Micro-Credentials: definition and potential

There are a number of approaches and definitions for so-called “micro-credentials”, some of which compete with one another. At the University of Cologne, we generally use the definition put forward by the European Union and currently in use.

This is described as follows in the European Council’s 2022 recommendation on a European approach to micro-credentials for lifelong learning and employability:

‘Micro-credential’ means the record of the learning outcomes that a learner has acquired following a small volume of learning. These learning outcomes will have been assessed against transparent and clearly defined criteria. Learning experiences leading to micro-credentials are designed to provide the learner with specific knowledge, skills and competences that respond to societal, personal, cultural or labour market needs.
(Council of the European Union 2022, p. 13)

Micro-credentials are therefore not learning offers, but explicit evidence of the achievement of a learning outcome or a competency acquisition. This may have taken place within the context of a learning experience, but this is not necessarily the case. What matters is how the evidence is provided. This is usually done in the form of an assessment.

Particularly with regard to additional qualifications, continuing professional development and the concept of lifelong learning – which is highly relevant to society – micro-credentials hold enormous potential and can offer solutions to the societal challenges of our time.

This is particularly relevant in the context of (post-)digital education. Digitally delivered learning experiences that lead to micro-credentials (e.g. in the form of online self-study modules) can, on the one hand, be used flexibly by learners and, on the other hand, be created, adapted and updated by teachers or learning experience designers to meet specific needs and demands. In this way, they enable the individual, targeted acquisition of relevant knowledge and competencies (e.g. future-oriented competencies), which can be verified through micro-credentials. As digitally issued micro-credentials can be combined and shared by their holders (so-called ‘stacking’), they serve all the more as forward-looking proof of qualifications. Last but not least, digital micro-credentials and the learning experiences leading to them can also make a significant contribution to a more open and inclusive education and promote the subject-specific, cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary sovereignty of all learners in the digital world (see the University of Cologne’s Digital Education Concept).