“At the same time, university-age students and their parents are thinking more critically about the return on investment of traditional three- and four-year degree programs; most notably whether students will secure a job after graduation.”
Upskilling for a dream job
In the current environment with low unemployment and high demand for skilled labour, finding a job is less of a worry for graduates than it has been for previous generations.
But having a swag of very specific skill sets, say in a raft of software applications, can certainly help applicants find their dream job.
The federal government has been working on different aspects of microcredentials for a number of years now. Last year, it launched a marketplace to help consumers find the most appropriate microcredential for their needs. However, it only lists courses from registered higher education providers, professional bodies and TAFEs – so it doesn’t include any of the thousands of offerings from providers such as Google, LinkedIn, Coursera and the like.
Education Minister Jason Clare says the short courses will help fill skills shortages. Alex Ellinghausen
Realising the vast disruptive potential of microcredentials, earlier this month Education Minister Jason Clare announced funding of $18.5 million for the creation of 28 microcredentials from 18 universities in everything from drone mapping and navigation systems to the fundamentals of nuclear science and safety.
Indeed, a 2021 review by former vice-chancellors Peter Dawkins and Martin Bean found there was scope for universities and other educational institutions to expand their offerings to improve graduate employability.
Coursera has been closely tracking the adoption of microcredentials across the globe. Last year, it surveyed 5000 students and employers in 11 countries, including Australia, France, Egypt, India, the UK and US, to assess attitudes to microcredentials.
It found a stunning 90 per cent of students and recent graduates said that if universities included industry-based microcredentials or basic professional certificates in an academic course, it would make them more likely to enrol in that program.
A higher standard
Students said having such skill sets would make them stand out to employers. This point which was backed up by employers, with 86 per cent saying holding a microcredential would strengthen an applicant’s job application.
Meanwhile, three in every four employers said they believed microcredentials helped new staff to perform their job to a higher standard.
“By linking skills-based learning to skills-based hiring, higher education can fill gaps in their curricular and build a bridge between their degree programs and the demands of today’s employers,” Shireman says.
“At the same time, employers can diversify their hiring pipelines while being assured their new hires are job-ready.”
Certainly, over at the University of Melbourne, Professor Gregor Kennedy, deputy vice chancellor (academic), has been overseeing the roll-out of a raft of microcredentials. Called MicroCerts, the university developed its offerings in partnership with industry.
Since 2019, the university has developed over 100 MicroCerts, which are not included as part of its traditional degree programs, but are designed to “help busy professionals quickly gain specific knowledge, skills, and capabilities employers need”.
The university has two target markets: corporations that want to upskill their staff and individual consumers who want to upgrade their skills.
“Our university has a particular approach, which is different to others,” says Kennedy.
“Some people would say two hours is a microcredential, others would say it’s 40 hours, which is where the University of Melbourne has landed in the volume of content. It’s effectively a professional certificate.”
Paying a premium
Premium content attracts a premium price, with Melbourne’s MicroCerts ranging in price from $1000 to $1500 each. Given the academic expertise and deep underpinnings of pedagogy that are baked into each course, the price is value for money, Kennedy says.
Among its more interesting offerings is Understanding Treaty, Artificial Intelligence and Women, Detecting Flaws in Reasoning and Sharing of Indigenous Knowledges.
Adam Gregory, senior director, ANZ talent & learning solutions at LinkedIn, says the appetite for microcredentials is increasing.
In the past year, Australians invested more than 1.1 million hours undertaking LinkedIn Learning courses.
“Our customers are using microcredentials sitting on a bus or train on the way to work and digesting courses,” says Gregory.
Gregory predicts that employers will increasingly see the potential of microcredentials to upskill and retain staff.
“Technology disrupts every facet of industry and the requirement to continually upskill to be able to work effectively is increasing. At the same time, companies that offer access to learning see it as an important engagement and retention tool.”
Without a doubt, we are living through the greatest time in history to be a learner. The human population has never been more educated and there have never been so many high quality educational materials available online for free.
