Archive for September, 2009

Westwood College is an institution of higher learning dedicated to providing quality, career-focused undergraduate and graduate programs that prepare students with the knowledge, skills, and credentials needed to launch, enhance, or change careers. The College offers broad access to education and serves a diverse, multicultural body of students in an environment that promotes pride, respect, and teamwork. The College’s programs are designed to empower students to pursue their individual career goals.

Business Administration: Major in Marketing Management

As a marketing professional you’ll be interested in marketing products and services that satisfy consumer needs and keep customer coming back for more. In this program instructors with in-depth knowledge in the field will provide you with:

course content that addresses areas such as consumer behavior, integrated marketing communications and international sales and marketing instruction across a wide variety of other business disciplines a capstone course as a comprehensive project to demonstrate the application of marketing knowledge to potential employers.

Program names, course topics and outcomes may vary by location. Please speak with a Westwood College admissions representative for full program details.

Westwood College

Westwood College is an institution of higher learning founded in Denver, Colorado in 1953. Today, Westwood has 14 campuses across California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois and Virginia and an online campus.* Westwood offers a unique hands-on, career-focused curriculum providing three-year bachelor’s degrees in high-growth fields. We have more than 13,000 students enrolled in one of our degree programs in business, design, technology, industrial services, justice and healthcare. To date, over 24,000 Westwood graduates have transformed their lives by obtaining the skills, tools, experience and connections necessary to achieve meaningful careers.

Employers of today are only interested in taking services of those individuals that are multi-tasking and are highly qualified. With poor economic condition, there is not much of a surprise that unemployment rates are increasing. To counter this situation, you need to go back to the school and earn a more advanced degree. By doing this, you are going to get better job opportunities.

Practical Training

Gone are the days when earning Bachelor degree was considered as a very big thing. At this moment of time, even a Masters degree does not guarantee that you are going to get a good job. Instead of just focusing on theoretical concepts, the main preference of employers is on making sure that the candidates they choose has got right kind of practical training.

Not every school provide practical training to their students, therefore as a student it’s your responsibility to ensure that you only take admission in a program where you are going to get the practical training. Normally, accredited colleges are the ones that offer practical training to their students.

Advantages of Going Back to School

By going back to school, you can avail plenty of advantages. To start with, your academic qualification is going to increase. This can turn out to be quite advantageous when it comes to getting entry level jobs. By going back to school, you will get a clear understanding of latest trends that is happening in your area of expertise.
Going back to school will also help you in getting an overview of the market condition. There are number of colleges and universities in the fray that provide placement services to their students. With placement services, you do not need to worry about getting the job. All your focus should be on earning a degree.

Online Degree Programs:

If you are not comfortable with the idea of going back to school once again, online degree programs are the best option for you. In online degree programs, you can attend classes from any location you want with the help of internet. This gives you an opportunity to work part-time somewhere as well as earn a degree.

In an online environment, there is no real pressure on you in terms of disclosing your identity. As a matter of fact, it is advisable that you do not disclose your identity to anyone in the internet. The quality of syllabus is so good at online degree programs that you are going to gain comprehensive knowledge out of the courses. Make sure that you only take admission in an accredited online university. If that is not the case, you are going to face plenty of problems in finding the jobs as employers all around the world do not think very highly of non-accredited online universities.

Federal Financial Aid

Despite economic crisis, there is not much impact on the federal financial aid that is being offered by the US Department of Education. Individuals that want to start their education once again are given federal financial aid in the form of grants and scholarships. No doubt, getting an approval is not that easy but if you satisfy all the eligibility criteria and apply properly, you have good chance of getting an approval. You can also take education loan from private financial institutions. But this is not really recommended because these institutions charges high rate of interest in their loan packages.

As we explore the many educational opportunities these days whether online or traditional, we can see how every course or program aims at training students helping them specialize in their area of chosen study by offering a number of online certificate programs, there by offering them great career opportunities.
While looking for courses there are two ways in which you look at them. One set of courses offer a general insight into the discipline and the other helps you specialize in the chosen area of study. One such kind of a course program offering a specialized study is the certificate and certification courses.

Benefits of Online Certificate Programs

An Online Certificate Program is one of the most convenient ways of learning to specialize and become experts in the desired field of study. These programs are offered by both online institutions and top companies. The finer aspect of these courses is that in addition to the theoretical knowledge offered, they also offer a chance to practically understand the subject with the help of practical training.

Online Certificate and Certification programs help individuals get the essential knowledge and skill set in the chosen career field at a shorter span of time. Any regular degree program takes around three years to complete. If you are already into working and a specialized knowledge or skill set is sure fetch excellent offers and great career opportunities, such short term courses are of great use.

