In this certificate program, offered by the School of Planning, Policy and Environmental Studies , students gain the knowledge and skills required to address a community’s needs through the design of the physical environment. Courses examine the interactions among social, economic, political, and cultural factors, and the built environment.

University Advanced Certificate Requirements​

Advanced certificate programs offer post-baccalaureate students coursework leading to a specific, applied, focused goal.

Students may apply for advanced certificates as matriculated students or as non-matriculated students. Students may apply through CalState Apply as matriculated students, or as non-matriculated students through Open University. In either admission case, students submit an official transcript(s) (noting the completion of a U.S. bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution or the equivalent of a U.S. bachelor’s degree from an accredited and/or recognized institution from a foreign country). Students must have an undergraduate GPA of at least 2.5 (where A=4).

To earn an advanced certificate, students must maintain a minimum GPA of 3.0 in all advanced certificate coursework, with no less than the grade of “C” in any course. A maximum of 4 units of coursework with a grade of “C” can be applied toward an advanced certificate. A maximum of 4 units of coursework may be repeated.These guidelines constitute minimum standards for advanced certificate programs. Departments may propose additional requirements. If a course is repeated, grade points and units from all attempts shall be included in the calculation of the student’s SJSU cumulative GPA and overall GPA, as described in F08-2. Generally, a maximum of 33% of advanced certificate units (e.g., 3 units for a 9-unit certificate) can be completed in non-matriculated status at SJSU with approval from the department or school. In some cases, an advanced certificate may be completed entirely in non-matriculated status if the student has received approval from the department or school and the Associate Dean of Graduate Programs in the College of Graduate Studies. Students should check with their advisor for clarification.

The advisor/director of the program is responsible for verifying a student’s satisfactory completion of the academic requirements established for the program and for forwarding a copy of the certificate audit completion form to the Office of Graduate Admissions and Program Evaluations. The Graduate Admissions and Program Evaluations (GAPE) office records the completion of the program on the student’s transcript.

With the approval of the department or school, units may be applied to both an advanced certificate program and a graduate degree program offered by the department. However, it should be noted that up to 30% of non-resident courses (including Open University courses) can be transferred into a graduate degree program. Therefore, students should check with their advisor to determine if they should matriculate into a certificate program (i.e. if they are currently an Open University student) to ensure that they maximize the number of advanced certificate units they can transfer into a graduate degree. A maximum of 3 units of coursework may be applied to two different advanced certificates as long as there are at least 9 unique units in each certificate.