The rationales and values of micro-credentials in higher education

This study depicts the perceptions and experiences of key stakeholders in the USA to analyze the growing phenomenon of micro-credentials. In a qualitative design, this phenomenological study uses semi-structured interviews and content analysis to reveal the purposes behind micro-credentials uptake in higher education and the values stakeholders attach to micro-credentials. Commodifying higher education curricula into stackable bite-size credentials in line with neoliberalism and instant employability rhetoric of knowledge economy ideals pose some threats to a rewarding adoption of micro-credentials. Demands for a post-pandemic, online, and flexible higher education experience and a fitting workplace make online and industry-aligned micro-credential programs more appealing. Additionally, building quality human capital necessitates competency-based curricula where information literacy, critical thinking skills, and communication form a prime skills set for employability as well as soft skills, high-tech skills, empathy, adaptability, and collaboration which are high in demand in the current job market. Micro-credentials are attributed a social role in lifting educational barriers to access and equity for disadvantaged groups and integrating them into the workplace and society. Micro-credentials also have an economic role in supplementing career readiness and return on career investment. As for implications, adopting nationwide and regional frameworks, using digital stacking tools, and operating on decentralized blockchain-like verification technologies to realize the recognition and quality assurance of micro-credentials would best serve the interests of the micro-credential stakeholders, including higher education itself as a scientific and institutional actor. Thus, a more diverse, reliable, inclusive, and promising micro-credential ecosystem can be maintained.