A graduate certificate is earned
merely by taking a certain
number and sequence of courses
at the graduate level. The
sequence of courses needed to
earn the certificate is
designated by each university --
they cannot be chosen at
random by the student.
Certificates are most often
offered in vocational fields, like
Education, and in subfields of
study, like Women's Studies.
A postgraduate certificate (PGCert, PG
Cert, PGC) generally is the credential
awarded to an individual upon completion
of a higher education postgraduate
program designed to provide students
with specialized knowledge that is at the
Masters level but less extensive than a
postgraduate diploma or Master's degree.
Although requirements vary depending on
the program, a certificate program
represents a focused collection of courses
that, when completed, affords the student
a record of academic accomplishment in a
given discipline or set of related
disciplines and is normally 225 Contact
hours or 60 credits.