Don’t abandon ‘micro’ courses to ‘Wild West’, says ex-minister

Thousands of people may be denied access to retraining opportunities if microcredentials continue to be ignored by the Westminster government’s flagship lifelong learning policy, a former universities minister has warned.

Introducing a new report by the Lifelong Education Commission on the future of bite-sized learning, its chair Chris Skidmore calls on the UK sector to adopt a new framework for the recognition of short courses, partly to ensure that they can be stacked into larger qualifications recognised by employers and universities.

“Microcredentials may be a new frontier in higher learning, but we cannot afford to leave them a ‘Wild West’ zone in the long run,” says Mr Skidmore, who urges the government to include short courses within its plans for a lifelong loan entitlement, which will provide adults with up to four years of post-18 education, either vocational or academic, by 2025.

At present, learners would not be able to apply unless they intended to complete a course of study, or several courses, worth at least 30 credits – with 120 credits representing a full year’s undergraduate study – but the commission proposes that learners would be eligible for loans for much smaller programmes.

A course carrying 10 credits would cost approximately £770 and may be attractive to “the type of learners who are not currently attracted to higher education”, recommends the report, published on 8 June. “A loan of £1,000 or less, with reasonable interest rates and repayment conditions, could be valuable to many people in work on low wages.”

One of the commission’s members, Annabel Kiernan, pro vice-chancellor for education at Staffordshire University, which has piloted a microcredential framework, said some learners might be put off by the cost of short courses typically offered by universities.

“Even at 30 or 40 credits, that is still a big amount of money to find, but if it is a short course costing £1,000, funded by a loan, then that might work,” Dr Kiernan told Times Higher Education. “We also need public authorities and big public sector organisations to be part of this by using their training budgets for this kind of credential.”

However, a survey conducted for the report by the British Chambers of Commerce found businesses were either unaware of microcredentials or would not consider using them in either hiring or training. Only 17 per cent of employers had some awareness of these courses, and, even after information was provided about them, only 26 per cent said microcredentials would be considered when recruiting new employees.

Despite the challenges faced by short courses, Mr Skidmore was upbeat about their chances of success, stating that the “evidence indicates that microcredentials will be vastly popular with graduates looking to top up their skills and pursue continuing professional development.”

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com