Sean Gallagher

Certificate programs have been around for decades, but they have “become much more popular in terms of university offerings and student demand, and those two things are responding to each other,” said Sean R. Gallagher, a professor of educational policy at Northeastern University. 

Sean Gallagher, executive director of the Center for the Future of Higher Education and Talent Strategy at Northeastern University, noted that online enrollment is booming—as is competition among the institutions that cater to it.

“It has been the desire of many entrepreneurs, foundations and policy leaders that microcredentials will become the substitute for expensive degrees,” Sean Gallagher, executive professor of educational policy at Northeastern University, said. 

“Maybe that’s a reason to monitor [ASU’s new partnership] carefully,” said Sean Gallagher, executive professor of educational policy at Northeastern University.