Microcredentials: New phase and face of higher education?
- John Brennan, Open University
- Hakan Ergin, Istanbul University
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Microcredentials, “a certification of assessed learning that is additional, alternate, complementary to or a formal component of a formal qualification”, have recently attracted a growing interest in higher education across the world. Increasing questioning of whether university diplomas really have “the capacity to represent the breadth and depth of learning provided in and beyond” higher education and complaints of employers about skills gaps of graduates entering the workforce have, beyond any doubt, boosted the interest in microcredentials. Compared to traditional higher education courses, their more flexible, shorter-lasting, skills-oriented and digitalization-friendly nature attracts stakeholders to integrate microcredentials into universities’ regular departmental curricula and provide graduates with a more skilled transition to workforce. With this respect, a growing number of universities are nowadays focusing on improving the quality assurances of their microcredentials to enhance their recognition in and beyond higher education. Employers, on the other hand, are seeking ways to collaborate with universities to use microcredentials as a means to empower their employees in their career paths by reskilling or upskilling them.
In the light of the growing role of microcredentials in and beyond higher education, this webinar will draw attention to the questions below:
- Are microcredentials something new or a new name for something that has been around for a long time?
- Are microcredentials part of, alongside or a replacement for higher education?
- Are microcredentials only about employment and skills?
- What are the opportunities and risks of microcredentials?
- Why does a country desire to integrate microcredentials into its higher education? (Referring to an international project sponsored by the British Council).
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Event Materials
This event is now archived and we are pleased to provide the following event media and assets, along with the original event overview.
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John Brennan is an Honorary Research Fellow at Oxford University and an Emeritus Professor at the UK Open University where he directed the Centre for Higher Education Research and Information for 20 years. A sociologist with many research projects and publications on higher education and its changing relationships with society.
Hakan Ergin holds a doctoral degree from Boğaziçi University. As an international graduate student, he previously studied at the State University of New York at Binghamton, U.S. and Wurzburg University, Germany. He has recently worked at the Boston College Center for International Higher Education as a postdoctoral scholar under the supervision of Professor Hans de Wit. His academic interests include internationalization of higher education, digitalization of higher education, refugees in higher education, the right to higher learning, quality in higher education and brain drain. He teaches at universities in several countries, leads projects and provides consultation on inter/national higher education.
