The goal of this research is to better understand the landscape of alternative credentials, and the programmatic and business models that sustain them. The results of the study show that institutions of higher education have overwhelmingly embraced alternative credentials, with a range of offerings that include non-credit certificates, professional certificates, badges, bootcamps, and MOOCs. This is not surprising, given that UPCEA membership is composed of institutions focused on online, professional, and continuing education, most of which have well-established programming that is not for credit. The number of credentials offered across member institutions varies, with an average of 64 credentials offered.
What is surprising is that there are still a significant number of institutions that do not feel that alternative credentials are a strategic priority. This is noteworthy because those which have alternative credentials in their strategic plan seem to have more support to explore and develop programming. Those resources are invaluable given the multifaceted approach needed to navigate the complex and changing landscape of higher education.
Many institutions are leveraging their existing curriculum and faculty expertise to develop alternative credentials. This includes deconstructing courses, both for-credit and non-credit, for delivery as alternative credentials. Faculty are actively involved in this effort. Employer engagement and partnerships are also instrumental, both by providing invaluable input into the skills that need to be learned, as well as co-creating curriculum. Many universities cited employer engagement as a priority and a challenge. Employers are strategic partners and consumers of the content, but often there are multiple parties responsible for employer outreach on our campuses, which causes confusion.
Institutions are designing alternative credentials to be stackable, recognizing the value of stack-ability to the learner and the potential complement to credit-bearing programs. Larger universities have a greater number of stackable alternative credentials.
Business models for alternative credentials vary significantly with very few using the same business model for alternative credentials that they use for their existing non-credit offerings. There is a mix of fee-based and revenue share business models, and not all have a clear focus on the financial viability of alternative credentials. Institutions using the revenue share model have slightly higher confidence that their model is both financially sustainable and scalable than those using the fee-based model. Pricing for credentials varies even more with little consistency in how pricing is determined. Again, this is not surprising given the newness of alternative credentials. What is interesting to note is that organizations which have been doing this longer are less consistent than those which have only begun to offer alternative credentials in the past year.
Ninety-four percent of respondents’ institutions offer alternative credentials and 5% do not.
Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story @ New Research: UPCEA Reveals Key Findings on Alternative Credentials – UPCEA
Related posts
Microcredentials – Here to stay, but their future is open
They can increase the provision of labour-market-relevant vocational education and training (VET), supporting national, regional and sectoral upskilling and reskilling strategies, offering learners targeted training for better employment prospects, and helping employers improve employee retention and productivity. They support the modularisation of qualifications and the validation of prior learning, enabling the inclusion of the most … Continue reading
Micro-credentials – The critical things to get started
Are micro-credentials set to disrupt professional and higher education to the same extent that Netflix disrupted the entertainment industry? Given the rapid acceleration of technology use and changes of work practices across many areas of employment during the [Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)] pandemic – we are facing a world where learning, skill and knowledge agility … Continue reading
Immigrants and Upskill in US – Most immigrant adults lacking postsecondary credentials had education levels that should position them to obtain credentials relatively rapidly and inexpensively.
