Skip to main content

MU micro-credentials will revolutionise professional education

After two years of intense preparation, Masaryk University is one of the first universities in Europe to introduce micro-credentials, which will bring a significant change to lifelong learning.

Micro-credentials are a new trend in European education that has been spreading through universities across Europe in recent years, and MU is one of the few institutions in Europe that will be offering courses with micro-credentials from the next academic year. To make this possible, Masaryk University has reformed its entire concept of lifelong learning.

Micro-credentials (MC, or “mikrocertifikáty” in Czech) are a new way of demonstrating specific knowledge and skills acquired through lifelong learning. They are acquired in specialised small courses, which always end with a verifiable demonstration of the acquired competences and the award of ECTS credits. Upon completion of such a course, participants receive an electronic certificate – a micro-credential. These credentials are internationally recognised and comprehensible, and can be used to prove competences acquired not only in the Czech Republic but also abroad.

“Micro-credentials are a new trend in European education and we at Masaryk University see great potential in them for the future. Our micro-certified courses are designed not only for students and recent graduates, but also for professionals with many years of experience in the field who need to acquire a specific knowledge or skill, ideally via a course that runs for several weeks or a single semester. We believe that the newly acquired skills will help participants to increase their employability, but also support their efforts to pursue their dream career,” said Monika Jandová, MU Vice-Rector responsible for lifelong learning.

Masaryk University is currently implementing pilot MC courses, which are available on the Lifelong Learning Portal on the muni.cz website, together with the offer of other professional and special interest lifelong learning courses. The offer will be gradually expanded in the coming months. Within two years, 29 MC courses will be offered at MU, and the university aims to offer around 100 in the longer term. In the future, there are also plans to offer MC courses within the EDUC alliance, which includes MU and seven other universities from France, Italy, Hungary, Norway, Germany and Spain.

Some of the pilot courses have already taken place, while others are still being developed. For example, the Faculty of Science has prepared a course on Satellite Data in Science Education, and the Faculty of Economics and Administration has prepared a course on Time Series Econometrics in the R System. The Faculty of Law is offering a course on Education of Expert Witnesses in Legal Skills, and the Faculty of Social Studies is preparing a course on Public Communication.

“But the potential for MC courses is much greater. Thanks to the newly established internal evaluation system, we are able to respond flexibly to the demands of the labour market. For example, if there are changes in VAT legislation, MU experts can react immediately and prepare an MC course for those interested in the subject. The possibilities opened up by micro-credentials will revolutionise professional education and training, and we have received some excellent feedback from the industry as well. We believe that the system of micro-credentials will enable us to develop the field of lifelong learning in such a way that it meets the needs of those interested in this form of education as well as future employers,” says Svatava Kalná, head of the Lifelong Learning Division at Masaryk University.

In Europe and Czechia, micro-credentials are just getting started

As of today, micro-credentials are rather rare in the European context. While MC courses are still in their infancy, Czechia is one of the few countries, along with Ireland and the Netherlands, to have a national policy on the subject. Thanks to a project funded by the National Recovery Plan, a unified framework for issuing micro-credentials has begun to materialise in cooperation with twenty-six Czech universities.

One of the most important results of this project is a system for verifying micro-credentials created by IT experts at Masaryk University (available at microcertifikat.cz), which all universities will eventually be able to join. For the time being, MC courses are also offered by, for example, Charles University (22 courses) and Palacký University Olomouc (1 course). The micro-credentials will be stored in this system – which will also be compatible with the Europass system – and the holder will be able to share them with other parties. All parties should be able to understand the content of the micro-credential and verify its authenticity, which will facilitate the recognition of Czech micro-credentials abroad.

Another important outcome of the four-year project, which ends this year, is an analysis of international experiences and standards in lifelong learning, coordinated by Masaryk University. Even at the data collection stage, universities abroad were interested in the information gathered and wanted to share examples of good practice with countries introducing micro-credentials in lifelong learning. Czech universities, with Masaryk University at the forefront, may well be a source of inspiration for other countries in the future when it comes to micro-credentials.

Unlike other universities in the Czech Republic, which have incorporated micro-credentials into their existing course offerings, Masaryk University has taken the opportunity to innovate the entire system of lifelong learning programmes, including quality assurance.

“It seems that lifelong learning at MU is moving in a new direction and we are very curious to see where it will take us, also in terms of the micro-credential system. Everyone in our department has worked very hard to make this happen, including my indispensable colleague Tomáš Chaloupka and many people from other Masaryk University departments who have contributed to the reform of the entire lifelong learning system,” said Svatava Kalná from the MU Lifelong Learning Division.

The implementation of microcertificates was supported by the National Recovery Plan under the MUNI 3.2.1 project, registration number NPO_MUNI_MSMT-16606/2022.