Coursera report reveals 95% of Indian higher-ed leaders believe micro-credentials enhance career prospects

Coursera’s Micro-Credentials Impact Report 2024—India Edition shows that 5% of higher education leaders in India believe that micro-credentials enhance students' career prospects.

Currently, more than half (52%) of Indian universities that provide micro-credentials offer them for academic credit, and almost all (94%) intend to do so in the upcoming five years.

India's National Education Policy (NEP) supports this trend by allowing students to obtain transferable credits for both academic studies and skill-based learning through the National Credit Framework (NCrF).

The advantages of micro-credentials were further highlighted by Coursera's Learner Outcome Report 2023, which showed that 32% of Indian students reported pay rises and 21% of them obtained new employment after earning entry-level professional certificates.

Universities across India, including Vishwakarma University (Pune), Kumaraguru School of Innovation (Coimbatore), IMS Ghaziabad, and the Model Institute of Engineering and Technology (Jammu), are supplementing traditional degree programs with industry-specific micro-credentials to produce job-ready graduates and improve the professional development of both alumni and faculty.

The research also highlights that many educational leaders are struggling to adopt new learning approaches through micro-credentials.

Key obstacles to effectively integrating micro-credentials into educational systems include concerns about their quality, with 26 % of leaders expressing uncertainty.

Additionally, 24 % of faculty members show resistance, primarily due to the shift away from traditional teaching methods.

Furthermore, 15 % of respondents reported challenges in aligning micro-credentials with existing curricula, making it difficult to incorporate these credentials into established academic frameworks.

These barriers reflect a broader hesitancy and logistical difficulties in embracing alternative learning pathways within higher education.

The results of Coursera's 2024 Micro-Credentials Impact Report are based on a poll of more than 1,000 leaders in higher education, 180 of whom were from India and represented more than 850 institutions in 89 countries.

North America, Asia Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa were the six main regions that were covered in the report.