These program certifications add a great value to your resume. Certainly certification courses offered by large corporate houses like Microsoft, Sun Micro Systems and Cisco carry great value and are specifically required for certain positions. Most of the placements need training for using the products offered by these giants.

Types of Online Certificate Programs

There are several online certificate programs available. These programs are offered across various disciplines namely

• Accounting
• Legal and Paralegal Studies
• Technology
• Human Resource
• Education
• Management
• Sales and Marketing
• Technical

Top Institutions offering Online Certificate Programs

The following institutions are offering online certification programs

• Brookline College – Offers certificates in medical insurance, accounting, technology, accounting, management, technology and law
• Capella University – Programs are offered in teaching and management
• Central Pennsylvania College – Human resource program and a certificate in accounting is offered.
• Chicago School of Professional Psychology – Offers certification program in healthcare, organizational management, forensic and consumer psychology.
• Clayton College of Natural Health – Certificate in animal care, herbal medicine, and naturotherapy are offered
• College Network – Offers wide variety of Certification Courses.
• Daniel Webster College – Programs in system programming and its administration.
• Eastern Kentucky University – Areas covered are homeland safety and security, fire safety and technology related courses.
• Ellis University– International marketing, business and multimedia programs
• Fisher College – Children’s Education, paralegal, health and technology.
• Globe University – Offers nearly ten certificate courses.
• Keller Graduate School Online– Programs are offered in health service, administration and finance.
• New England College – Certificates in banking, management and accounting.
• Notre Dame College – Programs in Negotiations and Strategic Management
• Regis University – Programs in database management and computer studies
• Strayer University – Offers several certificate programs
• Thomas Edison State College – Offers certificate course over close to 100 programs
• University of California – Programs in digital signal, medicine, finance and embedded systems.
• University of Colorado – Programs in literacy and special education.

Friends now you have a wide range of universities and institutions to choose for pursuing online certificate programs, so what are you waiting for?

Online diplomas and Online Certifications-both are received from online universities through distance education programs. They are very useful for those who are unable to attend regular classes. For instance, those who hold jobs or who have small kids demanding their attention do not have the time or energy to pursue an on-site education. Let us now see the differences between these two programs.

Online Diplomas versus Online Certifications

Online Certifications: An online certification is a certificate you obtain that claims you have the basic knowledge pertaining to that field. The duration of the courses for a certification program would mostly be only for a few weeks or 3-6 months at the maximum level.

Online Diplomas: An online Diploma is a degree that you get in hand claiming that you have all the necessary knowledge to possess a bachelor or master or doctoral degree in that field. The duration for an online diploma program may extend from 1-5 years. It is nearly impossible to find a diploma program for a period lesser than a year even in unaccredited online universities.

The Edge Online Diplomas over Online Certifications

An online diploma is more difficult and time consuming to obtain as compared to an online certification.
However, an online diploma carries more weightage and can help you find better jobs with higher pays when compared to simple certification programs. So, given the choice, it would always be better for you to choose an online diploma program.
Pursuing an online diploma needs more time and commitment as it prolongs for a year or two.
So, if you feel you can set aside the necessary time and pursue the course determinedly without losing interest and enthusiasm, then an online diploma would be the best option before you. However, if you only want to gain some basic knowledge about the subject quickly, then you can go in for online certifications. You don’t need either patience or perseverance to complete online certification programs. However, remember they cannot do much to improve your career too.
So, think carefully of the advantages and disadvantages of both the programs and make a decision of what would best suit you. Good Luck!

If you are interested in studying information technology but your financial condition is such that you can afford to take admission at top colleges and universities then you need to find an affordable online universities that runs information technology programs. With so many online universities in the fray right now, you will face no problem in finding an online university that is willing to give you admission at information technology program without charging too much in the form of tuition fee.
Find below details of most affordable online universities from where you can study information technology.

Devry University

By taking admission at DeVry University, you can earn Bachelor degree in computer information systems and Bachelor degree in information systems security. At DeVry University, tuition rates are set in such a way that students whose financial condition is not up to the mark, needs to pay much lower tuition rates. The student-faculty ratio at DeVry University is quite low so you will feel at ease through out the duration of the program. DeVry University is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission.

American InterContinental University Online

By taking admission at American InterContinental University Online, you can earn Bachelor degree in information technology with specialization in digital design, programming, network administration, internet security, computer forensics and computer systems. Unlike other online colleges and universities, American InterContinental University Online gives their students an opportunity to study information technology from the comfort of their home through internet. American InterContinental University Online is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Kaplan University

By taking admission at Kaplan University, you can earn Associate of Applied Science degree in information technology, Bachelor of Science degree in information technology and Master of Science degree in information technology. At Kaplan University, you can get specialization in business intelligence, information security, web development, application development, database management and network administration. Kaplan University is accredited by the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education.