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Business Administration
Inspired leadership
Certificate Description
Build the foundation of successful leadership
Our program builds on the huge body of science underlying the latest best practices for management. You will gain practical skills to handle the day-to-day aspects of running a business and study evidence-based methods to maximize company performance. Network with industry professionals who teach facilitation, negotiation, coaching, and how to help employees carry out a unified vision. Choose courses from four tracks:
- Business Essentials
- Financial Analysis/Accounting
- Management Development
- Marketing Business Development.
Business Administration certificate program objectives
- Explain how the American legal process can impact business
- Apply supply chain operation principles and techniques to cost effectively create products or services that can be competitively sold in the global marketplace
- Apply marketing principles and techniques to sell innovative and competitive products or services
- Employ the fundamentals of business finance to provide insights and guidance to the business in a dynamic and changing business environment
Digital Badge
Program Overview
Estimated Cost: Starting at $5,125. (You pay only for courses you enroll in.) | International Tuition Cost
Program Requirements: 7–10 courses (minimum 19 quarter units). Take 5 required courses (13 quarter units) and 2–5 elective courses (6 quarter units). End with certificate of completion review.
Minimum Hours of Instruction: 190 hours of instruction.
Estimated Duration: A full-time student can complete the certificate in 9–12 months.
Courses
1. Required Course(s):
2. Electives: Business Essentials
3. Electives: Financial Analysis/Accounting
4. Electives: Management Development
5. Electives: Marketing Business Development
6. Completion Review:
Certificate Inquiry Form
Recommended Course Sequence
Flexible course sequence
Courses may be taken in any order provided the prerequisites are met.
Substitutions
Substitutions for undeclared students
If you have not yet declared your candidacy in the Business Administration certificate program, please follow the current curriculum requirements.
Substitutions for students who declared before Nov. 1, 2020
We have made some changes to the curriculum that affect students who declared their candidacy in the Business Administration certificate program between fall 2016 and Nov. 1, 2020. If you declared your candidacy during that period, please note that we're no longer offering two requisites—Microeconomics, Introduction and Management and Organization, Principles. You have new options.
- For Microeconomics, Introduction (4 units)
Please substitute Business Economics (2 units). You do not need to make up the 2-unit difference for the Business Administration certificate. You do not need to make a formal request for this substitution or complete any paperwork. - For Management and Organization, Principles (2 units)
You can substitute Applied Organizational Behavior and Coaching (3 units). You do not need to make a formal request for this substitution or complete any paperwork.
If you declared candidacy for the Business Administration certificate program and completed any of these four courses prior to Nov. 1, 2020, please contact us at extension@ucsc.edu and we'll help you get the courses you need to complete your certificate.
To receive your certificate
Upon completion of the course sequence, you may request your Business Administration Certificate Completion Review.
Professional Development
Continue your education in accredited master's degree programs
Transfer your Business Administration certificate units to NDNU
Completion of the UCSC Silicon Valley Extension Business Administration certificate program allows you to transfer up to nine UCSC SV quarter units (equal to six NDNU semester credits) toward two advanced programs at Notre Dame de Namur University.

Transferrable UCSC Silicon Valley courses
Requirements to transfer units to NDNU
- Complete the identified Business Administration courses prior to enrolling in the NDNU MBA Program.
- Have received a grade of B or higher in each UCSC course being transferred.
- Be in good academic standing.
- Have a bachelor's degree from an accredited institution.
- Meet NDNU Admission requirements.
Check with your professional association!
The credit you earn in many Business Administration certificate courses qualifies as credit within professional organizations.
Advisory Board

REYNOLD LEWKE, M.S., M.B.A, LLB, a corporate attorney, litigator, author, and business advisor, runs his own strategic talent management consulting and executive search firm. He has worked with startups and global Fortune 100 companies integrating engineering, business, and legal perspectives. He offers actionable insights into issues ranging from domestic and international contracts to products liability, technology, human resources, and construction. Reynold, a certified personal trainer and Ironman coach with more than 22 Ironman distance races behind him, also offers career coaching services for professionals and fitness and personal training services. He has served as chair of the Business Administration certificate program since 2020.
Certificate Program Advisory Committee
PHIL BROTHERTON, B.S.M.E, M.B.A
Principal, Phil Brotherton Consulting
Former Vice President of NetApp Cloud Group
Network Appliance
CRAIG HARRISON, B.A
Professional Speaker, Trainer, Consultant, and Coach
Founder, Expressions of Excellence!™
Instructor, Business Administration Program
UCSC Silicon Valley Extension
LARRY O'CONNELL M.S., M.A., M.B.A
Instructor, Business Administration Program
UCSC Silicon Valley Extension
REYNOLD LEWKE, M.S., M.B.A, LLB,
Chair and Instructor, Business Administration Certificate Program
UCSC Silicon Valley Extension
MARCELA RODRIGUEZ-RYSBEKOV, B.S
Regional Sales Manager, Web Global Services Providers
Cisco Systems
WENLEI SHAN, M.B.A
Instructor, Business Administration Program
UCSC Silicon Valley Extension
BENJAMIN WANG, MD.
Co-founder and Chief Medical Officer
NeVap, Inc
Establish Candidacy
Establish candidacy in a certificate or specialization
Once you create your student account, you can establish candidacy in a certificate or specialization program any time during your studies.
The benefits of enrolling early
- Lock in your certificate requirements.This means that even if program requirements change, the requirements to complete your certificate will remain the same for you
- Receive program updates
- Set your intention
- It’s free
To complete a program, you must enroll in the certificate program before enrolling in the Certificate Completion Review.
You have five years to complete all necessary courses in a certificate program or three years to finish up a specialization program.
All the necessary units in a certificate must be completed within this window.* The clock begins on the first day of your first course in the certificate program. For example, if you started a course on Sept. 5, 2017, you would have to complete all of the required units in this certificate by Sept. 4, 2022.
Note:
Enrolling in a certificate program does not trigger the beginning of the five-year window. It begins the first day of the first course that applies to a certificate program. The Certificate Completion Review process does not have to occur within the five-year timeframe.
For more information: How do I get my certificate or specialization?
* Students participating in a special program, such as workforce, international, Personal Financial Planning, or curriculum partner programs (Udacity, Microfacturing Institutes) may have a shorter completion requirement.
Grade Requirements
Please note that only letter grades of C or higher may be applied to a certificate, and in some programs, students may have more stringent requirements. Students in most employer- and government-sponsored payment programs, such as workforce development, as well as international students on F-1 visas, need to maintain a B average to meet their requirements. Personal Financial Planning students have additional grade requirements for individual courses to attain a certificate.
See Grading and Credits Policy for further information.