Doctor of Technology in Applied & Agentic AI Golden Gate University (upGrad Program)
Lead enterprise AI with applied research
Doctor of Technology (D.Tech) in Applied and Agentic AI
Career-Ready for the AI Era — A Doctorate Built for AI Practitioners
upGrad is in collaboration with Golden Gate University (GGU) to deliver this professional doctorate with Agentic AI as its primary specialization. It's fully online, part-time, and WASC-accredited, built for practitioners who are already doing serious AI work and want the credential to match.
- Accredited by WASC — since 1959
- WES recognized globally
- Based in San Francisco, with faculty working at leading Bay Area AI companies
- 120 years legacy, over 70,000 alumnis.
- Ranked #1 for working professionals by Washington Monthly.
A 5‑day Golden Gate Technology Symposium in San Francisco where learners showcase applied AI research to industry leaders worldwide.
69 total units — a traditional AI PhD takes 5–7 years full-time
- Phase 1 Foundation AI Core (14 units)
- Phase 2 Advanced AI & Applied Systems (15 units)
- Phase 3 Doctoral Research and Dissertation (40 units)
Found cohort rate
STEM background preferred, not required
What the Credential Carries
The DTech's authority comes from a specific combination of accreditation, institutional standing, and location.
WASC Regional Accreditation
GGU has been WASC-accredited since 1959, the same body that accredits Stanford and Berkeley — the standard that unlocks employer reimbursement, credit transferability, and doctoral hiring eligibility globally.WES Recognition
For professionals worldwide, WES recognition smooths degree evaluation for employment, immigration, and professional licensing.San Francisco AI Ecosystem
GGU is based in San Francisco. Faculty include practitioners working at Bay Area AI companies — the location is part of what the credential signals.Practitioner Faculty
GGU emphasises faculty who work in industry. Instruction is grounded in deployment, governance, and real AI systems, not just research labs.Publication Pathway
DTech students access co-authorship support with faculty for applied AI research. Target journals include IEEE Transactions on AI, AI & Society, and Harvard Business Review AI.Your Cohort and the Golden Gate Technology Symposium
Five days in San Francisco. You present your applied AI research to industry leaders, faculty, and peers from across the world.
- Present your capstone research to an industry audience
- Fireside chats with AI leaders and CXOs
- Industry tours of Bay Area AI companies
- Masterclasses with CXOs of leading AI and tech companies
- Access to a global alumni community
Transform Your Leadership
Why the DTech
Five things that matter to senior AI practitioners, and why the DTech is built around them.
Built Around Agentic AI
The program integrates the topic across coursework and doctoral research — a deep understanding of how autonomous AI systems are architected and managed in production.WASC Accreditation
Golden Gate University has held WASC accreditation since 1959, and the degree is WES-recognized, facilitating academic recognition in many countries.Your Dissertation Solves a Real Problem
You bring an enterprise AI challenge from your own organization. The outcome is publishable and immediately applicable.You Don't Leave Your Job to Do It
A traditional AI PhD takes five to seven years full-time. The DTech is part-time and fully online.You Leave With a Governance Framework
The AI Governance Practicum has you design a real compliance model for an agentic system — something your organisation can actually implement.Who This Is For
The DTech is for AI practitioners who already have the depth. What they're missing is the credential that turns that expertise into institutional authority.
The Ascending AI Architect
Senior ML Engineer · AI Architect · Principal Data Scientist
“I was passed over for an AI leadership role. The person they hired had a doctorate. My technical background was stronger.”
The Tech Executive
VP Engineering · CTO · Head of AI · CAIO
“I was invited onto an AI advisory board. Then they brought in an external CAIO with a doctorate, weaker technical background, stronger credential.”
The Practitioner-Turned-Educator
Adjunct Faculty · Corporate Trainer · Curriculum Lead
“I was denied a full-time faculty position. The role requires a doctorate. I have the experience. I just don't have the credential.”
