul Uni­ver­si­ty Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Certificate

17. Loyola University Chicago

The Con­tin­u­ing & Pro­fes­sion­al Stud­ies School at Loy­ola Uni­ver­si­ty Chica­go offers a New Media Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Cer­tifi­cate that is ranked among the best Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Cer­tifi­cate online pro­grams in the state that can be com­plet­ed entire­ly through LU Chicago’s dis­tance learn­ing plat­form. LUC’s nine-cred­it Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Cer­tifi­cate pro­gram is typ­i­cal­ly com­plet­ed in six to eight months, with the stu­dent com­plet­ing one class each eight-week ses­sion for three con­sec­u­tive terms. Class­es for this cer­tifi­cate include dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tion and soci­ety, social media, and intro­duc­tion to com­mu­ni­ca­tion. Grad­u­ates learn the tools and prin­ci­ples of dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tion across media options.

Found­ed in 1870 as a Jesuit school, Loy­ola Uni­ver­si­ty Chica­go is a research insti­tu­tion of high­er learn­ing with a stu­dent enroll­ment of approx­i­mate­ly 17,050 students.

What We Like: Loy­ola Uni­ver­si­ty Chica­go main­tains mul­ti­ple cam­pus­es across the greater Chica­go metro area, as well as oth­er cam­pus­es in oth­er states.

Pro­gram: New Media Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Certificate

For­mat: Online

Loy­ola Uni­ver­si­ty Chica­go New Media Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Certificate

18. Marshall University

Mar­shall Uni­ver­si­ty offers a grad­u­ate Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Cer­tifi­cate pro­gram that has received accred­i­ta­tion from the ACEJMC. Stu­dents enrolled in Mar­shall University’s Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Cer­tifi­cate online pro­gram must com­plete 15 grad­u­ate semes­ter units. Core class­es Col­lege of Arts & Media includes web design for mass media and online strate­gies. Option­al elec­tives include depth report­ing, doc­u­men­tary jour­nal­ism, and cor­po­rate and instruc­tion­al video, among others.

Mar­shall Uni­ver­si­ty was estab­lished in the 1830s in what was Vir­ginia at that time and was named for the 4th US Chief Jus­tice. More than three decades lat­er, fifty coun­ties sep­a­rat­ed to form West Vir­ginia dur­ing the Amer­i­can civ­il war. Mar­shall Uni­ver­si­ty main­tains sev­er­al cam­pus­es in West Vir­ginia with a stu­dent enroll­ment of approx­i­mate­ly 13,050 stu­dents. Mar­shall Uni­ver­si­ty is orga­nized into twelve under­grad­u­ate and grad­u­ate colleges/schools.

What We Like: Mar­shall Uni­ver­si­ty was ini­tial­ly found­ed as a pri­vate sub­scrip­tion insti­tu­tion of high­er education.

Pro­gram: Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Grad­u­ate Certificate

For­mat: Cam­pus

Mar­shall Uni­ver­si­ty Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Certificate

19. Kennesaw State University

The Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Media School at Ken­ne­saw State Uni­ver­si­ty offers a Grad­u­ate Cer­tifi­cate in Dig­i­tal and Social Media (DSM) that is rec­og­nized as one of Georgia’s best Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Cer­tifi­cate online pro­grams. Ken­ne­saw State’s online grad­u­ate Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Cer­tifi­cate pro­gram is nation­al­ly ranked and requires the com­ple­tion of twelve grad­u­ate semes­ter units over four class­es. The three core cours­es include dig­i­tal media law, dig­i­tal pub­li­ca­tion design, and social media the­o­ry & con­cepts. Elec­tive options include mobile media tech­nolo­gies, or dig­i­tal and social media con­tent strat­e­gy, to name a few.

Ken­ne­saw State Uni­ver­si­ty (Ken­ne­saw State) was found­ed in 1963 and oper­ates dual cam­pus­es in Mari­et­ta and Ken­ne­saw. Ken­ne­saw State Uni­ver­si­ty (KSU) is a mem­ber school of Geor­gia’s uni­ver­si­ty sys­tem and is also a space-grant uni­ver­si­ty. The school’s sub­ur­ban cam­pus cov­ers more than 500 acres and serves approx­i­mate­ly 41,650 students.

What We Like: Ken­ne­saw State Uni­ver­si­ty is rec­og­nized as one of the Peach State’s largest uni­ver­si­ties and actu­al­ly had the largest of all 2020 incom­ing fresh­man classes.

