Graduate Certificate Programs

Earn Valuable Credentials While You Complete Your Master’s

Interdisciplinary collaboration is at the heart of research and education at Northeastern University. Our master’s students have opportunities to take a variety of electives that broaden their knowledge and help them prepare for careers. In consultation with the graduate program director, students may choose to further supplement their education and earn an additional credential by pursuing a graduate certificate that’s relevant to their academic interests or professional goals.

We currently offer the following certificates for students who are enrolled in a master’s program in public administration, public policy, or criminology and criminal justice. Unless otherwise noted, these certificates are available in on-campus, online, and hybrid modalities.

To add a certificate path to MSCJ, MPP, or MPA, please contact us at publicaffairs@northeastern.edu or request information using the form below.

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Data Analytics

The interdisciplinary Graduate Certificate in Data Analytics is offered through a collaboration between the Khoury College of Computer Sciences, the College of Social Sciences and Humanities, and the D’Amore-McKim School of Business. The program is designed to provide students with foundational knowledge in “big data,” data analytics (including data management, machine learning, data mining, statistics, and data visualization), and communication that can be applied to decision making in any discipline.

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Information Ethics

The Graduate Certificate in Information Ethics is intended to help students build a working knowledge of the primary theories, frameworks, concepts, and issues in information ethics, as well as develop robust skills in ethical analysis and evaluation. Students who complete the certificate will be able to conduct comprehensive analysis and assessment of emerging issues related to data collection, management, and use; design and implementation of artificial intelligence and machine learning; development and deployment of autonomous systems; and online, networked, and digital experiences and systems.

Available on campus only.

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Nonprofit Sector, Philanthropy, and Social Change

The Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Sector, Philanthropy, and Social Change responds to recent developments in social change theory, practice, and funding that are placing new demands and expectations on social change actors in the nonprofit, public, and private sectors. The certificate is a professionally oriented, application-based program for students seeking leadership positions in nonprofit organizations or in a public agency that deals extensively with nonprofits. The curriculum is designed to address the distinctive features and practices of the nonprofit sector and emphasizes management techniques helpful to nonprofit leaders.

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Public Policy Analysis

The Graduate Certificate in Public Policy Analysis provides an opportunity to obtain the tools necessary to analyze and to shape public policy at the local, state, and national levels. Students gain an understanding of the political and legal processes of policymaking, develop skills central to conducting research on policy questions, and learn techniques for evaluating the effectiveness of competing policies. Not available to Master of Public Policy students.

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Security and Resilience Studies

The goal of the Graduate Certificate in Security and Resilience Studies is to prepare students to manage contemporary transnational risks through a systematic understanding of the principles and policies for enhancing the security and resilience of communities and critical systems. Students will meet these goals through the following certificate requirements:

• Participating in a security and resilience policy course that will introduce students to the synthetic approach to managing transnational risks
• Taking two required gateway courses that support specialization in cyberspace policy, security administration, or counterterrorism
• Focusing on applied learning through group assignments and projects on how to respond to man-made threats and naturally occurring hazards
• Exercising leadership through team projects

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Urban Analytics

The Graduate Certificate in Urban Analytics prepares students to manage the complex issues involved with rapidly expanding data and technological resources in cities. Students learn the practical and theoretical knowledge necessary to understand the intricacies of interconnected urban systems and to analyze how these systems work together to create sustainable, resilient, and just cities. The curriculum emphasizes the expertise needed to bridge emerging technological capacities and traditional policymaking processes. Students cultivate applied skills in visual presentation, analysis, and modeling of new datasets—all of which inform investment and policymaking.

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Urban Studies

Cities are at the center of many of today’s most pressing issues, including climate change, social inequality, lack of access to housing and education, and the challenges of economic development in a globalizing world. The Graduate Certificate in Urban Studies provides a foundation in urban and regional policy theory and research methods, culminating in an applied capstone project.

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Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

The certificate aims to provide enhanced competency through:

• Analyzing contemporary feminist theoretical frameworks, methodologies, issues, and topics and their relation to established disciplines
• Focusing on the intersection of gender with sexuality, race, class, and other vectors of power and identity
• Broadening and enriching analytical skills in one or more disciplines while drawing on the interdisciplinary perspectives of WGSS
• Challenging the traditional separation of academic theory from political and professional practice

Available on campus only.

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