Why Now
Organizations are increasingly looking for leaders who can bridge advanced technical expertise with the practical realities of governing and deploying AI.
3,200+ New CAIO Roles Created Globally (2024–26)
42% are external hires. Doctoral credentials are increasingly appearing in the job spec. (IBM CEO Study 2026)28–45% of AI Leadership Roles List a Doctorate
28% require it, 45% list it as preferred — that gap is exactly where the DTech sits. (AI Strategy Course / 2024 Job Posting Data)$280K–420K Average CAIO Salary (US)
The credential ROI plays out over decades. (Glassdoor / CAIO Salary Guide)+34% Growth in Professional Doctorate Enrolments
US, 2019–24 — professional doctorates are the fastest-growing segment of doctoral education. (NSF/NCSES)Curriculum — 69 Units Across 27 Months
The DTech builds from foundation and advanced AI coursework into a doctoral bridge, research methods, and a Dissertation in Practice — 100% online.
Foundation & Advanced Coursework
Doctoral Phase
Projects & Portfolio
Each project builds a core capability behind today's AI systems, from first principles through to a working product — including projects modelled on billion-dollar companies.
- Build a Mini LLM That Predicts the Next Word
- Build the Attention Mechanism
- Build the Reasoning Method Behind DeepSeek-R1 and OpenAI o3
- Build a Multi-Agent System That Completes a Task Independently
- Fine-Tune a Large Language Model with LoRA
- Build an LLM Router (modelled on Martian and OpenRouter)
- Build a Reinforcement Learning Game Agent (modelled on Google DeepMind's AlphaGo)
- Build an Answer Engine (modelled on Perplexity)
- Build a Coding Agent Team (modelled on Cursor)
- Build a Grounded Research Assistant (modelled on Google NotebookLM)
Program Faculty
Brent White
President, Golden Gate University
8th President of GGU, previously Chief Global Officer at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa and GGU's Provost. A noted scholar in law and development, featured in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.
Dr. Edward Roekaert
Executive Vice President and Provost, GGU
Leads GGU's global, AI-focused academic strategy. Previously Rector and CEO of Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (UPC); Commissioner with WSCUC.
Mohammad Akbari
PhD, Computer Science, National University of Singapore
AI architect and founder with 20+ years in software engineering and 15+ years in AI/ML. Adjunct Professor at GGU and Founder of Novacortex Labs.
Jose Canelon, PhD
PhD, Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Houston
30+ years applying machine learning and data science to control systems and industrial process optimization. Emeritus Professor at Universidad del Zulia.
Dr. Ella Burju Keskin
PhD, Computer and Instructional Technologies Education, Istanbul Technical University
Live Session Faculty for the DTech in Agentic AI, bridging academic AI research with real-world business application. 20+ years of international leadership across AWS, Office Depot Scandinavia, and Procter & Gamble.
Dr. Peter D. Finn
PhD, National University of Singapore
30 years of IT experience across systems engineering and generative AI. Co-Chair for Emerging Technologies and Digital Leadership at GGU; Creator of the InferNode platform.
Eligibility & Admissions
A master's degree, or a bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited institution or its equivalent with 5 or more years of work experience. Experience in STEM fields is preferred, but not required. The admission process is 4 steps: complete your application and Statement of Purpose, application review, receive your offer letter, then reserve your seat.
Admission Process
Step 2
Upon receiving all documents, the application will be processed and reviewed within one week.
Upon acceptance, an offer letter will be sent to you by the school or upGrad on behalf of the school via email.
Step 3
Acceptance of Offer
Confirm your offer by paying tuition balance by the date printed on the offer letter.
Attend an onboard call via the Internet.
Disclaimer
- Information is accurate at the time of publication and is subject to change.
- The course is a purely distance learning course and is therefore not subject to the registration requirement. It is a matter of discretion for individual employers to recognize any qualification to which this course may lead.
- Hopkins is an exclusive channel partner of upGrad in Hong Kong and Macau.
