Lessons Learned from Implementing the Largest University Based Microcredential Program in the U.S.
The State University of New York (SUNY) is just reaching the five-year mark (with some pandemic interruption) of implementing a System-wide Microcredential Policy. Clear lessons are emerging, successes are being scaled, and new goals have been set to address challenges and explore new opportunities. All work is aligned with key pillars set by SUNY’s Board of Trustees and Chancellor John B. King, Jr., including student success; research and scholarship; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and economic development and upward mobility.
SUNY is the largest comprehensive system of public higher education in the United States with 64 campuses located across New York State, serving approximately 1.4 million learners each year. The System includes community colleges, technology colleges, liberal arts and science institutions, and doctoral institutions including R1 research centers and medical centers. SUNY campuses are both large and small, in urban centers and rural communities. Microcredentials have been integrated across every sector of SUNY campus and major award level—undergraduate and graduate.
SUNY’s policy-driven approach to microcredentials centers on faculty innovation, academic quality, partnerships with industry, stackable pathways to degrees, and portability to ensure value beyond the issuing institution.
In a competitive environment where so many companies, universities and organizations are offering short-term credentials, SUNY has encouraged a niche for higher education that is responsive to regional and state needs and that leverages the power of student/faculty interaction, student supports, career and academic guidance. SUNY microcredentials: 1) provide the skills, knowledge, and experience to allow the learner to obtain a job or advance in a job; and 2) wherever possible, provide a pathway to additional credentials, including an initial or advanced degree.
Specific lessons learned, briefly highlighted here, can (and have been) broadly adapted by other higher education institutions.
SUNY microcredentials are approved through a process that mirrors new degree program development via established faculty governance processes on campus. Each microcredential is a substantive learning experience with set learning outcomes and assessments where student work is produced. While community building or participation in meetings or events can be important parts of the student experience, they do not rise to the level of a SUNY microcredential.
Localities, states, and national governments regularly produce data on in-demand occupations, salaries, job openings, new industries, and more. Each time a new microcredential is developed, this data must be considered and tested. A best practice that has emerged for SUNY is the lead faculty member meeting with a small focus group (3-4 companies/organizations) to discuss a proposed microcredential (informed by available data) and specifically, the proposed skills to be mastered. Done during the development phase, these conversations lead to stronger, more focused microcredentials.
Essential to all microcredential work are internal and external communications plans. Internally, a prospective student might reach out to admissions, financial aid, the registrar, the bursars office, or even an individual academic department to ask about microcredentials. Be sure each of these offices is ready to respond—in the short-term by providing everyone with information about where new microcredentials are listed and who the key contacts will be; and in the long-term by integrating the microcredential program into the routine operations of the institution.
External communication to local, regional, and state partners on SUNY’s microcredential work has been key to program growth and securing state support, including financial aid for qualified part-time microcredential students and inclusion in state-wide directories. External communication with prospective students is also essential. Based on search data and frequently asked questions, students want easy access to essential data: clear descriptions noting connection to workforce, skills mastered, cost, time to completion, whether delivery is available online, stackability to certificates or degrees, and easy access to more information and to register.
Another lesson centers on the use of technology to not only inform quality delivery of online microcredentials but to support “infrastructure” development. Monitoring persistence, completion, and next steps after microcredential completion; measuring student and partner satisfaction; and tracking wage and employment data are necessary data elements that require cooperation by admissions, registrars, institutional research, and information technology staff. SUNY benefited from the development of guidance by the registrar at its Genesee Community College, for example, to integrate microcredential student data into the student information system and the degree auditing system used by most SUNY campuses, but still has more work to do to ensure reliable and consistent data reporting.
Student supports, including access to faculty, tutoring, the library, and academic and career guidance, are essential components of an effective microcredential program. SUNY began providing microcredential takers with a “SUNY Global ID” to provide access to campus resources. New work with career development officers and academic advisors to begin shortly will detail and improve access to these resources.
Developing microcredentials for multiple audiences has emerged as one of the strongest components of SUNY’s program, making microcredentials accessible to more New Yorkers, with campuses excelling at serving their local and regional communities, and multi-campus solutions to state-wide challenges:
Taken together, lessons learned to date underscore SUNY’s mission and identified priorities and begin to illuminate the essential niche higher education can serve in the microcredential space—advancing adult education, improving academic/industry partnerships, fostering faculty innovation, supporting student academic and career success, and driving community and economic development. We invite you to follow our progress at: https://www.suny.edu/microcredentials/.