Pro­gram: Grad­u­ate Cer­tifi­cate in Dig­i­tal and Social Media

For­mat: Online

Ken­ne­saw State Uni­ver­si­ty Grad­u­ate Cer­tifi­cate in Dig­i­tal and Social Media

20. Agnes Scott College

Agnes Scott Col­lege offers a cam­pus-based grad­u­ate Writ­ing and Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Cer­tifi­cate pro­gram that is con­sid­ered among the best in Geor­gia. Stu­dents inter­est­ed in Agnes Scott College’s Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Cer­tifi­cate online pro­gram are seek­ing careers as a con­tent writer, social media man­ag­er, or dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions man­ag­er, among oth­ers. Cer­tifi­cate can­di­dates enjoy guest lec­tur­ers from some of Atlanta’s diverse dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ty of experts, includ­ing intern­ship oppor­tu­ni­ties. Course­work cov­er the strat­e­gy and con­tent of media trends, plus the prin­ci­ples of dig­i­tal design and writ­ing. Var­i­ous dig­i­tal plat­forms are used in the course­work, includ­ing HTML/CSS and podcasts.

Estab­lished in the late-1880s as a female sem­i­nary, Agnes Scott Col­lege (Agnes Scott) is a pri­vate, all-women’s school with a stu­dent enroll­ment of approx­i­mate­ly 1,050 students.

What We Like: Agnes Scott Col­lege is a space grant high­er learn­ing insti­tu­tion that is also one of the Sev­en Sis­ters of the South.

Pro­gram: Writ­ing and Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Grad­u­ate Certificate

For­mat: Cam­pus

Agnes Scott Col­lege Writ­ing and Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Certificate

21. Western Carolina University

West­ern Car­oli­na Uni­ver­si­ty offers one of North Carolina’s best Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Cer­tifi­cate online pro­grams with its Dig­i­tal Mar­ket­ing Cer­tifi­cate. As an SHRM Recer­ti­fi­ca­tion Provider, WCU also offers this Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Cer­tifi­cate pro­gram on –cam­pus that includes six class ses­sions. Course­work cov­ers rel­e­vant top­ics that include social media lis­ten­ing, dig­i­tal mar­ket­ing, video con­tent strat­e­gy, writ­ing ad copy and effec­tive blog­ging, and ana­lyz­ing a dig­i­tal mar­ket­ing cam­paign, to name a few. West­ern Car­oli­na University’s dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cate offers stu­dents 5.5 SHRM PDC credits.

Found­ed as a semi-pri­vate nor­mal and indus­tri­al school in 1889, West­ern Car­oli­na Uni­ver­si­ty is now a mem­ber school of the state’s uni­ver­si­ty sys­tem with a stu­dent enroll­ment of approx­i­mate­ly 12,050 students.

What We Like: West­ern Car­oli­na University’s cam­pus is tucked between the Great Smoky Moun­tains and the Blue Ridge Moun­tains in the Tuck­asegee Riv­er valley.

Pro­gram: Dig­i­tal Mar­ket­ing Certificate

For­mat: Online

West­ern Car­oli­na Uni­ver­si­ty Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Certificate

22. Humboldt State University

Hum­boldt State Uni­ver­si­ty offers a Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Cer­tifi­cate pro­gram — includ­ing Imag­ing that hones the artis­tic and cre­ative skills of pro­fes­sion­als and artists. Stu­dents enrolled in Hum­boldt State University’s Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Cer­tifi­cate online pro­gram must com­plete three cours­es from five elec­tives that include mas­ter­ing the dig­i­tal SLR, Adobe Light­room, Pho­to­shop, Pre­mier­Pro, and InDesign.

Hum­boldt State Uni­ver­si­ty (HSU) was found­ed as a pub­lic teacher’s school in 1913 and named in hon­or of Alexan­der von Hum­boldt. Hum­boldt State Uni­ver­si­ty’s cam­pus is known for its stun­ning views and nat­ur­al beau­ty along the coast in North­ern Cal­i­for­nia. Hum­boldt State Uni­ver­si­ty is a mem­ber school of the state’s uni­ver­si­ty sys­tem and the north­ern-most cam­pus of the state’s system.

What We Like: The cam­pus is locat­ed about 300 miles north of San Fran­cis­co and about 650 miles north of Los Ange­les, California.

