Awarding first Microcredentials in Pilot

Today Avans University of Applied Sciences is the first institution in the Netherlands to award Microcredentials. Eight working professionals of the Academy for Part-time Students in Management in Care, Computer Science and Business Administration received the first Microcredentials.

In October, the Avans Part-time Academy participated in the Microcredentials Pilot of the Acceleration Plan. Currently, the academy offers Microcredentials for six modules of the modular education programme for working professionals, in recognition of the successful completion of a small educational unit. Avans Academy for Part-time Education expects to award Microcredentials to more working professionals in the coming months.

“The target group is still small at the moment, but I hope this will change soon,” says Anja Kusters, Project Leader Microcredentials and Senior Lecturer at Avans. “Because these are the first Microcredentials, we are awarding them in a festive way: after all, it is unique for our working professionals to be the first to receive Microcredentials! They will be welcomed at a festival site in Breda and receive a personal welcome and congratulations from our director, Rien Brouwers. It promises to be a great ceremony!”

Avans is one of the higher education institutions participating in the Microcredentials pilot. The pilot of the Making education more flexible zone focuses on the Lifelong Learning offer of institutions. With microcredentialing, offering education in smaller units that are certified separately, the pilot stimulates the flexibilisation of education and gives recognisable value to the Lifelong Learning offer of institutions.

About the pilot

In the Microcredentials pilot project of the Flexible education zone, 32 higher education institutions – including 22 universities of applied sciences and 10 universities – are participating. The pilot started in October 2021 and runs until 2023. Read more about the pilot here.

Photo by Jason Dent on Unsplash.