It’s a product, for professionals to “up-skill, cross-skill and re-skill”

Credentials will, “support learners who seek to continue their professional development, training, and industry-focused study in shorter formats, delivering ‘just in time’ learning tailored to their professional needs or lifestyle.”

And Credentials are indeed major on the micro, with some being one-day, in-person for $599. The first 14 are “in five curated themes” and can stack into a grad cert of professional practice.

This extends Curtin U’s ambitious plan to expand what, and how, it teaches.

Admirers of Curtin’s many MOOCs will recognise where at least one of the Credentials comes from. And the university went big last year on the government’s undergraduate certificates, originally intended for people seeking new skills when COVID-19 ended employment.

It still is, the learned Claire Field reports Curtin U is allocating 10 per cent of Commonwealth base funding to short courses, (CMM March 17).

But there’s one thing which Curtin U will need time explaining to students. Completed Credentials earn “five credit points” which are in-line, “with AQF Level Eight criteria, ensuring comprehensive theoretical and/or technical knowledge of the credential.” Take more than a day to explain the Australian Qualifications Framework.