Pro­gram: Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions and Imag­ing Certificate

For­mat: Cam­pus

Hum­boldt State Uni­ver­si­ty Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Cer­tifi­cate program

23. Meredith College

Mered­ith Col­lege offers a Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Cer­tifi­cate pro­gram that ranked among North Carolina’s best pro­grams. Stu­dents enrolled in M Mered­ith College’s University’s Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Cer­tifi­cate online pro­gram are required to com­plete six­teen semes­ter units, which can be done in one semes­ter as a full-time stu­dent or two to four semes­ters study­ing part-time. Elec­tive class­es allow stu­dents to cus­tomize the pro­gram and include social media, web design, writ­ing, pho­tog­ra­phy, and creative/technical schools, among oth­ers. Stu­dents grad­u­ate with a port­fo­lio that show­cas­es their tech­ni­cal and cre­ative abil­i­ties required to nav­i­gate the com­plex world of the mod­ern dig­i­tal environment.

Mered­ith Col­lege oper­ates as an all-women’s Bap­tist col­lege with a co-ed grad­u­ate school. Estab­lished in 1891, Mered­ith Col­lege ser­vices approx­i­mate­ly 1,850 stu­dents in its under­grad­u­ate and grad­u­ate degree programs.

What We Like: The col­lege is named to hon­or the founder of the Bap­tist Recorder, Thomas Meredith.

Pro­gram: Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Certificate

For­mat: Cam­pus

Mered­ith Col­lege Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Certificate

24. Olympic College

Olympic Col­lege offers a Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Cer­tifi­cate of Com­ple­tion that requires the com­ple­tion of 42 quar­ter cred­its. Class­es for Olympic College’s Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Cer­tifi­cate online pro­gram include pho­to­jour­nal­ism, pub­lic speak­ing, dig­i­tal cul­tures, film direct­ing, user inter­face design, dig­i­tal film­mak­ing, and Web 2.0, plus a CIS practicum, among oth­ers. Stu­dents study the prin­ci­ples of design and com­mu­ni­ca­tions across a broad spec­trum of media device options. Appli­cants are advised that cer­tain class­es for Olympic Col­lege’s dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cate require the com­ple­tion of pre­req­ui­site coursework.

Olympic Col­lege was estab­lished in 1946 as a junior col­lege to serve two near­by coun­ties – Mason and Kit­sap. Addi­tion­al­ly, the school serves two near­by naval instal­la­tions. The stu­dent enroll­ment at Olympic Col­lege is approx­i­mate­ly 12,750 stu­dents. Olympic Col­lege was a final­ist for a prize in com­mu­ni­ty col­lege excel­lence in 2015.

What We Like: The school bestowed its first hon­orary degree to Har­ry Tru­man in 1948.

Pro­gram: Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Certificates

For­mat: Cam­pus

Olympic Col­lege Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Cer­tifi­cate of Completion

25. Emerson College

Emer­son Col­lege offers a Grad­u­ate Cer­tifi­cate in Mar­ket­ing and Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions pro­gram that can be com­plet­ed entire­ly online. Emer­son College’s Dig­i­tal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions Cer­tifi­cate online pro­gram requires stu­dents to com­plete four class­es for a total of six­teen grad­u­ate semes­ter units. Class­es for this cer­tifi­cate from Emer­son Col­lege include social and mobile mar­ket­ing, dig­i­tal mar­ket­ing & cam­paigns, online con­sumer behav­ior, and dig­i­tal sto­ry­telling and brand­ing, each for four cred­its. Each of the class­es pre­pares stu­dents for reward­ing and suc­cess­ful careers using dig­i­tal-cen­tric think­ing from a mar­ket­ing perspective.

Charles Wes­ley found­ed Emer­son Col­lege, as an ora­to­ry and elo­cu­tion school, in the 1880s. Emer­son Col­lege now offers more than 35 degree pro­grams to its near­ly 5,000 under­grad­u­ate and grad­u­ate stu­dents both online and from its south Boston Com­mon location.

What We Like: Emer­son Col­lege is a mem­ber school of Boston’s ProArts Con­sor­tium and cur­rent­ly the oper­a­tor of the his­toric the­atres of Cut­ler Majes­tic, Para­mount, and Colonial.

