Gen Z and the Art of Microcredentialing
by Kerry McDonald
Hi Parmalee,
My 17-year-old daughter Molly loves data science. She plans to enroll in Google’s data analytics professional certification program, offered online through Coursera, later this fall. Like a growing number of her Gen Z peers, or those young people born roughly between the mid-1990s and early 2010s, Molly is attracted to the idea of “microcredentials,” or certificates, badges, “boot camps,” and other signals of completion and competency in specific skill areas.
Molly wants to attend a traditional four-year university next year to study mathematics and data science, but more young people are using microcredentials—whether through community colleges or universities, job training programs, or corporate providers—as an alternative to college and a pathway to a meaningful career.
A report published by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center earlier this year found that during the 2022–23 school year, approximately 154,000 students between the ages of 18 and 20 completed a certificate through a college or university—the most of any age group and 11 percent higher than the previous year. These numbers don’t include other types of microcredential programs that are offered outside of a higher education institution and are growing rapidly.
More young people today prefer practical skills and training, instead of (or, as in Molly’s case, in addition to) a bachelor’s degree. In March, I wrote about the results of a survey of over 1,700 11th and 12th graders with “83 percent saying they value professional development leading to a job compared to 72 percent who value a four-year degree.”
To understand more about the microcredential movement, Sara Weissman, a reporter at Inside Higher Education, interviewed several dozen students who were pursuing a microcredential in a variety of settings across the US. “Taken together, these students’ stories paint an emerging portrait of a new higher ed generation—wary of student debt, skeptical of the value of a four-year degree, anxious about financial stability—that’s boldly navigating a rapidly changing and uncertain postsecondary landscape. In spite of the skeptics, even sometimes in their own families, they are voting with their feet,” she wrote.
Some of the programs Weissman uncovered, like a logging certificate program in Maine and a software engineering program in New York City, were particularly interesting. They show the potential for new microcredentialing offerings and organizations to expand opportunities for young people, create different avenues to adulthood, and compete with colleges and universities.
Just as microschooling is starting to shake up the traditional K-12 education sector, microcredentialing may be doing the same for higher education. Micro can be mighty.
Until next week,
Kerry
P.S. If you are an education entrepreneur, don’t forget to apply for our new FEE Enterprising Founder Award! It is designed to acknowledge founders from across the U.S. who are creating value for themselves and others through new K-12 schools and learning models. Click here to apply!
