Microcredentials offer a route to an employment market where what you know matters more than whether you studied at Oxford or Harvard, but universities resist change?because they can reap ¡°nice monopoly rent¡± from the status quo, according to Andreas Schleicher.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development¡¯s director for education and skills told Times Higher Education that the supply of skills was ¡°front-loaded in the initial phase of your life¡±, when there needed to be a shift towards lifelong learning.

¡°I would give people more ownership over what they learn, how they learn, where they learn, when in their life they learn ¨C I think it¡¯s going to be absolutely crucial,¡± he continued.

THE Campus podcast: the big ideas behind microcredentials

Change was needed to remedy a situation in which ¡°we do nothing for people at the margins of employment, who are at risk from automation, who want to learn for their next job¡±.

ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ

Mr Schleicher, speaking before giving the Higher Education Policy Institute¡¯s annual lecture, said life for universities was ¡°actually very comfortable. You bundle content, delivery, accreditation ¨C you can get a quite nice monopoly rent.¡±

There was, he continued, little incentive for universities to change?because it was ¡°cheaper, easier¡± to cater for students early in their lives, given that ¡°people who come mid-career are a lot more demanding. They will basically say ¡®I know how I learn and I want you to serve me rather than pushing me through some programme.¡¯¡±

ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ

But there was also a need to challenge the widespread mindset among workers of ¡°degree thinking: I¡¯m finished, I¡¯ve completed my study¡±, to ¡°break that mould and get more people in an upskilling mentality¡±.

Microcredentials created ¡°the possibility to make what you know and can do visible, in smaller increments, and get employers better signals of what people know and can do¡±, he argued.

In his lecture,?Mr Schleicher?told the audience that in the?existing labour market much signalling?came from where someone went to university, whether they ¡°come from Oxford, or Harvard and so on¡­we need to become better at recognising people for what they know and what they can do. I really think this is where microcredentials hold enormous promise.¡±

There was a role for public policy in stimulating?microcredential provision?by regulating on the basis of outcomes, Mr Schleicher said.

ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ

That was needed to remedy the status quo where we ¡°leave the credentialling to the providers¡±, to universities, he told?THE. ¡°We wouldn¡¯t do that in any other areas. We wouldn¡¯t have manufacturers doing the regulation of quality assurance.¡±

john.morgan@timeshighereducation.com