Pro­gram: Grad­u­ate Cer­tifi­cate in Dig­i­tal Marketing

For­mat: Online

Emer­son Col­lege Grad­u­ate Cer­tifi­cate in Mar­ket­ing and Dig­i­tal Communications

Why Should I Get a Certificate in Digital Communication?

Earn­ing your dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tion cer­tifi­cate online is a great way to kick­start your career. Whether you have been employed for sev­er­al years or are just start­ing out, it will open the door to more oppor­tu­ni­ties than you may real­ize. All it takes is the ini­tia­tive to enroll in the pro­gram and the com­mit­ment to see it through. The skills you learn will be invalu­able as you con­tin­ue to move for­ward and build your career. It will also give you the advan­tage of oth­er indi­vid­u­als who may be apply­ing for the same job as you are.

A cer­tifi­cate can help you learn some of the same impor­tant skills for pro­fes­sion­al development:

  • crit­i­cal thinking
  • effec­tive com­mu­ni­ca­tion skills
  • busi­ness communication
  • deci­sion-mak­ing
  • online com­mu­ni­ca­tion
  • con­texts for communication
  • busi­ness communication

Depend­ing on your elec­tive cours­es, your cred­it hours could count toward a degree in com­mu­ni­ca­tion stud­ies as well.

Is Digital Communication a Good Career Path?

Dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tion is one of the fastest-grow­ing and most diverse of all the career fields in the tech­nol­o­gy spec­trum. Every­body is using dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tion in some form, whether they real­ize it or not. With an online dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tion cer­tifi­cate, you can explore entry-lev­el employ­ment options that will allow you to learn as much as you can while you decide how you want to direct your career. You can explore mul­ti­ple avenues while you are earn­ing your cer­tifi­cate and vir­tu­al­ly build your own per­son­al path from scratch.

As a dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tion pro­fes­sion­al, you have the abil­i­ty to choose from a wide range of careers. You can find jobs in media, mar­ket­ing, or lit­er­al­ly any indus­try that uses dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tion to inter­act with the pub­lic or its peers. You can also choose to work for your­self as an inde­pen­dent con­trac­tor. Being self-employed, you are in full con­trol of your career and can choose the jobs you want to take as well as set your own rate for each ser­vice that you offer. You can guide your career down any path you choose.

The dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tion path is con­stant­ly evolv­ing. Every day, new advance­ments are being made that will allow you to move ahead in your career. Even if you already have a degree, earn­ing an online cer­tifi­cate in dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tion will keep you up to date on the lat­est tech­nol­o­gy and make sure your skills remain as fresh as pos­si­ble. The more you are able to learn, the bet­ter off you will be as tech­nol­o­gy keeps mov­ing for­ward. Tak­ing advan­tage of every oppor­tu­ni­ty to learn is a must if you want to be successful.

What Kinds of Jobs are in Digital Communication?

In the dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions field, you have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to choose from sev­er­al dif­fer­ent career paths. Social media mar­ket­ing is one of the most lucra­tive of all the dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tion fields. Design­ing mar­ket­ing cam­paigns for social media accounts is fun and easy to do if you under­stand a com­pa­ny’s goals and ideals. Whether you work on Face­book, Foursquare, Twit­ter, Insta­gram, or a com­bi­na­tion of all the social media plat­forms, this type of dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tion is one of the fastest-grow­ing with­in the industry.

The media is anoth­er area where dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tion is advanc­ing at a rapid pace. Media is no longer lim­it­ed to news or enter­tain­ment out­lets. Now media pro­fes­sion­als also deal with web­sites, dig­i­tal images, and video. Video chat­ting and video phone calls are also gain­ing in pop­u­lar­i­ty. Being able to use these forms of dig­i­tal media is ben­e­fi­cial no mat­ter what type of indus­try you work in. With an online dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tion cer­tifi­cate, you can take advan­tage of every opportunity.

An online dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tion cer­tifi­cate gives you every­thing you need to begin to explore this diverse field. If you are already a sea­soned pro­fes­sion­al, you will learn the lat­est skills and tech­niques avail­able. A cer­tifi­cate can open many doors for you. Choos­ing to pur­sue that option will give you a chance to learn what type of jobs are becom­ing avail­able in your area and which ones you may want to take a chance on.

Relat­ed Rankings: 

25 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Dig­i­tal Communications

15 Best Online Bach­e­lor’s in Dig­i­tal Communications