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Acceleration plan | Microcredentials Pilot
Since October, 32 higher education institutions – 10 universities and 22 universities of applied sciences – have been taking part in the national Microcredentials pilot under the direction of the Making education more flexible zone, the Universities of The Netherlands, and The Netherlands Association of Universities of Applied Sciences. Microcredentialing – breaking down education into smaller units certified separately – stimulates flexibility and gives recognisable value to the lifelong development offer by institutions. You can read exactly what the pilot entails here and watch the video for a short explanation.
The Acceleration Plan Educational Innovation with IT has flexibilisation and modularisation in higher education high on the agenda. Developing microcredentials is a logical next step and can give impetus to a more flexible educational offer and curriculum. To establish the contours of this development, the ‘Microcredentials in Dutch Higher Education’ pilot project has been scheduled to start in October 2021. The pilot is open to all Dutch public institutions and will run for more than two years. Interested institutions can register from 1 July 2021 (see ‘register for the pilot’ tab). The pilot is aimed at professionals who wish to reskill, upskill or advance their career.
Microcredentials are of a smaller scope than other educational units and have recognised and accepted value.
Our aim with the pilot is for educational institutions’ continuing professional development (CPD) offer to have a clear and recognised value in the system, as is currently the case for bachelors, masters, associate degrees and PhDs in the Netherlands. A microcredential is a reliable certificate that allows professionals to demonstrate what they know, what they can do and what they understand after successful completion of an educational unit. In other words, a microcredential gives independent value to a smaller educational unit. A microcredential is not just about the end result. It is the entire process, including the learning activities and associated assessment of learning outcomes, that gives value to a microcredential.
Using microcredentials encourages flexibility and lifelong development
Introducing microcredentials for professionals can give lifelong learning in the Netherlands a significant boost. In recent years, many institutions have worked on designing a relevant and attractive educational offer for professionals. With microcredentials, they can respond even better to professionals’ needs. The scope and value of microcredentials make it attractive for professionals to pecialise, upskill or reskill in higher education.
At present, professionals basically have two options for pursuing higher education in the Netherlands – an accredited (full-time or part-time) programme or a non-accredited module or course. Following accredited higher education is a considerable time investment for professionals. Modules or other small educational units are often better suited to the flexibility that working people need. These smaller units can also be developed more quickly and are better suited to a rapidly changing work context and the learning needs of professionals.
Added value of microcredentials
Professionals often need specific additional training, upskilling or reskilling – not necessarily to a full degree course but to the recognised value of quality, up-to-date knowledge in the portfolio of an institution offered in a smaller unit.
Microcredentials add quality assurance, namely that the participant or employer can be sure that the course is designed to achieve the desired learning outcomes.
If someone has successfully achieved the learning outcomes of the microcredential, third parties (labour market, institutions, and so on) can rely on the fact that this person has actually mastered the knowledge or skills covered by the microcredential. Furthermore, the achievement of these learning outcomes is traceable and verifiable. In addition, there will be nationwide registation of who has obtained which microcredential.
The recognised value of microcredentials gives professionals more flexibility and control over their own development. They can design their own development paths over time, at different training facilities and institutions. They are assured that their learning outcomes will be accredited elsewhere, opening up opportunities to build on previously acquired knowledge, skills and approaches.
Microcredentials pilot in Dutch higher education
Working with microcredentials offers institutions the opportunity to broaden their educational offer and to support individuals and society in flexible (lifelong) professional development. As with any change, working with microcredentials requires adjustment and integration, which is why it is advisable to take a gradual approach to introducing microcredentials in higher education. Educational institutions in the Netherlands need time and space to describe their CPD offer, to organise their method of registration and to organise their internal quality assurance. The pilot project offers the possibility of answering complex questions about microcredentials in a collaborative effort. The pilot starts in October 2021 with a preparatory phase, after which it will run for more than two years – up to and including 31 December 2023.
The pilot will come under the central management of the Making education more flexible zone (part of the Acceleration Plan). The pilot team – comprising members of the Flexible education zone, SURF, OCW (the Dutch Ministry of Higher Education) and Universiteiten van Nederland (Association of Universities in the Netherlands) and VH (The Netherlands Association of Universities of Applied Sciences) – will provide substantive project management. Substantive management by the pilot team focuses on the issues that arise during the process. The pilot team acts as a linchpin between the pilot and the administrative boards of the umbrella organisations. In addition, the pilot team acts as a source of information for the participating institutions and organises regular national meetings to jointly implement microcredentials in Dutch higher education. Institutions can make use of an incentive scheme with a maximum amount of €45,000 per year for this pilot.
