Universities have a golden opportunity to position themselves to deliver micro-credentials to meet demand for new and adaptable skills, a webinar has heard.

The webinar, on the topic “Micro-credentials in Higher Education: Trends, adoption strategies and technical solutions”, was hosted by CourseLoop, the leading Australian curriculum management platform, and UCISA, the professional body for UK universities’ digital leaders.

At the 15 September event chaired by Tom Henry, Associate at University Business UK, 84 higher education participants heard insights from Julie Mercer, leader of Nous’ UK higher education practice, Emeritus Professor Martin Bean CBE, CEO of The Bean Centre, and Carolyn McInnis, Head of Product at CourseLoop.

“Half of the working population will change jobs in the next 5 years, so they are going to need new skills,” Ms Mercer said, linking the rise of micro-credentials to global skills demands and the need for timely focussed reskilling and upskilling. This was echoed by Emeritus Professor Bean, who described the demand for upskilling in industry and government as a “war for talent”.

The panel acknowledged uncertainties with micro-credentials, including stackability, portability of qualifications between universities and commercial organisations, and where they sit in the academic framework. “Flipping the deficit model for students who haven’t made it all the way through a traditional qualification will encourage student potential,” Ms McInnis said.

The discussion shifted to how universities can set themselves up for success in this new market. “It is a real opportunity to think about where to play and how to win as well as how you partner with others, such as industry or technology partners, to enhance the existing offer and help secure employability,” Ms Mercer said. Ms McInnis added that universities should mine their current curriculum to find and look to leverage hidden resources.

Moving to practical tips, Emeritus Professor Bean said: “You must be clear on your strategic intent, agree governance arrangements up front, choose the best enabling technology, design a clear curriculum architecture, and recruit and resource a team of digital marketing experts to succeed.”

“Universities must think about the technology to support micro-credential students end-to-end,” Ms McInnis added. She described the infrastructure needed for micro-credentials: a system that supports robust curriculum management processes, a digital marketplace, delivery technology and badging technology. Ms Mercer said it was vital to think differently and to adopt a different mindset so that the corporate antibodies don’t attack these new approaches before they are established. This requires buy-in from academic staff. “Bring academics in on the journey early and think about how you can energise and incentivise them to come on board,” she said.

The panellists noted the underlying challenges micro-credentials can surface for universities. “Concerns such as ‘This isn’t the type of thing we do at this institution,’ ‘How will this sit within our reputation?’ – come up all the time,” Ms Mercer said. “But remember, this is not totally new for universities – business schools have successfully run executive education and other short courses for years.”

Universities were encouraged to define a clear intent for micro-credentials that would build organisational confidence and ensure success in the market. “An institution that wants to stand for something will make its micro-credential attributes match its academic profile,” Emeritus Professor Bean said.

Finally, the webinar discussed the durability of micro-credentials. Popular courses such as coding, AI and business were identified as currently in demand and by employers and learners “What we are increasingly hearing from employers is that we need to have more human skills than ever before,” Ms Mercer said. “These skills and the role of entrepreneurship, the social sciences, and project management and delivery will be long-standing.”

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