As providers pile into short courses Michael Healy warns micro-credentials “do not, in and of themselves, guarantee career or employment success”

This is not exactly the implication in university marketing campaigns for short courses, which former education minister Dan Tehan started last year, as a COVID-19 recovery programme for people needing to re-skill and which continue.

Writing in the Journal of Teaching and Learning for Graduate Employability, Mr Healy (Uni Southern Queensland), suggests four career problems with M-Cs,

* people who think they need them for a job might not

* people might misunderstand market demand or not know what the entry requirements are for particular jobs

* “reactive or anxious learners” might accumulate M-Cs “haphazardly”

* people with M-Cs may not know how to explain their benefits to employers

“Education providers have a responsibility to ensure that career information and support is actively offered to micro-credential learners, just as it is for students in degree programmes,” he suggests.

Mr Healy is participating in a panel discussion on employability next Thursday at the Needed now in teaching and learning conference.