The ‘Microcredentials in Dutch Higher Education’ pilot project gives Dutch institutions of higher education the opportunity to jointly give substance to the microcredentials model and to detail various practical, technical and content-related questions. The pilot is intended to learn from and with each other.
Objectives of the pilot
Working with microcredentials offers Dutch institutions of higher education the opportunity to broaden their educational offer and to support individuals and society in flexible (lifelong) professional development. As with any change, working with microcredentials requires adjustment and integration, which is why it is advisable to take a gradual approach to introducing microcredentials in Dutch higher education. Educational institutions need time and space to describe their CPD offer, to organise their method of registration and to organise their internal quality assurance. The pilot project offers the possibility of answering complex questions about microcredentials in a collaborative effort.
The objectives of this pilot are as follows:
Scope of the pilot
There are different ideas on how to incorporate microcredentials in the system. In setting up this pilot, we opted for an approach supported by both VSNU and VH, which means our focus at the start of the pilot is on the CPD offer for professionals. During the course of the project we will – in close collaboration with the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW), legal and financial experts and in coordination with the umbrella organisations – analyse how the sector could serve society even better. Taking this analysis as the starting point, the steering committee of the Acceleration Plan and umbrella organisations can then consider whether and how the scope of the offer could be further expanded during the second year of the pilot. A substantial expansion would require a new decision by the steering committee and the umbrella organisations. Furthermore, the research could help to formulate clear answers to questions from society and politics regarding ambitions for flexibilisation of the publicly funded education system in the Netherlands.
Conditions for taking part
Dutch institutions participating in the pilot should offer microcredentials from their current or newly developed educational offer. These institutions do not need to have this educational offer ready at the time of registering for the pilot. There will, especially in the first months of the pilot, be sufficient opportunity to develop this both in terms of content and organisation. There will also be sufficient room for experimenting during the course of the pilot so that adjustments can be made and new insights gained.
Institutions participating in the pilot are expected to actively contribute to ongoing development of the microcredentials model and the associated quality framework. We will start with a supported quality framework in which only minimal requirements are formulated. At the start of the pilot, institutions commit themselves to this framework, which will be further developed and detailed jointly during the course of the pilot. Our focus here is supported decision-making through the umbrella organisations.
Institutions should put together a comprehensive internal quality assurance system in accordance with the quality framework. This will allow them to guarantee the quality of the educational offer and contribute to the recognition and acceptance of this type of education. Institutions are asked if they are prepared to share their knowledge and experience in an open and transparent way so that knowledge be exchanged between the institutions. This kind of knowledge exchange is conducive to learning and helps to foster mutual recognition and accreditation of microcredentials.
Institutions should also organise a clear administrative process (registration, deregistration, administration of issued microcredentials) and provide a point of contact for questions and/or complaints. And it is, of course, the institutions that award the microcredentials once participants have successfully completed the relevant educational unit/module. Institutions themselves decide with which and how many educational units or modules they will participate in the pilot.
Endpoints of the pilot
Further development of the microcredentials model within the Dutch educational system, in line with European developments, is the objective of the pilot. The pilot phase is therefore partly a research phase aimed at studying a number of issues in further detail. This is because it involves complex issues that require expert knowledge but also because institutions sometimes differ in their vision and perspective. This involves, for example:
Further development of the model
Legal aspects
Infrastructure
The above points will be elaborated in further detail during the preparatory phase so that a widely supported model can be established before the actual start of the pilot project in 2022. During the pilot, these conceptual, legal and infrastructural points will be developed in an iterative process.
Being at the forefront of innovation is always challenging, which is why a comprehensive support structure has been set up for participating institutions. Institutions can rely on support from the pilot team and will have a permanent contact person and a change budget. They will be invited to national meetings to share knowledge and experience. In addition, there is an FAQ on this website for questions about microcredentials and the pilot.
Support structure in a nutshell:
Change budget
Institutions participating in the pilot from the start can apply for a change budget. This change budget (the incentive scheme) should be used by institutions to facilitate the transition to using microcredentials in such a way that the developed model can be applied broadly. Institutions should take the necessary project-based activities into account, especially in the first year of the pilot. Consider, for instance, any changes that may be required in processes and the IT infrastructure, or in the administrative systems and in the organisation of quality assurance. Institutions can use the budget to appoint, ideally, a project coordinator (0.4 FTE). The project coordinator’s role will be to facilitate and organise the above tasks within the institution as well as to liaise with the central project organisation. The efforts and costs involved in setting everything up for the microcredential pilot will vary across institutions.
