Abstract:

Nowadays, the need from learners, employers, and industries for short and flexible forms of learning has been growing. This demand determines bigger interest in easily accessible credentials that verify skill competencies specific to their needs. Worldwide, education leaders, practitioners, and technologists are being challenged to search for new forms of credentialing, such as micro-credentials, and to define how these fit with existing types of frameworks and an emerging digital credentialing ecosystem. Higher education institutions (HEIs) are embracing the micro‐credential as a means of both meeting business and industry expectations and supporting and preparing students with highly marketable skills. Micro-credentials are gaining momentum in the European area as an innovative way to support skills development, lifelong learning and inclusion within the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and the European Union. The importance of micro-credentials in EHEA is so great that the European Commission forms an ad-hoc consultation group with experts on higher education from various European countries to propose a common definition and recommendations for a European approach to development and uptake of micro-credentials. The paper aims to explore current state of micro-credentialing in EHEA and to give some advices how HEIs can apply micro-credentialing. The methodology includes an exploration of some essentials, policies, projects, and best practices in Europe. The paper starts with the systematization of some known definitions of micro-credentials, possible impacts of the growing role of micro-credentials, challenges, and issues related to their recognition and verification. The focus then turns to European policies, funded projects, and the European approach to micro-credentials. Based on the results of this study and the building blocks highlighted in the European approach for micro-credentials some recommendations are provided which HEIs can follow to offer micro-credential courses.

Keywords:

Innovation, micro-credentialing, micro-credential systems, higher education, adaptability, best practices.