By Dr. Jennifer Batchelor
Program Director of the Transportation & Logistics Management program at American Public University
Should I get an academic degree or professional certification? That is a question I get quite often. My response usually begins with explaining the differences between the two in relation to the career and personal goals of the inquisitor. There is no one right choice for everyone.
The difference between an academic degree and professional certification is fairly simple and straightforward.
An academic degree is a path toward developing and building an individual’s knowledge base. In my field, this includes in-depth knowledge of the discipline of transportation & logistics management (TLM) as well as a general understanding of other areas such as social sciences, political science, business, information systems, and communications. An academic degree is all-encompassing when building a foundation or knowledge base. The key here is knowledge.
There are different types of certifications such as corporate, product-specific, and profession-wide certifications. Most TLM certifications are profession-wide certifications. This type of certification is validation of an individual’s expertise within a given field or profession. Further, during an APU webinar in Dec. 2010, Victor Deyglio of The Logistics Institute mentioned that a professional certification represents what you can do with what you know.
In the end, a professional certification certifies your experience, expertise, and skills within a profession such as transportation and logistics. The key here is what you can do. There are professional certifications available in supply chain management, transportation and logistics, traffic, import/export, purchasing, manufacturing, and production and inventory.
TLM professional certification bodies include The Logistics Institute and the American Society of Transportation and Logistics (ASTL). Both partner with education institutions to allow students to earn a degree and a certification.
For example, the APU partnership with The Logistics Institute provides learners with the opportunity to transfer credit from AMU/APU courses to satisfy certain requirements of the P.Log. Another APU partnership is with ASTL; TLM graduates can apply for the ASTL PLS Academic Waiver Programs.
Getting a degree and a certification provides learners with a bridge between academics and practitioner approaches. This may be the best way to demonstrate to hiring managers that you know the industry and can do the job. In the end, why not have both?
About the Author:
Dr. Jennifer S. Batchelor is Program Director of the Transportation & Logistics Management programs. She has over 20 years of experience in the logistics and transportation field and enjoys sharing her expertise and knowledge through online delivery methods as well as face-to-face seminars and workshops. Her passion lies in third party logistics but more specifically in over the road transportation and rail.
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