Only institutions participating in the pilot from the start are eligible for the incentive scheme. This is because in the pioneering phase of the pilot, the greatest efforts will probably be in mutual coordination and internal organisation. The budget available in the scheme is capped at €45,000 a year for the duration of the pilot. Institutions do not have an accountability obligation but they do have a best-effort obligation. Institutions are expected to share knowledge and experiences on how to use the resources. Our aim in the pilot is to minimise the regulatory burden and maximise knowledge sharing.
National meetings
To avoid a proliferation of different projects within the participating institutions, each with its own interpretation, it is important that they collaborate closely in the pilot. Regular national meetings will therefore be organised for the project coordinators and other stakeholders from the institutions. The meetings take place at least four times a year and can be organised around specific themes based on the needs of the participating institutions. The institutions participating in the pilot are asked to appoint a contact person (project leader) for the pilot.
Monitoring and evaluation of the pilot
Conducting a pilot study is a useful way of taking small steps into new and unexplored territory. A pilot allows for experimentation with new ways of working, for bridging differences of opinion and for sharing knowledge in order to make joint progress. Because it is important to agree on clear goals beforehand and to evaluate them in the interim and after completion, an external and independent agency will be engaged to monitor progress and evaluate the endpoints.
Evaluation of the pilot will focus on four main themes:
How the evaluation will be conducted will be discussed wi=th the participating institution between October 2021 and December 2022 (the preparatory phase).
Duration of the pilot
Dutch institutions of higher education can apply before 30 September 2021. The preparatory phase of the pilot starts on 1 October 2021. In the first months, the emphasis is on knowledge sharing and preparation. During this period, the institutions prepare for the pilot project and agree on the framework. The pilot itself starts on 1 January 2022. From then on, educational institutions should be offering the first microcredentials. A second registration opportunity for institutions follows at the end of 2022. By mid-2023, it should be clear whether and how microcredentials can be added to the system permanently. The pilot ends in December 2023.
In recent years, a high-quality quality assurance system has been developed in Dutch higher education. Each institution contributes to this in its own way. Although this uniqueness and diversity can be seen as a strength of the system, it can also lead to internal debates when seeking to achieve uniformity. For this reason, a quality framework has been chosen in which institutions are given as much freedom as possible (in terms of content). We use a set of minimum requirements to express the shared quality goals and increase the independent, recognised and accepted value of the microcredential. The pilot project gives institutions the opportunity to use this quality framework as a starting point and to jointly refine and develop it in practice.
What are the basic requirements for internal quality assurance?
What are the conditions regarding educational units for participating institutions?
Dutch institutions can register for participation in the pilot from 1 July 2021. Institutions wishing to participate can send a message signed by a member of the Executive Board to Elsbeth Vonkeman (VH) or Anne Roos-Renkema (VSNU) of the pilot team. Registration for the first round of the pilot is possible until 1 October 2021. The second window for registration is in December 2022. This is also by means of a signed letter from the Executive Board. At this point, it is no longer possible to make use of the change budget.
Universities of applied sciences in the Netherlands that wish to participate can contact Elsbeth Vonkeman at vonkeman@vh.nl.
Research universities in the Netherlands that wish to participate can contact Anne-Roos Renkema at renkema@vsnu.nl.
Please state in the email that you wish to participate as an institution, who the contact person in your institution will be and, where possible, with which educational offer you wish to participate. The letter must be sent on behalf of the Executive Board and signed by one of its members. After the email has been received, the institution will receive a confirmation email.
Bart Lamboo
For practical questions about the pilot, please contact, please contact Bart Lamboo. Bart is project leader of the pilot. You can contact him at bart.lamboo@surf.nl of via 06-43184363.
Ulrike Wild
Ulrike, who is programme director at Wageningen University & Research (WUR), heads the Flexibilisation and Professional Education programmes. She is also one of the two leaders of the Making education more flexible zone in the Acceleration Plan.
Paul den Hertog
Paul works as an education innovation consultant at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA). He is a member of the administrative staff and is involved in the Personal Learning Paths and Well Organised Education programmes. He is also one of the two leaders of the Making education more flexible zone in the Acceleration Plan.
Anne-Roos Renkema
Anne-Roos works as a policy adviser on educational innovation with ICT at Universities of the Netherlands. Anne-Roos is part of the programme team of the Acceleration Plan, supporting the leaders of the different zones and organising the coordination with the steering committee. She is also the linchpin between the pilot and the administrative boards at Universities of the Netherlands.
