By Kalinga Seneviratne
BANGKOK | 26 November 2024 (IDN) — At a conference held here from 20-22 November of mainly Southeast Asian academics and higher education officials, a word uppermost in the minds of speakers and participants was “micro-credentials” a word that is of worry to many who have risen to professor levels over a working period of 20 to 30 years. Their knowledge and skills may not be relevant, whereas young people need skills quickly and directly applicable to their jobs.
“Universities say we are the sort of guardians of knowledge, and if you want, you take it from us, and so be it. However, this is no longer sufficient because if universities are not relevant and are not talking to the rest of the ecosystem, they risk marginalization. They risk being irrelevant,” warned Dr Tan Tai Yong, President of Singapore University of Social Science (SUSS), explaining how they are using state-of-the-art digital technology to teach micro-credential courses to address the needs of employers and the evolving green economy.
“I see a new wave coming, and this is going to have a fundamental impact on higher education”, he noted. Arguing that skills you learn will be irrelevant in five years, Dr Yong made a strong case for universities to develop digital-driven micro-credential curricula to address life-long learning needs.
A digitable badge
A micro-credential is a series of courses culminating in a digital badge from an accredited university. They let employers and your professional network know you are proficient in a subject area.
These were usually short courses that technical colleges and polytechnics offered. Still, universities are plunging into it in a big way as there is a lot of money there, with trainees usually required to pay sometimes high fees to undertake these courses to progress in their current job or career paths.
“Technology is changing how we work and function; you may not have what it takes to function. So your skills become obsolete, and you need to continuously upskill, reskill, and upgrade your competencies'” notes Dr Yong. “Universities are now the place where you have people who are working adults coming back for classes”.
In Singapore, between 2019 and 2022, there has been an increase of 24% in micro-credentials being taken up by workers and learners, with about a 7% increase yearly. At SUSS in Singapore, they are catering to this in a big way, with courses usually between 3 weeks to 3 months.
In September 2020, SUSS launched its first micro-learning course on the UniLEARN platform with the Singapore Red Cross Academy. The course on ‘Basic First Aid’ comprises ten sessions, each covering common emergencies such as choking, bleeding, fractures, and burns, taught through a pathway of self-directed learning, complete with infographics, video demonstrations and quizzes. SUSS has recently developed micro-credential programs with Singapore Airlines for pilots aged 35-40 at the crossroads. When they stop flying, they are taking courses in economics, psychology, and management to obtain the necessary qualifications to go into management or other fields.
Stackable certificates
Such a collection of micro-credentials is called stackable certificates that could lead to an undergraduate or master’s degree later. Several universities would collaborate to recognize these qualifications, and universities would collaborate with industry to make these micro-credentials recognized as job qualifications.
Dr Ethel Pascua-Valenzuela from the Commission on Higher Education in the Philippines argues that the university model is under threat, with micro-credential trends and online learning transforming HE. “Higher education is now influenced by technology. There is a rise in micro-learning and micro-credentials that you can take online. Micro-learning breaks down education into wide sizes and easily digestible modules,” she noted in a presentation to the Bangkok symposium. “Micro-credentials offer smaller, stack-up of one’s education so they can focus on specific skills that you need in this digital world”.
Dr Pascua-Valenzuela warns that it’s essential for universities to acknowledge the challenges that come with it. “The rapid pace of technological advancement can make it difficult for educational institutions to keep up, both in terms of infrastructure and recovery development”, she notes.
A “digitally transformative curriculum”
Dr Lavanh Vongkhamsane, Director General of the Department of Higher Education in Laos, another speaker at the symposium, said that they needed to design a “digitally transformative curriculum”, and to do that, they need to first train lecturers and education staff in digital literacy. “When we talk about digital access. This is to ensure that you get acceptable access to ICT infrastructure and devices,” he pointed out. It has to be accompanied by training in digital skills “because we have to build digital literacy to the competency among educators, students, and administrators”.
The Regional Symposium, with the theme “Transforming Higher Education Towards Sustainable Development”, was organized by the Bangkok-based SEAMEO RIHED (Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organisation in Higher Education and Development) Center to build common space for universities in Southeast Asia to develop new digitally-driven education models to assist in the achievement of the region’s sustainable development goals.
Thailand’s Mahidol University has achieved third place in the global ranking for addressing SDG 3 in Health and well-being by working closely with communities in developing and delivering community health programs. Dr Nattavud Pimpa, Assistant Dean of Sustainability of Mahodool, in an interview with IDN, argued that micro-credentials are a “quick fix for lack of students in the university system”, and it panders to young people’s need to do something quick to get money and spend it, and get more money.
“It works if you look at technical skills, for example, computer, or learn some cooking in 12 days, but the foundation of something, for example, philosophy, economics, political science or even biology, I think micro-credential won’t work in the long run because you need time (to learn) and it has to be something of continuation in nature. I believe you have to have a strong layer of foundation,” argues Dr Pimpa.
When IDN asked Dr Yong what if micro-credentials become the norm in HE role universities would have in that ecosystem, his response was quite upbeat, arguing that technical colleges or polytechnics can bring it only to a certain level. Universities can take it higher with more advanced knowledge and research.
“If I want something deeper, stronger, then I may have to go to a university (where) prices are different, requirements are different, but it also should be fit for purpose”, argues Dr Yong. “There is a market in the ecosystem where a range of different types of modules are offered. So it all depends on the universities working with each other, with other institutes and providers, to see where they sit in that ecosystem”. [IDN-InDepthNews]
Photo: The “Wikimedia Asia” meetup attended by Wikimedians in Asia in Room Y521, Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