As the U.S. labor market is reshaped by technological change, aging and declines in fertility and legal immigration, there is a consensus that for the economy to grow with fewer workers, productivity will have to increase and workers will need higher levels of skills and training. In stark contrast with past trends, 80 percent of … Continue reading
Skills and Credential Chaos – Six broad principles to support students
Today, Credential Engine, a national non-profit, releases its Equity Advisory Council’s Report and Recommendations on improving equity in and through the expanded use of linked, open, and interoperable data about credentials, competencies, programs, quality, outcomes, and related aspects. [T]he Council identified six broad principles for the appropriate and effective use of these data to support … Continue reading
Microcredentials in Europe – Demand has led to a proliferation of unregulated certificates whose value is unclear
Microcredentials are not new. They have been in use in various countries and education and training sectors; they have played a role, among others, in the certification of IT courses or health workers’ professional development. Microcredentials open the possibility for people to accumulate, or ‘stack’, different competences which can be documented and recognised by learning … Continue reading
Skills – Why are microcredentials important
‘Microcredentials are not objectives in themselves. They are tools.’ This was the key message highlighted at Cedefop’s conference on microcredentials last November. Over 200 participants joined the event, representing 40 countries in Europe and beyond, demonstrating that the topic of microcredentials and changing qualification landscapes is of global appeal and concern. WHY ARE MICROCREDENTIALS IMPORTANT? … Continue reading
Skills and Credentials in US – IBM’s letter to US Secretary of Education nominee Miguel Cardona and Secretary of Labor nominee Marty Walsh
IBM today sent the following letter to US Secretary of Education nominee Miguel Cardona and Secretary of Labor nominee Marty Walsh: To incoming Secretaries Cardona and Walsh, As you take office amid a global pandemic, I know you must be all too aware of the 11 million unemployed Americans and the 77 million students in … Continue reading
Skills and Credential Chaos in US – New reports find nearly one million credentials and $2t in yearly education and training expenditures
Today, Credential Engine released two reports that offer unprecedented understanding of the credential landscape. The first report, Counting U.S. Postsecondary and Secondary Credentials, offers the most accurate and robust estimate of credentials across 16 categories—including both traditional degrees, certificates, certifications, licenses and apprenticeships as well as non-traditional offerings such as badges. The report estimates that … Continue reading
Prior Learning Assessment – Associated with better student outcomes including higher credential completion, cost savings, and time savings
Postsecondary institutions that have focused on adult learners have developed a number of strategies and programs to help put learning and credentials within reach. One important strategy is ensuring that adults are not wasting time and money by taking courses in subjects that they have already learned. Adult students, whether just starting college or returning … Continue reading
Short-duration Credentials After Graduation in Canada – Made employement in “low value-added service industries” fell from 22.1% to 9.9%
This study uses longitudinal data combining information from the Postsecondary Student Information System (PSIS) with data from personal income tax (T1 Family File) to analyze the impact of short-duration credentials (certificates and diplomas from colleges and universities), completed after an undergraduate degree, on the outcomes on the labour market of graduates from Canadian public universities. … Continue reading
Stacking Educational Credentials in Ohio – Disparities in access and support
Stackable credential programs—that is, programs that facilitate students’ ability to earn multiple postsecondary certificates or degrees—have been a priority for Ohio, which has a long history of legislation, state and regional initiatives, and institution-led efforts to build more-effective pathways to address the needs of employers and students. To assess progress and inform ongoing efforts to … Continue reading
Skills – Occupational credentials as an alternative path to marketable human capital
Occupational credentials provide an additional and at times alternative path to formal education for individuals to demonstrate to employers and consumers their ability and qualifications. These take the form of licenses and certifications. However, the literature on the returns to credentials is inadequate, with prior research having limited causal identification relying on OLS regressions which … Continue reading
Post-Secondary Graduate Earnings in Canada – They vary by credential and the spread between higher and lower earners is wide and grows over time within each credential
Choices about post-secondary education (PSE) launch individuals onto their future educational and career paths. These decisions are vitally important to Canada’s economic prosperity as well to many individual and social outcomes. Against this backdrop, this joint LMIC-EPRI report provides extensive new evidence on the labour market earnings of PSE graduates. Key findings Earnings vary by … Continue reading
Open Badges and Open Microcredentials – A guide to get started