Elsbeth Vonkeman
Elsbeth is a policy adviser for VH and also a consultant in educational organisation (specifically flexibility) for Windesheim University of Applied Sciences. In her role as a member of the programme team of the Acceleration Plan, she supports the leaders of the different zones and organises coordination with the steering committee.
Michael Go
Michael is programme manager for flexibilisation of education at SURF. In this capacity, he is also the liaison for the Making education more flexible zone within the Acceleration Plan. You can contact Michael if you have any questions about infrastructure, such as connection to the edubadges service.
Wat are microcredentials?
In this video, the pilot team briefly answers this question.
Changes in the labour market call for continuing education and training, including in the higher segments. This puts pressure on institutions of higher education to make knowledge available in shorter, non-diploma-oriented modules. A microcredential gives independent value to a smaller educational unit. The purpose of the pilot is to launch microcredentials in Dutch higher education for broad target groups, such as professionals and job seekers. People who want to pursue education for their own interests can also obtain microcredentials. Modules or other small educational units are often better suited to the flexibility working people need. These smaller units can also be developed more quickly and are better suited to a rapidly changing work context and the learning needs of professionals. In this way, we can contribute to the CPD offer. The recognition and acceptance of microcredentials makes them attractive to both the labour market and the institutions themselves.
Professionals often need specific additional training, upskilling or reskilling – not necessarily to a full degree course but to the recognised value of quality, up-to-date knowledge in the portfolio of an institution offered in a smaller unit.
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Microcredentials add quality assurance, namely that the participant or employer can be sure that the course is designed to achieve the desired learning outcomes.
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If someone has successfully achieved the learning outcomes of the microcredential, third parties (labour market, institutions, and so on) can rely on the fact that this person has actually mastered the knowledge or skills covered by the microcredential. Furthermore, the achievement of these learning outcomes is traceable and verifiable. In addition, there will be a national registration of who has obtained which microcredential.
The recognised value of microcredentials gives professionals more flexibility and control over their own development. They can design their own development paths over time, at different training facilities and institutions. They are assured that their learning outcomes will be recognised elsewhere, opening up opportunities to build on previously acquired knowledge, skills and approaches.
No, the offer for the CPD market can of course be much broader and include several other forms. There may be quite different reasons for offering various forms and contents; a short seminar on group dynamics may be sufficient for someone who doesn’t have an in-depth learning need. But only courses that meet the quality requirements of a microcredential will result in an accredited certificate with recognised value.
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Many stakeholders involved in the preliminary process agree that national agreements are needed on the content and form of microcredentials. However, opinions differ on the scope, especially on the minimum number of EC (study load for 1 EC is 28 hours). One option is to issue microcredentials for very small educational units (minimum 0.5 – 1 EC). This would ensure that much of the current contract-based education aimed at professionals would fall within the required scope. But it would also entail the risk of not establishing a clear profile for the microcredentials, of not providing the desired ‘independent value’ and of making it difficult to incorporate microcredentials into subsequent education, let alone ‘stacking’ to constitute a complete programme. It could also create a huge administrative burden, including for examination boards. What we can use to demonstrate the knowledge and skills acquired in small units of 0.5 – 1 EC, however, are the so-called edubadges, which are not considered microcredentials.
To give Dutch institutions the freedom to incorporate microcredentials in their educational offer, it is in any case important not to limit the scope too much. A microcredential with a minimum scope of 3 EC provides a substantial learning outcome and can, in terms of study load, still be combined with work. At the other end of the range, 30 EC is a good maximum, as it would otherwise almost amount to a one-year course. For a large number of institutions, this is the scope of a minor, which makes it difficult to qualify anything larger than this as ‘micro’.
During the course of the pilot, we will closely monitor, in consultation with the participating institutions, whether these frameworks are feasible and will lead to the desired results. Should it become apparent during the pilot that the minimum and maximum EC numbers do not work, it may be decided, in consultation with the steering committee of the Acceleration Plan and the umbrella organisations, to adjust them.
The aim of the pilot is for institution-wide collaboration to create a system in which microcredentials have recognised value. By acting together and using a shared language and a common quality framework, the institutions can assign independent value to the microcredentials.
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Learning outcomes describe what a learner may expect to know, to understand and to be able to apply. It is important to note that learning outcomes are about ‘the outcomes of the learning process, independent of educational content and curriculum, study load, duration of the study, organisation of the education, manner of instruction and where and how the education is given” (Van Delft, 2020, p. 2). In other words, a learning outcome describes what someone knows and can do after successfully completing a learning path.
