Small is beautiful: the growing benefits of micro-credentials

Wherever one looks in the world of higher education policy today, there seems to be talk, one way or another, about micro-credentials – even if that's not a term which is always used and with which everyone might be familiar. 

(And, in case you're not familiar: micro-credentials, in short, might be described as mini qualifications that deliver skills, knowledge or experience across a great range of subject areas and skill levels.) 

The UK government has made it clear that upskilling and reskilling are priority areas to underpin economic growth and its industrial strategy – through the creation of (in Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson's words) "a culture of lifelong learning and… more flexible models to help everyone access higher education".  

It's a highly timely initiative, albeit one which has seen a number of delays since it originally emerged following the publication of the Augar Report in 2019. Its development has accelerated significantly in recent months – and its importance has been highlighted by the Post-16 Education & Skills white paper.  

English providers are showing increasing interest in its possibilities. Indeed, QAA's Quality Insights conference last month featured a lively and well-attended discussion of the implementation of plans for England's Lifelong Learning Entitlement led by colleagues from the Department for Education.  

Lifelong learning also features high on the education agendas of the governments and funding bodies of the devolved nations of the UK.  

We at QAA are funded by Medr, the Commission for Tertiary Education in Wales, to support and facilitate the work of the Micro-credentials Special Interest Group, which works across Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland – and which is chaired by Steve Osborne from Cardiff Metropolitan University. (Steve wrote a fascinating QAA blog last year about this work.) 

Just last week, Medr announced funding for seven colleges and training providers to deliver micro-credentials to apprentices. 

Meanwhile, the Scottish Credit & Qualifications Framework Partnership's steering group on the recognition of prior learning has been working to produce a credit transfer framework for Scotland, an essential pre-requisite for a micro-credential-based lifelong learning system. 

The ambition for micro-credentials to be used throughout an adult learner's life, possibly across several decades and several institutions – to build towards the awarding of recognised qualifications such as diplomas and degrees – will necessarily be underpinned by approaches to the recognition of prior learning.  

The importance of such processes in underpinning the success of lifelong learning initiatives (and in promoting student mobility and choice) is why our colleagues at QAA have in the last eighteen months published practical guidance about credit recognition mechanisms, an analysis of UK university credit transfer policies, and worked with stakeholders across the sector to produce a deep-dive report on achieving credit transfer at scale.  

We've also in recent months been working with the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) as key stakeholders in this area, to ensure that employers are aware of the value and potential of micro-credentials and to promote the relevance of these modes of learning to industry needs. 

The latest data from BCC shows that 67 per cent of businesses are facing skills shortages – and therefore highlights the potential for micro-credentialed courses to provide essential upskilling and CPD for many businesses.  

However, employer awareness of micro-credential provision seems relatively low. In 2022, when BCC undertook a large-scale survey to test employers' knowledge of, and appetite for, micro-credentials, they found that 83 per cent of businesses said they hadn't been aware of micro-credentials.  

But, despite this, 26 per cent of respondents to the same survey said they would now be 'likely' to use micro-credentials to address their skills needs in the next year. A further 29 per cent said they would consider them if courses were endorsed by an industry body.  

It appears that, even though they'd only just heard about this area provision, this survey demonstrated (and perhaps to some extent helped to stimulate) a strong appetite among employers for such 'bitesize' training opportunities to upskill their employees. 

Two years later, a further survey conducted by BCC found that 37 per cent of employers intended to use short courses which provided certification to train their staff over the next year – compared to only 20 per cent who planned to use level 2 or 3 apprenticeships. 

Recent surveys conducted by QAA Cymru have found that employer awareness of micro-credentials has increased to 44 per cent. Awareness among professional, statutory and regulatory bodies was significantly higher, with all respondents from those organisations indicating they were aware of micro-credentials.  

But, in those QAA Cymru surveys, a fifth of employers said they'd only pay for such staff development if it was subsidised – with 69 per cent of employers valuing one week of full-time training as being worth less £500 (though it's uncertain that this would cover the costs of small-scale bespoke provision).  

It therefore seems clear that providers need to enter into open discussions about the costs of micro-credential course development and delivery to ensure this provision is accessible to employers of all sizes. 

When the courses offered by local providers are honed to address local skills deficits – when colleges and universities collaborate with employers to develop and deliver high-quality and accessible training targeted to meet their specific needs – micro-credentials clearly offer a powerful tool to support the transformation of regional economies, and the empowerment of businesses and their staff.  

This is why we at QAA are continuing to work with providers, employers, professional bodies, funding bodies and governments to support the development of the mechanisms needed to underpin the effective operation of micro-credentialed provision – and why we're also very happy to be working with the British Chambers of Commerce to promote businesses' awareness of, and involvement in, such vital learning opportunities. 

You can find out more about our collaboration with BCC on both the QAA and BCC websites.