Value of an Undergraduate Certificate
Are you interested in enhancing your studies with an undergraduate certificate? In addition to major areas of study, UTSA offers a variety of programs that provide valuable contributions to students' academic careers. While pursuing a certificate, students have the opportunity to explore personal interests and passions outside of their major program or complement their current major, helping them further stand out in the job market.
Why Pursue a Certificate in Healthcare Interpreting?
UTSA’s Certificate in Healthcare Interpreting offers students training in interpreting protocols, interpreting skills, ethics, and cultural humility, preparing you to interpret for Spanish-speaking patients in clinical settings. Interpreters play a vital role in ensuring that non-English-speaking individuals are on equal footing with those who speak the dominant language. In Texas alone, one in seven residents currently lacks sufficient English proficiency to communicate effectively in medical settings, making them vulnerable to misdiagnoses, unintentional patient non-compliance, and hospital readmissions.
Pathway to Certification
This certificate provides excellent preparation for the national exams to become a qualified healthcare interpreter. Examinees must have prior training in healthcare interpreting before beginning the exam sequence. We are proud that two of our courses—TIS 3033 Interpreting in Medical Settings and TIS 3043 Advanced Practice in Healthcare Interpreting—are recognized by the Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters (CCHI) to fulfill this requirement.
Hospitals prefer to hire certified medical interpreters, giving you a competitive edge in the job market. And according to the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of interpreters and translators is projected to grow 4 percent from 2022 to 2032. Certification enhances your marketability and increases your chances of securing steady, long-term employment in the healthcare industry.
Take Your Studies Abroad
UTSA offers a faculty-led study abroad program in Alicante, Spain, working in direct collaboration with the medical school at the Universidad Miguel Hernández. In this historic Mediterranean port city, participants live with a host family as they embrace this unique opportunity to explore new places, gain hands-on practice in clinical settings, and learn from expert scholars and clinicians. This 4-week program is a perfect fit for Spanish-speaking students in healthcare interpreting and related fields who are motivated to learn about cross-cultural health systems while deepening their language skills through immersion.
Adding a Certificate
Add On to Your Major
Currently enrolled in a bachelor's degree program and looking to enhance your degree with an undergraduate certificate? Contact the Certificate Program Advisor listed below, and request permission to enter into the program. Approval to enter into a certificate program must be granted by the Certificate Program Advisor and the Dean of the college in which the certificate program is housed.
Students pursuing the Certificate in Healthcare Interpreting will complete 15 credit hours of 3000-level coursework in Spanish and Translation and Interpreting Studies.
A. Spanish for the Professions (SPN) required courses:
- SPN 3053 Spanish for Healthcare Professionals
B. Translation and Interpreting Studies (TIS) foundations – Students will select two courses from the following:
- TIS 3003 Introduction to Translation and Interpreting
- TIS 3013 Translation and Interpreting for the Language Specialist
- TIS 3023 Interpreting in Legal Settings
- TIS 4013 Topics in Translation and Interpreting Studies
C. Translation and Interpreting Studies (TIS) required healthcare courses – Students will select two courses from the following:
- TIS 3033 Interpreting in Medical Settings
- TIS 3043 Advanced Practice in Healthcare Interpreting
- TIS 5973 Topics in Translation and Interpreting Studies
