Twenty years ago, nobody had ever heard of a “microcredential.” And for good reason – the term didn’t even exist back then.
Today, microcredentials are a lot more than just a popular form of alternative credentialing. They are rapidly becoming a strategic necessity for colleges and universities looking to compete successfully in the rapidly changing higher-ed marketplace.
“A Fundamental Shift”
Since 2011, when Purdue University set up one of the first campus-wide digital badge systems, the adoption of microcredentials by universities and other institutions has grown exponentially. A 2025 report by Credential Engine identified 3,384 distinct microcredentials being offered in the U.S. by more than 134,000 providers (including colleges, universities, employers, associations, and training organizations).
A 2024 study by AACSB, an accrediting body for business education, found that the rise of microcredentials represents “a fundamental shift in higher education curricula toward more responsive and relevant academic offerings.” This shift was, in turn, primarily a response to an increased emphasis by employers on skills-based hiring practices.
There’s little doubt that microcredentials benefit students. According to a 2024 study by Coursera, 97% of higher-ed leaders who offer microcredentials said they increase students’ employment prospects. In a different Coursera survey, 90% of students agreed with this proposition.
Six Key Goals
But what’s in it for the colleges and universities who offer these microcredentials? According to Coursera’s Scot Chadwick and other industry experts, microcredentials can help institutions achieve six key strategic goals:
- Increasing Enrollment. Microcredentials can help institutions attract learners who might not be inclined to enroll in a traditional degree program, but would be willing to invest in a short, career-focused credential. This pool of potential learners includes adults, career changers, military veterans, and recent graduates of other institutions. According to the AACSB survey, 93% of higher-ed leaders said that offering nondegree credentials can help institutions combat declining enrollment.
- Diversifying Revenue. As demographic trends have reduced the population of traditional-age college students, many institutions are scrambling to replace revenues from semester-long academic programs. Microcredentials provide institutions an opportunity to serve new markets, including alumni seeking professional development; employers purchasing workforce training; government workforce initiatives; military personnel; and displaced workers. A wide range of institutions now generate substantial continuing education revenue through industry-focused credential programs in fields such as cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and project management.
- Improving Retention. Although quantitative evidence is limited, many colleges and universities increasingly view microcredentials as a promising strategy for improving student retention. A 2023 EDUCAUSE/WCET survey found that 38% of institutions identified student retention as a primary goal of their microcredential initiatives. Institutional case studies have also reported positive results: BYU–Pathway Worldwide reported that its “Certificate First” model reduced first-to-second-year attrition from 35% to 14%. And Western Governors University has reported high degree-completion rates among students earning stackable industry credentials on their way to a bachelor’s degree.
- Strengthening Employer Partnerships. Compared to traditional curriculum offerings, the development of microcredentials encourages closer collaboration between educational institutions and employers in the surrounding community. Instead of faculty developing curriculum independently, employers frequently participate in identifying needed competencies, desired learning outcomes, and appropriate industry tools and software. In a 2026 report, Coursera noted that 82% of employers place a higher value on microcredentials developed with industry partners than on those developed by academic institutions alone. And these collaborations often produce additional benefits, including internships, apprenticeships, guest speakers, advisory board participation, and tuition assistance programs.
- Increasing Curriculum Agility. Developing an entirely new degree program routinely takes one to three years, owing to a multitude of factors such as faculty governance requirements, accreditation reviews, and state approval processes. By contrast, microcredentials can typically be designed, approved, and launched much more quickly. Fully 81% of higher-ed leaders included in Coursera’s 2026 survey agreed that embedding microcredentials enables institutions to update curricula more quickly. This agility, in turn, allows institutions to respond rapidly to emerging workforce needs such as generative AI and prompt engineering, drone operations, ESG reporting, and quantum computing.
- Supporting Lifetime Learning. The days of “lifetime employment” are long gone. Today’s graduates rarely remain with the same employer – or even in the same occupation – throughout their careers. Instead, professionals face a near-constant need to reskill, upskill, learn emerging technologies, or change industries entirely. Microcredentials position universities to maintain relationships with career-shifting learners long after graduation – effectively transforming higher education from a one-time learning experience into an ongoing partnership that supports career-long professional development.
For more than 25 years, MindEdge has been a trusted partner to educational institutions across the country, providing high-quality online courses that help learners – and institutions – succeed. If you are interested in partnering with MindEdge, please visit our microcredential page: https://mindedge.com/microcredentials/.