Microcredentials in 2025: The Future of Flexible, Career-Ready Learning

Microcredentials have become a key pillar of lifelong learning and a much-needed addition to the learning toolkit in a world where specific skills are falling in and out of relevance at breakneck speed. This blog post from Open LMS Senior Director of Product Management, Laura Martin Prieto, explores the explosion in the proliferation of microcredentials in the last five years. It will also consider the key benefits of microcredentials when supporting lifelong learning and career advancement, and why universities and colleges should integrate them into their programs.

After the Honeymoon Period: The State of Play for Microcredentials in 2025

Though by no means a new concept, microcredentials rose to prominence at the beginning of the decade during a period when online learning became the main way for organizations and institutions to keep the wheels of learning and development turning. Recognizing the impact the COVID-19 pandemic was having on employment levels and working habits, political initiatives such as the European Skills Agenda and various statements issued by UNESCO helped to form a consensus that new forms of accreditation were needed.

Back in 2022, Credential Engine, a non-profit dedicated to mapping all aspects of the credentials landscape, found that there were 1.076 million credentials available from 59,690 providers in the U.S. Of these:

• 350,412 were degrees and certificates from post-secondary institutions
• 13,014 were certifications, micro-credentials, and online degrees from Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) providers
• 656,505 were badges, certificates, licenses, and apprenticeships from non-academic providers
• 56,179 were diplomas, alternative certificates, and high school equivalency diplomas from public and private secondary schools

A 2024 survey of employer microcredential perceptions found that 95% were at least somewhat familiar with them, and 60% felt that they easily communicate employee competencies and skills.

These numbers speak both to the growing popularity of a multiplicity of credential formats and the complexity of the overall landscape. While there is clearly demand for shorter-form courses and microcredentials specifically from both students and employers, there’s plenty of room for confusion and doubt to set in. The aforementioned employer survey found that 46% of employers consider microcredential quality of education an area of concern, and 33% questioned credentials’ alignment with occupational or professional standards.

Even the lack of a unified terminology for microcredentials has been seen as a problem to solve—there’s a lot of overlap with micro-certifications, badges, micro-qualifications, and other short-form learning strategies. In a recent podcast for the International Labour Organization, participants emphasized that the important element of microcredentialing isn’t necessarily the use of short courses, though this is frequently how they’re earned—they’re ultimately a result of a demonstration of competence.

LEARN MORE ABOUT WORKFORCE READINESS | ‘Bridging the Skills Gap: How Higher Education Institutions Can Prepare Students for Success’

Why Microcredentials Are Here to Stay

Despite the need to find ways to assure students and employers alike of the quality and relevance of individual microcredentials, the benefits of the format are more than worth the effort. Microcredentials are:

• Relevant to adults at all career stages
• Less constrained by available time and space than some other learning formats
• Easier to combine with other commitments than less flexible learning formats
• Complementary to other forms of qualification
• A source of equal opportunity in terms of access to learning
• A way of addressing new skills and needs that develop due to technological and structural changes

For educational institutions specifically, microcredentials may provide a way of reaching a new market of adult students not currently in education who need proof of their proficiency in certain skills. They can also help future employers better understand the skills that a student has acquired during a more traditional degree. While degrees remain valuable, with 80% of hiring managers favouring experience over education in their job applicants, anything that can tie degree attainment to skills is an advantage in the market.

In order to maximize these microcredential benefits, institutions and organizations should:

• Ensure the learning outcomes have been assessed against transparent standards
• Open up the possibility for learners to accumulate/stack different competencies, documented and recognized by different providers
• Link microcredential learning to financial incentives—learners who expand their skillsets are generally able to find better positions and role opportunities
• Combine the approach to microcredentials with systems like career guidance—institutions and organizations should help steer students towards in-demand skills
• Inform the microcredential offering by working with partners in target industries

KEEP LEARNING ABOUT MICROCREDENTIAL BENEFITS | ‘6 Reasons Why Higher Education Institutions Should Start Offering Microcredentials’

Why Open LMS Is Your Best Bet for Microcredentials

The complexity and scale of tracking and awarding microcredentials demands that institutions shop around for comprehensive software that’s up to the task. This is an important part of establishing student and industry trust in each credential: it needs to be easy to obtain proof that someone has earned a credential, and to understand what obtaining that credential actually involves. After all, any institution’s catalogue of microcredentials will have to evolve over time to keep up with new skills demands!

Open LMS EDU is equipped with all the features your institution needs to integrate microcredentials into new and existing curricula. This includes support for:

1) Flexible Learning Pathways

With Open LMS, you can create short, stackable courses that learners can complete at their own pace, offering greater convenience and ease of accessibility. Open LMS’s Personalized Learning Designer (PLD) functionality can automate the delivery of course activities, feedback, and notifications based on its understanding of individual learners, helping students and employees freely work toward an expanded list of credentials that are most relevant to them.

DIVE DEEPER INTO PLD | ‘5 Ways Open LMS’s Personalized Learning Designer Enhances Online Education’

2) Seamless LMS Functionality

Institutions can easily track learner progress, issue verified digital credentials, and measure the impact of microcredential programs through Open LMS’s built-in analytics and reporting tools.

3) Integrated Career-Ready Programs

Open LMS has partnerships with a range of eLearning providers (including OpenSesame), helping you flesh out your microcredential programs with a wide range of courses aligned with industry needs.

4) Competency-Based Learning

Open LMS supports skill mapping and digital badging, enhancing your ability to make the perfect content recommendations. Skill mapping can be easily integrated with Open LMS via the Ease Learning extension. Ease Learning’s Skillways feature provides granular measurement and real-time tracking of skill achievement.

Furthermore, Open LMS offers flexible options for creating customizable certificates and badges that let learners showcase their achievements in their social media profiles and catch the attention of potential employers.

DISCOVER OUR EBOOK | ‘How Implementing Competency-Based Education Prepares Your Learners for Success—And Helps Your Institution Stand Out’