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This also means that learning outcomes achieved in a microcredential programme in one institution are recognised as such in the same institution or by another institution. With a microcredential a participant can, for instance, demonstrate to have the required prior knowledge when starting a programme or another microcredential. Furthermore, learning outcomes that overlap with an accredited programme may lead to exemption when enrolling in the programme. Exemptions are not granted automatically but must be requested from a designated institutional body, such as an examination board.
Learning outcomes describe what a learner is expected to know, understand and be able to apply on completion of a learning period (see NVAO and Tuning). As part of the pilot, we will examine how we can give substance to the description of learning outcomes in the simplest way possible, in line with NVAO principles.
The microcredentials pilot is an initiative of VH and Universiteiten van Nederland. We will incorporate the lessons and insights learned in the Learning Outcomes Experiment into our pilot and build on them where possible. The pilot also seeks to connect to European and national developments (e.g. legal embedding of the Learning Outcomes Experiment) in terms of working with learning outcomes.
The starting point of the pilot is to minimise the costs for institutions. Nevertheless, costs will be incurred for some of the above activities, such as organising internal quality assurance for microcredentials and designing an administrative process.
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Project costs will also be incurred for participation in knowledge sharing and evaluation of the pilot. The Acceleration Plan therefore provides for an incentive scheme – a change budget that covers a substantial part of the anticipated costs. Institutions participating in the pilot from the start can make use of an annual change budget of €45,000.
This amount is intended as an incentive for participants and to help push them ‘past the tipping point’ so that microcredentials can gain a foothold in higher education. It will allow institutions to pay for a project manager or quality officer to organise internal quality assurance for the microcredentials or to design the administrative process, to name a few examples. These costs are expected to be incurred mostly in the first year of the pilot.
The Acceleration Team envisages a national register for microcredentials that will firmly establish flexible education for professionals. The obvious solution is to set up this register alongside the existing diploma register at DUO. An exploratory survey previously carried out by DUO to this end has given rise to a number of follow-up steps. As it is unlikely that DUO will have such a register available at the start of the Acceleration Plan pilot, we will start to provide microcredentials with the edubadges infrastructure already available at SURF.
SURF Edubadges is the only sector-wide platform for digital certificates available in the Dutch education system. Edubadges are issued digitally on this platform in a secure and reliable environment. The platform makes it possible for edubadges to be comparable, exchangeable and stackable. An edubadge provides information on the content, scope and level of learning outcomes achieved. With the edubadges backpack, learners can manage their edubadges and can share an edubadge with employers or other educational institutions. Edubadges are linked to a cross-institutional identity, the eduID, which remains available even after graduation and is valid for life. Both the student and the viewer of the edubadge can verify who the issuing party is. Each issued edubadge can be checked for authenticity at the press of a button.
Not all edubadges are microcredentials, which means that the metadata of the microcredential issued as part of the pilot may have a different format from that currently used for edubadges. SURF is aware of this and is prepared, in consultation and where possible, to make changes to how microcredentials are issued and managed if the implementation of the pilot so requires.
A number of preliminary steps have to be taken before an institution can start using edubadges. The institution must be connected to the Edubadges platform. Institutions that have been actively involved in SURF’s pilot in the past three years are already connected.
Broadly speaking, the connection process comprises the following four steps.
SURF already has a roadmap in place for institutions that would like to start issuing edubadges to students. In cooperation with the Acceleration Plan, this roadmap is being updated and detailed for the benefit of the participants in the microcredentials pilot. This updated roadmap will also be used for the ‘Starting with Edubadges’ course, in which pilot participants will be coached during implementation. SURF does not charge participants an additional fee for this service, as the edubadges infrastructure is already part of the basic fee.
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SURF will continue to work on improving the platform, for example the technical integration with learning management systems and student information systems and the addition of bulk upload tools. The platform’s publishing process will also be simplified where possible, for example by allowing students to give one-off consent to receive edubadges issued by the institution. At the same time, the Acceleration Plan will cooperate with SURF, OCW and DUO on the steps needed to establish a formal national register.
