A CENTENNIAL COLLEGE SUCCESS STORY
Boost your degree with a college certificate
By MARK TOJAGIC
Here’s a little-known fact about college: It’s increasingly popular with university graduates who want to acquire career-specific skills and knowledge to enhance their degrees and open doors to in-demand careers.
Centennial College’s Graduate Certificate programs are one-year offerings tailored for grads that want to deepen their expertise in a niche field.
Students can complete a specialty program in as little as eight months and no more than 12.
These intense programs build on your previous education and allow you to focus on key skills, as well as network with professionals and gain hands-on experiential learning. Graduate certificates are popular with international students who possess postsecondary diplomas from back home, but are looking for a Canadian credential and experience.
Centennial’s short-duration graduate programs offer phenomenal value.
Tuition fees are typically half of what you pay to attend university in Canada. Centennial offers 48 graduate certificate programs in everything from advertising account management to supply chain logistics. The learning is relevant and immersive – some programs offer work placements with actual employers during the year.
Motivated to try one quick year of study? The Centennial programs highlighted here start in January 2020. Others begin in the traditional fall session in September.
Paralegal. Access to justice requires licensed paralegals to fulfill the growing demand for affordable legal services.
The Paralegal program will prepare you to excel in the field through dedicated lectures, practice management and mock trials, as well as a two-day-per-week work placement totaling 196 hours of hands-on training with established law and paralegal firms.
Upon successful completion of all requirements, candidates can write the Law Society’s Paralegal licensing examination, enabling you to practice as a paralegal in Ontario.
Sports Journalism. This unique program prepares you for a career in the ever-evolving world of sports media by immersing you in Toronto’s vast sports media market.
You will learn the best practices from instructors who work as journalists.
Students participate in the program’s annual trip to baseball spring training in Florida, where you’ll be able to apply your skills and build confidence. In addition, work placement in a sports media organization in Canada or overseas will complement your training.
International Development. This program can prepare you for jobs in Canadian and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as well as United Nations agencies.
You will examine the multiple dimensions of poverty, universal education, environmental protection and corporate social responsibility.
You will gain knowledge and skills related to financial management, results-based management and project design, implementation and evaluation.
The certificate may also serve as an entry to a master’s degree in a related field.
Construction Project Management. Toronto is a city of construction cranes. Our program provides the technical training needed to acquire a combination of construction and project management skills, with an emphasis on environmental sustainability.
The program focuses on the study of the management and technological aspects of residential, industrial, commercial and institutional construction projects, as well as engineering and infrastructure construction.
Occupational health and safety is also an important component of the studies.
Interactive Media Management. The interactive media sector is changing as mobile and immersion computing becomes more prevalent.
Our collaborative and project-driven program emphasizes digital strategy, UX design, content strategy and interactive storytelling.
Courses will teach you how to plan all elements of an effective interactive digital experience, starting with assessing what your audience needs to accommodating their needs through the interface, its design and the words it contains.
You will also develop your own project from concept to prototype.
• For more information, visit www.centennialcollege.ca.