Collaborating for the Future: Employer Partnerships and Credential Innovation
Collaborating for the Future: Employer Partnerships and Credential Innovation Originally published by UPCEA on October 1, 2024 Microcredentials can expand access, respond quickly to changing workforce needs, and create new connections between education and employment. But their potential depends upon whether institutions treat them as isolated offerings or as part of a coherent, adequately resourced strategy. This piece draws on UPCEA’s Building Capacity, Expanding Pathways initiative, which combined national research with peer mentoring for ten institutions working to co-create credentials with employers. The resulting playbook demonstrated that there is no single model for this work: institutional mission, regional need, governance, audiences, and financial structures all shape the right approach. Several common practices nevertheless emerged. Institutions need clear credential taxonomies, coordinated systems for tracking programs and revenue, sound market research, and sustai...