Just like bachelors, masters and minors, microcredentials will have an accredited and recognised value in the education system. The microcredentials achieved will be stored in a Dutch national register – initially in Edubadges, later possibly in RIO. The data to be included in the certificate will be determined during the course of the pilot project. These include:
The preparatory phase of the pilot starts after September 2021. In the first months, the emphasis is on knowledge sharing and preparation; in this phase, the institutions get ready for the pilot. The pilot itself starts in January 2022. By then, educational institutions should be able to offer the first microcredentials. A second registration opportunity for institutions follows in December 2022. By mid-2023, it should be clear whether and how microcredentials can be added to the system permanently. The pilot ends in December 2023.
That depends on the number of applications for the pilot. We would like to start with as large a group as possible so that the institutions involved can get support from the pilot team from the start and exchange information with each other. This will also increase the level of support for the process and approach. As mentioned previously, it is not necessary for participating institutions to offer microcredentials at the start. However, all participants must be able to present and evaluate their microcredentials during the course of the pilot (i.e. before December 2023).
There are two registration windows for the pilot – at the start of the pilot and one year after the start. Institutions can register for the first round of the pilot until 1 October 2021. Registration is by means of a signed letter from the Executive Board to the project leader of the pilot. Participants in the first round will also be able to provide input on the precise details of the pilot project and the quality framework. The second window for registration, which is also by means of a signed letter from the Executive Board, is in December 2022. At this point, it is no longer possible to make use of the change budget.
VH and Universiteiten van Nederland will inform their members of the pilot and of the opportunities for participation through their regular channels. They will also remind their members of the possibility of participating in the pilot project before the second registration window. Within the Acceleration Plan, additional information meetings will be organised before the summer holidays and in the month of September.
To avoid having a large number of projects, each with its own interpretation, it is important for participants to collaborate closely in the pilot. Based on central management of the pilot, regular national meetings will be organised (at least four times a year). At these meetings, pilot participants can exchange knowledge with peers in a focus group, help each other and learn from their experiences. A central Q&A desk for participating institutions will also be set up at SURF. A pilot coordinator from the Acceleration Plan will be appointed for maintaining oversight and for mutual coordination. This person is also the liaison to the umbrella organisations.
In addition, there is a change budget available for institutions through the incentive scheme. Payment from this incentive budget will be arranged through annual invoicing to SURF, as lead organisation of the Acceleration Plan. The underlying agreement will serve as official registration of participation in the pilot. No additional proposal is required.
The pilot will come under the central management of the Making education more flexible zone (Acceleration Plan). A project leader will be appointed to provide substantive guidance alongside the current pilot team. This project leader will also facilitate the process, organise meetings for the participants, set up a helpdesk, and so on – possibly with support if required. The pilot team’s substantive guidance will focus on issues that emerge as the pilot progresses, such as quality assurance and lessons learned from monitoring and evaluation during the pilot phase.
Yes, as a sounding board. This is because the step towards microcredentials ties in with a broader movement to make higher education more flexible and personalised. Changes to the current system are therefore likely to take place in the coming years. Examples are legal embedding of the ‘Learning Outcomes Experiment’ and developments relating to institutional accreditation. The pilot is a way for us to respond to these developments, which is why we will collaborate closely with OCW and NVAO in developing the quality framework and the pilot.
Microcredentials are also being developed at the European level. Further elaboration of microcredentials can, for example, contribute to mutual recognition of educational credentials within the network of European universities. Several Dutch universities are already partnering with other European universities to this end. Current developments in Europe, such as the MICROBOL project, will be included in the Dutch pilot project to ensure that the two developments are mutually aligned.
RIO (Registratie Instellingen en Opleidingen; Registration of Institutions and Programmes), is a national register in which educational institutions record their educational offer, organisational forms and educational accreditations and licences. The aim of RIO is to bring all educational information together in one place. RIO is not yet available for higher education, but is expected to be so from January 2022. RIO’s information model has already been primed for the introduction of microcredentials. During the pilot, we will seek to capitalise on the opportunities RIO offers in this respect.
The STAP budget is a personal development budget for everyone. With the STAP budget (a budget aimed at boosting employment opportunities), the government wants to encourage everybody to continue learning during their career. If the conditions are met, the STAP budget can be used to obtain microcredentials. It is not, however, a prerequisite. Participation in the STAP scheme is in not linked to participation in the microcredentials pilot.
The specific evaluation method will depend, among other things, on the definitive details of the quality framework and the pilot project. It is important, however, that the objectives of the pilot (and what do you monitor and evaluate?) are clear to all stakeholders. The evaluation framework will be established before the start in September 2021. Evaluation of the pilot will be performed by an external agency and will focus on four main themes:
If you have any questions about the Microcredentials pilot, please contact:
Bart Lamboo bart.lamboo@surf.nl
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