This article is intended as a practical resource to help interested organizations design and implement an open badging system. Open badges are a type of open credential designed to recognize a variety of skills, knowledge, and experiences, both inside and outside of traditional educational settings. While growing in popularity, common questions asked by those interested … Continue reading
Skills vs College Degree in US – Some 36 million Americans have some college education, but no credential
Americans without a degree have the skills and knowledge to thrive in higher wage jobs. And jobs that don’t require college can offer a less expensive, shorter pathway to a good career, oftentimes with a higher starting salary. They are often “stackable,” allowing workers to layer new skills and credentials by weaving work with learning … Continue reading
Skills and Credentials – We need a viable, globally recognised credential system
Few people realise the profound changes that a focus on professional capabilities and resulting micro-credentials have made both to global education and the recognition of individual expertise. This paper outlines and examines the opportunities and results from a concerted effort to effectively assess, recognise and credential human capability across all workforces and all levels of work, … Continue reading
Credential Chaos – The solution is a common language and a searchable registry
The credentialing marketplace is characterized by a serious lack of transparency, trustworthiness, and comparability. This is not surprising in a sector as complex and decentralized as that of education, training, and skill assessment. But in a knowledge-based economy, the result is misguided investments, regretted hiring decisions, and serious skills gaps, which in turn weaken workforce … Continue reading
Immigrants in US – About 30 million of the 58 million immigrant-origin adults lack a post-secondary credential
The United States will face an estimated shortfall of 8 million workers between now and 2027, amid an aging U.S. workforce, the retirement of baby boomers and declining birth rates. At the same time, the nearly 58 million U.S. adults who are either immigrants or the children of immigrants are projected to be the primary … Continue reading
Digital Credentialing – Global system to collect, connect, search and compare up-to-date information
In today’s increasingly digitized economies and societies, accessing and understanding data about learning outcomes, skills and credentials is critical to achieving the 2030 Sustainable Agenda, including Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), with its particular focus on quality and inclusive education, recognizing and offering lifelong learning opportunities for all. In this context, different stakeholders have different needs: … Continue reading
Credential Chaos in US – 308,942 credentials are adding to the confusion created by the different types of credentials
In the 1950s and 1960s, skilled workers, whether factory workers, white-collar employees, or managers and salaried professionals, tended to work for the same rm for many years—often their entire careers.1 In the words of economist Paul Osterman, “The typical American worker averaged the same number of years at their employer as did the average Japanese … Continue reading
Higher Education – Separating learning from credentialing
If we want more educational innovation and lower costs, as well as higher-quality educational outcomes, then it is time to break the legacy connection between teaching students and certifying their academic achievements and move to a model where students have alternative ways of demonstrating their knowledge and skills. Across modern economies, innovators and entrepreneurs are … Continue reading
Postsecondary Education in US – A higher proportion of students who earned an occupational credential were employed in 2009
Postsecondary students who completed a credential had higher employment rates than noncompleters, and those who earned a degree had higher employment rates than those who earned a certificate. Among students who began their postsecondary education in 2003–04 and were not enrolled 6 years later, 84 percent of those who completed a credential were employed in … Continue reading
Colleges in US – The tremendous growth in the number of short credentials awarded
Over the past decade there has been tremendous growth in the number of short credentials awarded by public community colleges. These programs of study are explicitly vocational and require fewer credits for completion than an associate’s degree. However, it is not clear whether students benefit from obtaining these certificates. On the one hand, these credentials … Continue reading
Work and Education Credentials in US – They go together
Work credentials can serve as an alternative or supplement to education credentials. Work credentials include occupational licenses and certifications; education credentials include diplomas, degrees, and educational certificates. Both types of credentials attest that a person has the skills needed to perform a job. However, a license is issued by a government agency (often a state … Continue reading
Credential Inflation – An increasing number of job seekers face being shut out of middle-skill, middle-class occupations by employers’ rising demand for a bachelor’s degree
An increasing number of job seekers face being shut out of middle-skill, middle-class occupations by employers’ rising demand for a bachelor’s degree. This credential inflation, or “upcredentialing” is affecting a wide range of jobs from executive assistants to construction supervisors and has serious implications both for workers not seeking a college degree and for employers … Continue reading
Job Market Monitor 
Discussion
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
Pingback: Micro-credential – How to choose it | Job Market Monitor - November 26, 2024