Starting over based on integrated – and certified – competences

“Success is all about having the skills you exactly need at a given moment”. That’s what Henry Ford used to say, and he was someone who knew what success and skills were all about. His motto remains true, even though today’s historical circumstances are completely different. What has changed is the complexity and grade of integration of skills as well as the pace of their evolution. Today, competence can no longer be identified with specialization alone, it also means having a comprehensive vision, being able to select and assess information, manage multiple variables, leverage opportunities and learn from your mistakes. And being able to do so at an increasingly rapid pace. “Competence” has become a collective noun to describe knowledge, abilities, aptitudes, and expertise. A system that often has to be built, tested and guaranteed.

SDA Bocconi’s online professional certificates are created in this spirit, and have a clear goal: being the end point of a learning journey, an “official” target guaranteeing you have acquired specific skills related to a given job, as well as formally acknowledging and certifying them via an online process. “Giving specific answers to increasingly burning questions for managers and organizations is the School’s objective”, says Gabriele Troilo, Associate Dean for the Online Learning Division. “What do up-skilling and re-skilling really mean? Which skills are essential, today? Which ones are outdated, or even in need of being un-learned? How can I prove that I can harness a given skill? Online professional certificates are a flexible and versatile way to answer these questions.”

SDA Bocconi’s online professional certificates come as the conclusion of a learning journey composed of four online courses related to a specific topic. The courses must be completed over a period of 12 months. The first of such journeys at SDA Bocconi leads to a professional certificate in Personal Selling, a high-impact learning experience based on 4 online courses you can attend in parallel or in whichever order you prefer. The courses deal with the following sales skills: identifying and bringing in new clients; developing existing clients and client loyalty; negotiating with clients; analyzing sales data to improve performance with clients.

Professional certificates in Retail management, Entrepreneurship, IT management, Real Estate Management, Digital Marketing, Marketing, and Personal skills will be activated in the next few months.

The value of such a learning journey is guaranteed by a teaching mix integrating lectures with interviews, exercises, simulations, questionnaires, and a final assessment test. Online delivery allows for maximum flexibility and freedom in managing timing, learning modes and channels (any device: pc, tablet, smartphone), thus providing professionals and companies with an extra resource to achieve strategic competitive advantage in the market of competences, especially in present day hard times.




SDA Bocconi School of Management.