As per Coursera’s Micro-Credentials Impact Report 2024 – India Edition, 5 percent of higher education leaders in the country agree that micro-credentials strengthen students’ career outcomes.
Over half (52 per cent) of Indian institutions offering micro-credentials now provide them for academic credit, and nearly all (94 per cent) plan to do so within the next five years. This trend is supported by the National Credit Framework (NCrF) under India’s National Education Policy (NEP), which enables students to earn transferable credits for both academic studies and skill-based learning.
Coursera’s Learner Outcome Report 2023 also underscored the benefits of micro-credentials, revealing that 21 per cent of Indian learners secured new jobs, and 32 per cent reported salary increases after completing entry-level Professional Certificates. Across India, universities such as Vishwakarma University (Pune), Kumaraguru School of Innovation (Coimbatore), IMS Ghaziabad, and the Model Institute of Engineering and Technology (Jammu) are supplementing traditional degree programmes with industry-specific micro-credentials to produce job-ready graduates and enhance the professional growth of both alumni and faculty.
The research also suggests that some educational leaders are finding it difficult to embrace new approaches to learning through micro-credentials. Primary barriers to successful integration of micro-credentials include:
– Uncertainty about the quality of micro-credentials (26 per cent)
– Resistance from faculty due to shift from traditional methods (24 per cent)
– Difficulties integrating micro-credentials with existing curriculum (15 per cent)
These findings are from Coursera’s (an online learning platform) 2024 Micro-Credentials Impact Report. This is based on a Coursera survey of over 1,000 higher education leaders, including 180+ from India, representing 850+ institutions across 89 countries. The sample covered six major regions: North America, Asia Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, Middle East and North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa.