SUNY Brockport Integrating Google Career Certificates into Coursework
SUNY Brockport was selected as one of 11 campuses to participate in a new effort from SUNY to embed industry-recognized certificates offered by Google directly into academic coursework.
“The purpose of the certificates is to enhance the career-readiness skills of students by teaching them hands-on skills in various high-demand topics,” said Mehruz Kamal, Chair of the Department of Computing Sciences at SUNY Brockport. “Employers and students believe that having at least one industry certification completed by the time they graduate from a four-year degree program will bolster their competitiveness when searching for entry-level jobs.”
In partnership with the National Association of Systems of Higher Education (NASH) and Google, SUNY Brockport was awarded a $50,000 grant from SUNY to embed “Grow with Google” industry certificates into credit-bearing courses. As part of this initiative, SUNY Brockport was granted 500 licenses for students taking approved courses within the Department of Computing Sciences and the School of Business and Management. Each student who signs up is assigned a license tied to a specific Google certificate. Once a student earns their industry certificate, the license is returned to the pool and can be used by another student.
“The Google certificates are offered through the Coursera platform, and on completion, a digital certificate and a shareable badge are provided,” Kamal said. “It provides a means for students to validate their skills and help them stand out to employers in high-demand fields like IT, cybersecurity, data analytics, project management, and digital marketing. Our participation in this initiative also complements the University’s mission of providing experiential and hands-on learning opportunities to students.”
SUNY Brockport offers the following nine Google certificates through select credit-bearing courses: AI Essentials (five-hour course), Advanced Data Analytics Certificate, Business Intelligence Certificate, Cybersecurity Certificate, Data Analytics Certificate, Digital Marketing & E-commerce Certificate, IT Support Certificate, Project Management Certificate, and UX Design Certificate.
Kamal served as a campus lead in the effort to embed the certificates into SUNY Brockport coursework, in collaboration with faculty in the School of Business and Management. Eleven faculty members from the Department of Computing Sciences and the School of Business attended Zoom workshops and completed certificates to prepare courses to offer the credential in Fall 2025.
“This fall, eight courses across computing sciences and business embedded partial or full certificates,” Kamal said. “I’ve already seen students posting on LinkedIn about their certificate completions, which can help them stand out to employers when applying for internships or full-time positions.”
A pilot offering of the Google Cybersecurity Certificate in Spring 2025 had more than 30 students complete the certificate as an alternative to their course’s final project. SUNY Brockport students taking select credit-bearing courses can complete the Google certificates through the end of 2028.
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