Microcredentials: the UOC's bold move to boost employability

The UOC will begin its 30th academic year while remaining true to its spirit as a pioneering and transformative institution that focuses on employability. It will do so by offering 64 microcredentials – certificates that can be obtained by doing short specialized courses to develop the key competencies that are in high demand in the labour market. The range of courses designed by the UOC includes microcredentials in the fields of health, communication, law, politics, computer science, economics, psychology and education.

Microcredentials are certificates that validate the learning outcomes obtained in short training experiences, worth up to six credits. They are specifically designed to certify professional competencies, and use digital certificates to provide all the information needed to demonstrate that those competencies have been attained. These certificates can be shared with potential employers via students' CVs or social media, such as LinkedIn.

Microcredentials enable students to develop key competencies in order to enhance their employability, to upskill or reskill to adapt to future professional profiles, or to acquire skills for the current and future challenges of society, the digital transition, the ecological transition or other social challenges, such as ageing, migration and seeking refuge, or access to education.

This growing trend in education all over the world, and in Europe in particular, will be launched in the 2024/2025 academic year, when the university will be celebrating the 30th anniversary of its founding.

Over the past 30 years, the UOC has established itself as a "systemic, global and inclusive university, earnestly and constantly striving to bring down barriers, increase accessibility to lifelong training and focus on employability," explained Rector Àngels Fitó. She added that "recent examples of these hallmark principles include programmes such as that focusing on the rural world, microcredentials as a way to boost employability, a cultural action plan that is intertwined with the community, adaptation of our educational model to AI, or our new research missions."

Fitó also added that the UOC's microcredentials represent a "model for lifelong learning that takes into account recognition, traceability and complementary factors for different levels and programmes; this fosters a combination of mobility and hybridization, and meets individual and collective needs through academic, educational and professional support, at the service of a society that is increasingly aware of global challenges."

In the words of Sandra Sanz, the UOC associate dean leading the microcredentials programme, this type of training is a tool "to enhance your CV because it certifies the professional skills you've learned, lets you share that information on social media, and your employers can find out that you have these skills quickly and easily".

The 64 microcredentials that the UOC will be offering next year are:

●      Nutrition throughout the Female Life Cycle

●      Key Factors and Basic Tools for Medical Writing

●      Medical Communication

●      Regulatory Medical Writing

●      Dissemination of Research Results

●      Intrinsic Capacity, Physical Exercise and Cognitive Reserve

●      Diet and Healthy Aging

●      Sexuality and Affectionate and Social Relationships in Aging

●      Treatment of Parkinson's Disease

●      Audiovisual Ecomanagement

●      Fact-checking and Fake News

●      Accessible Web Design

●      Online course on Urban Data Analysis

●      Online course on Mediation. Course to Practise Mediation (100 hours)

●      Online course on Protecting Children and Adolescents from Violence

●      Introduction to Gamification through Case Studies

●      Python Programming

●      JavaScript Programming

●      Java Programming

●      Fundamentals of Big Data

●      Fundamentals of Business Intelligence

●      Fundamentals of Data Science

●      SQL for Data Analysis

●      Statistical Analysis and Programming with R

●      Principles of Data Visualization

●      Data Governance

●      Strategy and Analytical Culture

●      Analytic Databases

●      NoSQL Databases

●      Customer Analytics

●      Operational Analytics

●      People Analytics

●      Data Lakes

●      Batch Processing Technologies

●      Stream Processing Technologies

●      Change Management, level A1 (beginner level)

●      Change Management, level A2 (basic level)

●      Change Management, level B1 (threshold level)

●      Change Management, level B2 (advanced level)

●      Change Management, level C1 (functional level)

●      Change Management, level C2 (proficiency level)

●      Emotional Intelligence, level A1 (beginner level)

●      Emotional Intelligence, level A2 (basic level)

●      Creativity, level A1 (beginner level)

●      Creativity, level A2 (basic level)

●      Creativity, level B1 (threshold level)

●      Creativity, level B2 (advanced level)

●      Creativity, level C1 (functional level)

●      Creativity, level C2 (proficiency level)

●      Emotional Intelligence, level B1 (threshold level)

●      Emotional Intelligence, level B2 (advanced level)

●      Emotional Intelligence, level C1 (functional level)

●      Emotional Intelligence, level C2 (proficiency level)

●      Challenges and Needs of Child and Youth Mental Health Professionals

●      Grief Support

●      Digital Skills for Citizens. Advanced level

●      Digital Skills for Citizens. Intermediate level

●      E-learning Quality Models

●      Online Teaching

●      ICT-mediated Learning Design

●      ICT-mediated Learning Assessment

●      Social and Occupational Training and Employment Opportunities

●      Generative Artificial Intelligence and its Application in Education

●      Socio-educational Measures and Disability

●      Artificial Intelligence and Law: Keys and Challenges

The catalogue of microcredentials will be expanded and modified in the coming years to meet society's demands and needs. The courses are open to everyone.

 

Benefits of microcredentials

Lourdes Guàrdia and Marcelo Maina, members of the UOC's Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, highlight some of the advantages of microcredentials:

●      They meet the current demands of the labour market.

●      They enable students to implement a gradual and ongoing strategy for their professional development.

●      Their short duration adapts to personal and professional schedules, making it easier to complete the training.

●      They are independent units and can be recognized within more long-term training.

●      They are engaging, and based on content in various formats and active learning strategies (videos, problem-solving, etc.).

●      They are motivating, due to their immediate relevance and applicability in the working environment.

 

When is a good time to take a microcredential?

According to Guàrdia and Maina, microcredentials are ideal in cases when:

-        The need for professional reskilling and upskilling is identified, especially in areas that are changing very quickly and in which it is essential to stay up to date.

-        The student needs to learn something to solve a problem or perform a specific task immediately.

-        A topic needs to be reviewed as a reminder, reinforcement or simply to complement existing knowledge.

-        General or transferable skills are needed, such as leadership, time management, communication and teamwork, which are increasingly in demand in the workplace, regardless of the context or professional sector.

 

How are they being implemented in Spain?

Guàrdia and Maina explained that the concept of microcredentials in Spain is currently attracting "significant attention as part of educational and vocational training strategies", and has received a boost from the Ministry of Universities and its Microcreds Plan. They added that this plan, which has been allocated funding of €50 million by the European Union as part of the NextGenerationEU programme, "aims to promote the development of a range of microcredentials in the Spanish university system". The government wants this strategy to be "a key tool in facilitating lifelong learning, providing adults with the opportunity to acquire knowledge, skills and specific competencies through short and focused training, with less than 15 ECTS credits," they said.