It’s a question that every management professional is asking what’s better to achieve continuous learning Goals a university degree or a well-known management training certificate?
The answer can be written in a book if we want but to summarize it we can say ‘’well it depends’’ because your Job description and Goals will determine the need for any of both.
As an example, if you’re in the sales business for sure leadership training professional certificate is better and cheaper for you as in sales you only need to advance your knowledge considering like Tel-sales or communication best practices and you don’t need to be exposed for more broad management subjects that form the degree curriculum, however, if you’re a researcher that means you need the broad subjects offered in a university degree so the degree would be more important and essential for your career advancement.
Before we put the important factors to look at when deciding on which degree or certificate you’ll acquire let us offer you a wider explanation about each of them.
What You’ll Learn in a Degree Program
Courses outlined for the completion of degree programs cover more than the base-level of knowledge required for you to complete your work-related tasks. Degree programs are often interested in giving students an understanding of their industry and the world as a whole. To achieve this, degree-granting institutions include “core classes” alongside the major-specific courses required to graduate.
For example, a university degree of 120 semester hour can include about 80- 85-course hours that are not major specified (elective or foundation classes) which aimed to expose the student to the world as a whole.
What You’ll Learn in a Certificate Program
Certificate courses are deeply focused on the actionable skills needed to work in a particular industry or field. Depending on the type of certificate, classes may only cover a broad view of essential industry-related topics or practices to ensure you have a working knowledge of the field. More advanced certificate programs dive more deeply into the subject or review more sophisticated methods for the work. In either type of certificate program, however, graduates leave with skills well-developed enough to apply what they’ve learned to your field or, in some cases, expand that base knowledge into an advanced certificate later
How can you decide
As many professional development experts agreed that the following factors should be considered to take such a decision:
- Are you a degree holder of your industry type (engineering require a related degree but management don’t in some cases like project managers) this can make your point of view differ dramatically because in some business you need to hold a university degree to advance like mechanical engineering industry so in such cases you need to hold a degree.
- Professional Development Goals which will set up your priorities of learning and answer questions like ‘’what I need to know’’ so if you’re an IT engineer holding a bachelor degree and want to advance your knowledge In Artificial intelligence or some advanced networking solutions you don’t need a master degree for that, what you need is a professional certificate that focuses on that subject from a reputable organization, but if you’re a lecturer in a university or a researcher in a statistical bureau you need to have a master degree or doctorate to advance in a specific subject.
- Time commitment as many of us knows degree programs need a lot of time allocation even if it’s flexible to working times but it needs an additional time allocation from the side of the student which should be considered seriously before deciding to enroll in whether the certificate usually won’t need that much time.
- Financial liabilities: Going to university will cost a minimum of 10k $ in non-reputable university for a postgraduate degree with this amount you can get a CFA certificate (Chartered Financial Analyst) with some amount at your bank account if you’re a financial advisor and double your income.
With all of that said and to keep our information summarized before taking such a decision it’s highly recommended that you highlight for yourself
- Your Goals of learning
- Type of business
- Skills required to advance
- Common practices of look-alike professional
- Financial and time capabilities
- The curriculum of the degree or certificate in consideration to be matched with your goals
Finally, it’s important to say that there’s no black or white answer to our question, and professionals should always study their choices carefully and set a proper systematic approach to their personal development and continuous learning.
Consult our experts
Written By Ameer Almasry/ Managing director & professional trainer