Minnesota State Joins Google and NASH to Offer Microcredentials

ST. PAUL, Minn., January 15, 2026 - Minnesota State has completed its first year in partnership with Google and the National Association of Higher Education Systems (NASH) to provide Google Career Certificates to students as co-curricular offerings or embedded into academic programs. In this first-in-the-nation partnership, Minnesota State is one of 11 higher education systems participating in the Microcredentials Community of Practice, an initiative of the Google AI for Education Accelerator.

Google Career Certificates are industry-recognized credentials that equip students with job-ready skills in high-demand fields like cybersecurity, data analytics, IT support, and more. Also offered are microcredentials for AI Essentials, including foundational AI skills, effective prompting techniques, and responsible AI usage.

More than 350 students have already completed one or more of the Google Certificates at no cost to them through one of the nine participating Minnesota State colleges or universities in the first year of the partnership:

• Alexandria Technical and Community College
• Metropolitan State University
• Minneapolis College
• Minnesota State University, Mankato
• North Hennepin Community College
• Pine Technical and Community College
• Rochester Community and Technical College
• St. Cloud State University
• Winona State University

"The microcredentials pilot with NASH and Google has given our campuses the opportunity to experiment with different ways to offer students some specific, in-demand skills that will enhance what they are learning in their college program or current career through professional continuing education," said Jesse Mason, who serves as associate vice chancellor of academic affairs for Minnesota State. "This is another way that Minnesota State is able to meet students where they are at in their lives and provide the knowledge and skills they need to be competitive in the job market."

"Every student deserves access to the AI skills needed to succeed in today's job market," said Lisa Gevelber, the founder of Grow with Google. "We are proud to partner with Minnesota State and NASH to provide students with our most advanced AI products and training."

As a member of the pilot program, Minnesota State and other participating higher education systems and institutions in the Microcredentials Community of Practice receive:

• Targeted technical assistance and professional development
• Networking and collaboration opportunities with other participating systems, including access to virtual and in-person convenings about microcredentials, AI, and the future of work
• Access to resources and promising practices, including playbooks, case studies, and marketing collateral
• Opportunities for sharing best practices and driving sector-wide progress
• $15,000 stipend per system to be used flexibly to support action-oriented outcomes

About Minnesota State

Minnesota State includes 26 community and technical colleges and seven state universities serving approximately 270,000 students. It is the third-largest system of two-year colleges and four-year universities in the United States.

About NASH

Founded in 1979, the National Association of Higher Education Systems (NASH) works to advance the role of multi-campus systems and the concept of systemness to create a more vibrant and sustainable higher education sector. NASH represents the nearly 90 public higher education systems in the U.S., which include more than 1,200 institutions and serve nearly 14 million students nationwide. Learn more at https://www.nash.edu.

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