Graduate Certificate in Collaborative Governance at Portland State University

Our Graduate Certificate is a Great Value

The Collaborative Governance Graduate Certificate builds your skills, experience, and credibility in less time and at less cost than a traditional master's degree. And, according to the Washington Post, a graduate certificate can increase earning potential by up to 25 percent. Our online format allows you to complete the certificate in just over a year, even while you work full-time. Non-certificate students may also opt to take one or more courses individually.

Benefits you will get:

• Practical, high-level training from collaborative governance experts
• Online lectures, discussions, and coordinated group exercises using video conferencing, live chat, and other technologies that foster interaction
• Opportunities to work on real-world collaborative governance projects or a problem in your own workplace or community

Access to a network of collaborative governance practitioners

You will learn to:

• Build multi-organization and cross-sector partnerships to shape public policy and solve problems
• Design and manage collaborative processes that maximize participation and seek agreement
• Conduct negotiations and manage conflict in two-party, and multi-party settings
• Identify power differences and address issues of equity
• Employ computer and web-based decision and communications tools
• Integrate relevant technical information into collaborative processes
• Secure broad-based financial and in-kind resources
• Participate in policy-making that addresses community needs, industry needs, economic health, the environment, and more

• Complete the graduate application
• Send the Graduate School’s Admissions office your official academic transcripts
• Submit evidence of English language proficiency
• Provide financial documentation demonstrating adequate financial support for at least the first year of study
• Depending on the individual graduate program that you are applying for, additional department requirements may include:
  • Personal essay or statement of purpose
  • Letters of recommendation
  • Standardized test scores, e.g., GRE (not required by all programs)
  • Resume
  • Writing samples
  • Portfolio