Abstract:

Micro-credentials are certifications of short learning pathways, characterized by the acquisition of one or a few targeted competencies.

The term began to gain popularity around 2015 in response to the need to enhance and formally certify short training courses that diverged from traditional and institutional teaching approaches.

Micro-credentials are widespread in both formal contexts, such as universities, and informal ones (entrepreneurship or web). They are linked to courses aimed at developing a specific skill or to broader training pathways.

This research examines the governance and institutionalization process of micro-credentials within the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), a regional policy and governance framework established with the Bologna Process (1999) that unites the national higher education systems of 49 participating countries, including all 27 Member States of the European Union.

The paper focuses on microcredentials’ compliance with the shared pillars of the Bologna framework, such as the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS), the Qualifications Framework of the EHEA (QF-EHEA), and the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance (ESG), considering the discontinuity aspects and the development elements that are coherent with its outcome-oriented and modular logic.

The adopted methodology is a narrative policy-oriented review. Following a preliminary reconstruction of the genealogy of the concept of micro-credentials, the analysis traces the regulatory trajectory of their definition across UNESCO and OECD documents, culminating in the 2022 European Council Recommendation on micro-credentials. It then examines Bologna Process documents, including ministerial communiqués and the Bologna Follow-Up Group (BFUG) Work Programme, to identify the evolution of the EHEA architecture and to determine when and how micro-credentials are incorporated into the EHEA's operational system. The analysis was also extended to the European project ecosystem, describing selected Erasmus+ initiatives that have contributed to their systematization.

​The paper outlines a complex and heterogeneous picture in which micro-credentials appear as a component consistent with the European higher education approach but not fully embedded in practices and experiences, until certain structural tensions are addressed. Their features and functions remain very heterogeneous from the outset. In the European context, there is a gradual push to define a shared, recognizable structure for micro-credentials, because, as certifications, their value strongly depends on their portability and recognition beyond the issuing institution. Their full institutional stabilization requires coordination between national and supranational levels, technical adjustments, and a clear allocation of responsibilities in governance and quality assurance.

Keywords:

Micro-credentials, European Higher Education Area, Bologna Process, Higher Education Governance, Quality Assurance.