Academic certificate

A student being awarded a certificate in an American high school.

An academic certificate is a document that certifies that a person has received specific education or has passed a test or series of tests.

In many countries, a certificate is a qualification attained in secondary education. For instance, students in the Republic of Ireland sit the Junior Certificate and follow it with the Leaving Certificate. Similarly, other countries have awards, for instance, in Australia the Higher School Certificate (HSC) in New South Wales, the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) in Victoria, etc., is the examination taken on completion of secondary education. In parts of the United Kingdom the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is the normal examination taken at age 16 and the General Certificate of Education (GCE) Advanced Subsidiary Level (AS-level) and Advanced Level (A-levels) are taken at 17 and 18.

In many other countries, certificates are qualifications in higher education. For example, in the Republic of Ireland, the National Certificate, which was replaced in 2006 by the "Higher Certificate". These have the titles Certificate (at an undergraduate level), Graduate Certificate (at an undergraduate level, but requiring the completion of a prior undergraduate degree for admission) and Postgraduate Certificate (at a postgraduate level). In Hong Kong, students take the exams to receive Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education. Certificate is below the standard of the associate degree, diploma, higher diploma and advanced diploma, which are below the bachelor's degree. Postgraduate certificates are taken after the bachelor's degree and are sometimes more vocationally oriented than master's degrees.

In Australia, a certificate is a qualification offered by a university or other higher education provider which is shorter than a degree or diploma. Certificates are generally provided by TAFE colleges or non-academic registered training organizations (often workplaces). There are four ranks of certificate in Australia, indicated by Roman numerals, e.g., Cert. IV in Horticulture. The time spent varies, but in general a Certificate I will be granted after a course of only a few weeks, while a Cert. IV may take up to twelve months. A Diploma directly follows Cert. IV and may rightly be considered equivalent to a hypothetical Certificate V.

In the United Kingdom, a Certificate of Higher Education (CertHE) requires successful completion of 120 credits at level four of the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (level 7 of the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework). This is equivalent to one year of full-time university education at first-year level. Each credit is equivalent to a nominal ten hours of study, and as such the CertHE is 1,200 hours of study. This compares with 360 credits (spanning levels 4, 5 and 6/480 credits spanning levels 7 to 10 in Scotland) for an honours bachelor's degree, and 240 credits (spanning level 4 and 5/7 and 8 in Scotland) for a Diploma of Higher Education.^[1] A certificate can also be a vocational qualification of between 13 and 36 credits at any of the levels of the Regulated Qualifications Framework, the level being specified in the qualification title.^[2]

In the United States, a certificate may be offered by an institute of higher education. These certificates usually signify that a student has reached a standard of knowledge about a certain vocational or professional subject. Certificate programs can be completed more quickly than associate degrees and often do not have general education requirements. Undergraduate certificates represent completion of a specific program offered in coordination with a bachelor's degree. Graduate certificates represent completion of studies beyond the bachelor's degree, yet short of a master's degree.

In the State of Maryland, a Certificate of Merit was, until recently, issued to graduating high-school seniors who met certain academic requirements (such as completion of advanced courses and a cumulative GPA of 3.00); the statewide certificate has since been replaced by "endorsements" defined by each local school system.

It also may be awarded as a necessary certification to validate that a student is considered competent in a certain specific networking skill area in information technology. Thus a computer engineer or computer science graduation most likely will have to obtain additional certificates on and pertaining to the specific technologies or equipment used by the hiring corporation; if not, such employer may suffer unwanted penalties like forgoing (voiding the contract) the protections of a certain level of customer service or warranties.

Discover more about Academic certificate related topics

Education

Education

Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Various researchers emphasize the role of critical thinking in order to distinguish education from indoctrination. Some theorists require that education results in an improvement of the student while others prefer a value-neutral definition of the term. In a slightly different sense, education may also refer, not to the process, but to the product of this process: the mental states and dispositions possessed by educated people. Education originated as the transmission of cultural heritage from one generation to the next. Today, educational goals increasingly encompass new ideas such as the liberation of learners, skills needed for modern society, empathy, and complex vocational skills.

Australia

Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of 7,617,930 square kilometres (2,941,300 sq mi), Australia is the largest country by area in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country. Australia is the oldest, flattest, and driest inhabited continent, with the least fertile soils. It is a megadiverse country, and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and climates, with deserts in the centre, tropical rainforests in the north-east, and mountain ranges in the south-east.

General Certificate of Secondary Education

General Certificate of Secondary Education

The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private schools in Scotland may choose to use GCSEs from England.

General Certificate of Education

General Certificate of Education

The General Certificate of Education (GCE) is a subject-specific family of academic qualifications used in awarding bodies in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Crown dependencies and a few Commonwealth countries. For some time, the Scottish education system has been different from those in the other countries of the United Kingdom.

GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

GCE Advanced Level (United Kingdom)

The General Certificate of Education (GCE) Advanced Level, or A Level, is a main school leaving qualification in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It is available as an alternative qualification in other countries.

Diploma

Diploma

A diploma is a document awarded by an educational institution testifying the recipient has graduated by successfully completing their courses of studies. Historically, it has also referred to a charter or official document of diplomacy.

Certificate of Higher Education

Certificate of Higher Education

A Certificate of Higher Education (Cert.H.E./CertHE) is a higher education qualification in the United Kingdom.

Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme

Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme

Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme (CATS) is used by many universities in the United Kingdom to monitor, record and reward passage through a modular degree course and to facilitate movement between courses and institutions. One UK credit is equivalent to the learning outcomes of 10 notional hours of study, thus a university course of 150 notional study hours is worth 15 credits, and a university course of 300 notional study hours is worth 30 credits. A full academic year is worth 120 credits and a full calendar year 180 credits. CATS schemes in use in Higher Education in the UK include CATS, SCOTCAT (Scotland), the Credit and Qualifications Framework for Wales credit framework (Wales), the Learning and Skills Development Agency credit framework and Open College Network credits.

Bachelor's degree

Bachelor's degree

A bachelor's degree or baccalaureate is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years. The two most common bachelor's degrees are the Bachelor of Arts (BA) and the Bachelor of Science. In some institutions and educational systems, certain bachelor's degrees can only be taken as graduate or postgraduate educations after a first degree has been completed, although more commonly the successful completion of a bachelor's degree is a prerequisite for further courses such as a master's or a doctorate.

Diploma of Higher Education

Diploma of Higher Education

A Diploma of Higher Education (DipHE) is a higher education qualification in the United Kingdom.

Graduate certificate

Graduate certificate

A graduate certificate is an educational credential representing completion of specialized training at the college or university level. A graduate certificate can be awarded by universities upon completion of certain coursework indicating mastering of a specific subject area. Graduate certificates represent training at different levels in different countries, for example a graduate certificate is at bachelor's degree level in the United Kingdom but is at master's degree level in Ireland, in both cases representing less work than a degree at the same level.

Computer science

Computer science

Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines to practical disciplines. Computer science is generally considered an academic discipline and distinct from computer programming which is considered to be a technical field.