Learn New Skills with Microcredentials

2025 · VOA Learning English

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Transcript

1. In today’s workplace, what you learned in the usual college courses may not be very useful later in life.

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2. For example, in the field of information technology, workers might never use BASIC, the computer language that was taught in the 1990s.

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3. But they might need to know Python or SQL. The answer for students or workers is a professional certificate program, or what is called microcredential.

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4. UNESCO, the world’s education agency, defines microcredential as professional certification that centers on a set of learning outcomes in a narrow field.

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5. It is completed over a shorter time than a traditional university program, from a week to a month.

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6. The most popular fields in which microcredentials appear are data analytics information technology support and cybersecurity

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7. The courses are often developed by technology businesses like Google, Salesforce, Meta, Intuit and IBM.

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8. The businesses provide a certificate when a student finishes the course.

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9. Coursera, an online educational service, recently released a report on how microcredentials are preparing students for jobs and affecting higher education schools.

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10. It says that 51 percent of colleges in the United States that offer microcredentials also provide school credit and more plan to do so in the next few years.

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11. Some colleges include one or more courses leading to microcredentials as part of their usual programs.

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12. At Hawaii Pacific University, school leaders say including professional certifications in its business program has sharply increased the number of interested students.

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13. For students, Credential Finder offers a way to search for the right microcredential offerings by field of study or industry.

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14. For example, if you are studying information science, you may take Google Data Analytics or an IBM Data Analyst course.

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15. If you are working toward a degree in business administration, you may take a Google Project Management course.

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16. Your university program’s advisors should be helpful in identifying the best certificate programs for your area of study.

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17. Be sure to check with your country’s government for more information on special training programs.

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18. One example is Ukraine, which is aiming to meet its shortage of skilled workers with its ReSkill UA initiative

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19. It provides help with finding training and employment.

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20. Many of the course providers permit learners to use the materials for free, but to earn a certification, payment is required.

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21. Coursera has a monthly fee of $59 or a yearly fee of $399 for its Coursera Plus membership.

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22. For courses that universities offer for credit, the payment will depend on the price set by the school.

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23. The languages available in Coursera are English, German, Spanish, French, Russian and Portuguese (Brazilian).

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24. Other available languages include Japanese, Korean, Chinese (traditional and simplified) and Arabic.

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25. The online education service also provides automatic translation of course materials in Swedish, Greek, Polish, Bahasa Indonesian, Italian, Turkish, Thai

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