Microcredentials and Higher Education: Your Questions, Answered

Compared to most degree programs, microcredentials offer shorter timelines, more flexible schedules, and the opportunity to tailor-make learning paths from scratch, typically with an on-ramp to career opportunities built in. They’re growing in popularity and are changing student expectations. This means there’s an opportunity for institutions to grow while meeting new demand.

According to a 2022 survey, among U.S. employers, 86% agreed that microcredentials strengthen job applications. This, in part, is due to the demand for skills outstripping the supply, with 53% of those employers describing the need for specific skillsets as the biggest challenge when hiring recent grads. In terms of which skills are not only the most difficult to find, but also the most difficult to evaluate, “soft skills” ranked the highest—those interpersonal competencies such as communication and critical thinking that traditional curriculum doesn’t always cover. Tech skills ranked second.

As microcredentials become increasingly sought after to supply the skill demand, how can higher education compete with businesses already offering them?

With the right strategy and technology, institutions can leverage credentialling as an opportunity for innovation—to boost enrollment, unlock new revenue streams, build a sustainable culture of lifetime learning, and meet the skill-building needs for student success today.

What Are Microcredentials?

While there isn’t an industry-standard definition, UNESCO describes microcredentials as a subset of the typical credential, “typically focused on a specific set of learning outcomes in a narrow field of learning and achieved over a shorter period of time.”

Students pursuing microcredentials do so with a range of goals in mind. Some are working to advance their current careers, others want to switch professional fields entirely, while many simply enjoy learning new skills.

While traditional degree programs often take multiple years of full-time study, microcredentials are completed part-time in a vastly shorter amount of time – often in a matter of weeks or days. Micro-credential students often learn online, continue to work concurrently, and pay a fraction of the price of a traditional program.

Who is Offering Microcredentials?

According to an annual report from the nonprofit Credential Engine, more than one million unique credentials were offered in the U.S. in 2022, but less than half came from higher education institutions.

Some businesses may provide a form of microcredentials to current employees who have demonstrated a certain level of proficiency in a particular skillset or have completed an internal training course. For example, a bank may offer a certificate in digital financial literacy to associates who have managed a certain number of accounts. Or, in the case of higher education, financial aid advisors may earn a badge from the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) on consumer information or student eligibility.

While some higher education institutions such as Northeastern University have started offering microcredentials of their own, far more have struggled to find footing in this new model. By expanding their definition of credentialling and embracing a wider range of flexible deployment options, institutions could be doing much more to serve the growing consumer demand.

What’s Driving the Demand for Microcredentials?

Like vocational training programs, microcredentials draw a direct line from a workforce need to the specific skillset that can supply it. While traditional degree programs build a breadth of knowledge over time, microcredentials’ expedited timelines and focused scope enable them to offer the most up-to-date and relevant training employers are seeking.

As part of the previously cited 2022 survey, 81% of responding U.S. students believed microcredentials would help them succeed in their careers. Among global respondents, 89% agreed or strongly agreed that entry-level professional certifications would help them secure employment. Micro-credentials are becoming increasingly ingrained in the job market and providing the type of flexibility that even fully online degree programs aren’t designed to do.

Higher education institutions should evaluate how accurately they are forecasting workforce demands and how quickly they can adapt to meet them. With innovative tools to consolidate and standardize data, institutions can do so at scale.

Why Do Students Need More Flexibility Now?

It’s easy to chalk up today’s demands for flexibility to the pandemic, but that ignores the reality that not everyone can put their life on pause to enroll full-time at an institution. This is especially true for nontraditional students and those from historically underrepresented backgrounds who make up a large and growing portion of institutional enrollment. These students represent a diverse range of ages, backgrounds, and experiences. Their needs are not one-size-fits-all.

Taking an intro to computer science class can be stressful enough without adding on financial friction, family commitments, and part- or even full-time jobs. Instead, it’d be much more viable to take shorter microcredentialling courses in specific subject areas, enabling learners to gain the specialized skills they need at the time and pace that make the most sense for them. Besides this, microcredentials are typically more affordable compared to traditional degrees, letting students with standing financial commitments advance their skillsets without the hefty price tag of tuition.

Consider that the learner population is evolving quickly, and most students today want affordability and flexibility as well as the chance to design the experience themselves. Microcredentials offer a way to tailor education around specific interests and career aspirations, fast-tracking competencies and professional advancements.

Where Does That Leave Institutions?

According to a 2021 survey, 71% of responding higher education leaders said that “alternative credentials” could help achieve revenue and enrollment goals, but only 60% considered them aligned with their institution’s strategic plans. Microcredentials may seem too far off the beaten path to fit into longstanding curricular plans, despite 92% of participants saying they could help their institutions “compete with emerging entities like bootcamps.”

To be fair, those bootcamps have a solid head start in the market, and companies offering microcredentials have another competitive edge because they’re tapped into consumer demand. How does Google know which IT topics to cover in their courses? It’s Google. Institutions also have the data they need to understand their consumers and communities. They just need the SaaS-based analytics to turn that information into action.

Some institutions are already doing this to ensure their vocational programs meet current workforce demands. The Alabama Community College System, for example, uses insights gleaned from uniform data standards to develop relevant programs and implement them quickly using a responsive, configurable course management system. Those same tools can be leveraged to establish and retire micro-credential opportunities within an agile labor market.

How Can Institutions Compete with Companies Offering Microcredentials?

While companies like Coursera may appear to have the micro-credential market nailed down, remember that institutions are the establishment when it comes to education. Earning an alternative credential from a college or university implicitly confers more recognition and understanding from employers than it would from a relatively unknown boot camp.

Accredited institutions also have far higher credentialling standards. Instructors are more rigorously vetted, assessments more strictly align to industry best practices, and the breadth of instruction is wider. Students can confidently add microcredentials from an institution to their resumes knowing they’ll be taken seriously.

It’s clear employers still highly value college degrees. Because of this, institutions can integrate appealing, relevant microcredentials into their already credible programs. And with the right tools for data continuity, institutions can track microcredentials alongside more typical credits, moving students from one-and-done degree seekers into lifetime learners. When the need for a new skill arises, why wouldn’t they return to an institution they already trust to meet it?

And just as alternative credentials can live alongside their more traditional counterparts, institutions don’t necessarily have to compete with other certification bodies. Inside Higher Ed, in conversation with Shalin Jyotishi, senior analyst at New America, highlighted examples of this, such as Miami Dade College offering credit for completing Coursera’s Google data analytics certificate. Jyotishi goes on to say, “It makes sense to create on-ramps into traditional higher ed from these nontraditional options. That’s what I would point to as the most prominent selling point is this is a recruitment strategy to stem hemorrhaging enrollment.”

Another institution, Trine University, has partnered with MedCerts to do exactly that. As reported in Business Wire, “This partnership will allow current and prospective MedCerts students the opportunity to earn industry-recognized certifications and take those to Trine for articulated credits that transfer towards an online degree.” By articulating credit transfers, Trine gains access to a new pool of prospective students while addressing an urgent healthcare gap in Indiana.

Where Do We Go From Here?

By reimagining how traditional and alternative credentials complement one another, institutions can serve a wider range of prospective students and stay one step ahead of evolving workforce needs. Professional certification providers aren’t a threat to higher education. They’re potential partners and trailblazers. As they continue to grow in popularity, microcredentials serve as predictors for an increasingly expansive learning landscape on the horizon.

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