Here’s How Harvard Is Shaping the Future of Online Business Credentials
Credit: Victor J. Blue / Bloomberg / Getty Images- Harvard Business School Online is rolling out longer-term online credentials.
- These credentials combine classes into a curriculum based on innovation and leadership.
- That complements online certificate options from Harvard.
- Online credentials are a growing trend in business education.
In 1908, Harvard University pioneered the world’s first master of business administration (MBA) program. Now, its major business school is leading the charge in a new frontier of business education: the flexible, online credential.
Business schools in recent years have embraced credentials as employers and professionals alike look to upskill. These offerings vary widely, from stackable certificates in high-demand tech areas like artificial intelligence (AI) and financial technology (fintech) to short-term credentials in fundamental business disciplines like accounting and finance.
Harvard Business School (HBS) Online is taking a somewhat different approach to online credentials. It now offers three credential programs, all of which differ from a typical online credential in that they’re offered over a longer period of time and dive deeper into their respective topics.
Take HBS Online’s new Credential of Digital Innovation and Strategy, for example. The four-course, six-month program announced in February has a heavy focus on leadership for digital transformation.
The price tag for that half-a-year Harvard program? $6,500.
Harvard Business School Online has long offered dozens of short-term certificate programs in high-demand areas like financial accounting, business analytics, management, and other core business areas. Most four- to six-week courses are priced under $2,000 and are likewise geared toward working professionals.
Cristina de la Cierva, senior director of marketing and product management for HBS Online, told BestColleges in an interview that the school’s new credentialing programs offer students a “longer and more rigorous experience.”
Students are looking for a deeper dive into topics to help them build their expertise — and even change careers, she said.
“We’re thinking through how we take some of our certificate courses and turn them into these more robust, multi-program credentials that people are looking for,” de la Cierva said.
A Focus on Working Professional
Credentials are on the rise in graduate business education.
The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) found in its 2024 Application Trends Survey that 62% of business schools offer some form of nondegree credentials for students, from stackable certificates to executive education programs.
“Overall, the number of business schools around the world offering nondegree learning opportunities signals that they understand one size does not fit all, especially in the age of AI, flexible work, and personalization,” the GMAC report reads.
That trend toward online credentials coincides with a changing business education marketplace, with more colleges launching programs for working professionals.
HBS Online’s certificate and credential programs fit that trend. And de la Cierva said both the online credential and certificate programs require only about five hours of self-paced work per week.
“You decide when you do it, and when it works best with your schedule,” de la Cierva said. “So you can upskill while you do all the other things you do in your life and not have to take a pause.”
One challenge in an online credentialing program is the rapid rate of change in the business landscape. The rise of AI is a good example. The vast majority of business schools now offer some type of AI learning to students, but students still largely report they wish they had more AI education during their college experience.
At the same time, human skills taught in HBS Online’s credentialing programs like strategic thinking are set to remain important to employers in the coming years, according to previous GMAC research.
The credential programs combine multiple online courses from across disciplines to help students prepare not only for current best practices but also to help their organizations navigate an ever-shifting tech landscape, de la Cierva said.
HBS Online’s certificates and credentials teach these core skills through Harvard Business School’s famous case method, meaning every course is built around a real-life example.
“We teach by telling real stories, and we go into companies, we film multiple protagonists around a particular challenge they’re having,” de la Cierva said. “Then they come back and they’ll speak with the faculty member about pulling out some frameworks and concepts that are helpful for our learners based on a real story.”
Harvard’s differentiator here is its resources and production value. The school has production and content teams that work to make each course engaging for students.
“It really is like a movie they’re making with it, with a story and a lesson that comes out of it,” de la Cierva said.
Bringing Networking to Credentials
HBS Online is also incorporating something into its online certificates and credentials that other short-term programs often lack: networking.
The school offers online certificate graduates access to worldwide alumni chapters that come with events and opportunities to connect with fellow alumni. These communities are based across the globe and also include industry-specific groups.
These online alumni networks are geared specifically for graduates of Harvard’s online programs. Harvard also puts on an annual, on-campus event for alumni of its online programs that includes sessions with faculty and case studies.
“This is kind of creating a new world of a new network, in which people — the 275,000, if you will — participants who have taken one of our programs so far, are able to continue to stay connected with one another and help each other progress in their careers,” de la Cierva said.