Introducing Multidisciplinary Micro-credentialing: Rethinking Learning and Development for Higher Education and Industry

Many new entrants to higher education, including employees and job seekers, consider micro-credentialing as time-wise alternatives to traditional degrees. These short online or physical courses are more accessible and allow the learner to quickly acquire skills-in-demand and associated knowledge and then re-deploy themselves into industry. Although micro-credentials paybacks are enormous, as they demonstrate skills, knowledge, and/or experience in a given subject area or capability, it has yet to be fully mapped within the credentialing ecosystem. So far, there has been limited research on multidisciplinary micro-credentialing and its benefits to both higher education and industry. Introducing Multidisciplinary Micro-credentialing establishes a HE-industry framework to augment a re-skilling and upskilling process where courses could generate adaptable multidisciplinary links and intersections toward self-sufficiency. Subasinghe and Giridharan offer in-depth discourse analysis on self-sufficiency-related benefits that could forge robust academia-industry partnerships to establish fluidity between different credentialing models and job sectors.