25 Best Digital Communications Certificate Programs

Key Infor­ma­tion:

• Top-ranked schools such as UC Berke­ley, Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin-Madi­son, and Michi­gan State Uni­ver­si­ty offer var­i­ous dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cates focus­ing on dif­fer­ent aspects such as media skills, dig­i­tal stud­ies, and tech­ni­cal com­mu­ni­ca­tion.
• Dig­i­tal com­mu­ni­ca­tions cer­tifi­cates can val­i­date exist­ing knowl­edge and pro­vide the lat­est advance­ments, help­ing pro­fes­sion­als advance their careers or con­sid­er fur­ther degree programs.
• Many pro­grams offer online options that allow indi­vid­u­als to earn their cer­tifi­cates while con­tin­u­ing to work.

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