Tertiary Working Group on micro-credentials (Micro-credentials Special Interest Group) – HEFCW-funded  

The HEFCW-funded Tertiary Working Group on micro-credentials (micro-credentials Special Interest Group) is a cross Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland Network chaired by Steve Osborne, Principal Lecturer Professional & Workforce Development, at Cardiff Metropolitan University. The group has been established through QAA’s grant arrangements with HEFCW to support the development and sharing of practice in the rapidly developing field of micro-credentials across higher and further education.

This first webinar, organised by the Network in partnership with QAA, shared current policy landscapes across higher and further education in micro-credentials and short course learning across each of the UK’s home nations. Each expert speaker provided a short overview of the current practice and policy developments in each of the UK’s nations, followed by a panel discussion.

QAA undertook an enhancement project exploring current practice in the sector in relation to micro-credentials, building on case studies that HEFCW developed and published in December 2022. The project explored current use of the QAA Micro-credentials Characteristics Statement (published May 2022).

To undertake the project, QAA distributed a survey to all participating providers (nine HEIs and two FEIs) and subsequently undertook a series of tailored conversations with these providers.

The conversations provided an opportunity to explore some of the approaches in more detail; any challenges and ways in which they were being addressed; the use of the QAA Micro-credentials Characteristics Statement and whether any revisions to it would be helpful at this stage; and any other areas that might be valuable for the sector to explore to enhance practice.

The project also held two webinars and the resources can be found below.

Quality Assurance processes (24 May 2023)

Practicalities of delivery (7 June 2023)