DENTON (UNT), Texas —The University of North Texas announces a partnership with Google to help students and working adults learn job-ready skills for tech careers. Anyone who completes the Google IT Support Certificate can receive up to 12 college credits toward the IT concentration of the Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences degree at UNT.
“Partnering with a global leader like Google ensures our students get the best of industry and academic knowledge in high-demand fields,” said Adam Fein, vice president for digital strategy and innovation at UNT. “Our students can transform their certificate learnings into academic credit towards degrees and credentials that help them meet and exceed their career goals.”
UNT’s partnership with Google comes at a time when the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area continues to add jobs in the tech sector. Dallas is one of the top five cities in the U.S. hiring for tech roles, and IT continues to be one of the fastest growing job fields. The partnership will help students and workers take advantage of today’s in-demand tech roles by equipping them with job-ready skills and a path toward a four-year degree.
The Google IT Support Certificate prepares learners for entry-level jobs in IT support within three to six months with no degree or experience required. The program has more than 50,000 graduates in the U.S. with 82% reporting a positive career impact within six months such as a new job, raise or promotion.
"Google is proud to collaborate with UNT to offer our IT Certificate as credit toward a bachelor's degree," said Lisa Gevelber, founder of Grow with Google. "This offering will help both students and workers increase their career prospects and economic mobility as IT continues to be one of the nation's fastest growing fields."
The certificate program also includes an employer consortium of more than 150 companies including Accenture, Deloitte, Infosys, Verizon, Walmart, Wayfair and Google that consider graduates for employment in related job roles. Infosys, a digital services and consulting company in Richardson, has made a commitment to employ 500 graduates in the next two years.
The Google IT Support Certificate is available to Texans through partnerships with community colleges including St. Philip's College and Dallas College, and is also available through career and technical education high schools including Eastern Hills High School, Polytechnic High School and South Hills High School. Nonprofit organizations such as NPower, Upwardly Global, Per Scholas and Merit America also offer the Google IT Support Certificate to Texas residents.
Google Career Certificate programs are designed and taught by Google employees. No degree or experience is required to enroll in the online program. Interested individuals can sign up at grow.google/certificates.
About UNT Online
Wherever you are in life, the University of North Texas offers a path that can help you achieve your educational and career goals. UNT is committed to innovative, high-demand program offerings and its online programs serve students around the world. As one of the largest providers of online credit courses among Texas public universities, UNT offers 86 online program options including bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees as well as undergraduate and graduate certificates.
About Grow with Google
Grow with Google was started in 2017 to help Americans grow their skills, careers and businesses. It provides free training, tools and expertise to help small business owners, veterans and military families, job seekers and students, educators, startups and developers. Since Grow with Google’s inception, it has helped more than seven million Americans develop new skills. Grow with Google has a network of more than 8,000 partner organizations like libraries, schools, small business development centers, chambers of commerce, workforce development boards and nonprofits to help people coast-to-coast.