Background: Micro-credentials are increasingly considered a key mechanism through which to empower learners by enabling flexible upskilling and reskilling. Despite their apparent importance for higher education institutions (HEIs) and learners, empirical research is limited. More needs to be understood, particularly about the ways in which…

Several concurrent trends are increasing the likelihood that short courses, microcredentials, and flexible learning pathways will become a regular and even dominant feature of education and training globally. This policy paper reflects on these trends with special reference to the post-secondary education sector, and explores ways to organize…

This study examines the role of microcredentials in supporting learning for employment. The study collected information through an online survey among mostly European VET providers, national authorities, employee and employer organisations, in-depth country case studies and interviews, as well as Cedefop's ReferNet network. While the topic has…

In 2023, China leads the world in the number of Open Online Courses (OOC, over 64500) and learners (over 1.88 billion). In this article, we provide a brief review of the development of OOCs in China and outline the current situation of Chinese OOC focusing on learning platforms, course size and structure, and micro-credential courses. We also…

The rising prominence of micro-credentials started during the COVID-19 pandemic, where online resources offered competency-building opportunities for the work-from-home (WFH) human capital. During this pandemic, traditional universities faced total halt to face-to-face lectures, but ways paved for open and distance learning (ODL) universities to…

Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, much still feels the same, though in some important ways thinking and behaviors may be shifting in anticipation of longer-term changes in the ways lives are structured and how places and spaces are shared. In higher education, these shifts may reflect an evolution from short-term "emergency" or…