Microcredentials are often touted as a way for students and working adults to learn skills and move into new industries without the same time and money commitment required to pursue a college degree. But some college officials are working to pair free microcredentials with a traditional four-year education.

The University of Texas System expanded its partnership with Coursera late last year to provide some 15,000 students across its five health campuses with free access to the online learning platform’s microcredentials. Through the partnership, students, faculty, staff, and alumni have access to Coursera’s Career Academy, which offers some 50 professional certificate programs with companies like Google and Microsoft.

System officials say they hope the microcredentials help students build upon their college classwork to succeed in the workforce. The results of pairing microcredentials with degree programs have not been fully studied, but higher education experts say they may offer benefits for students.

The partnership has been active on the UT System’s nine academic campuses since August 2023 following a pilot launched the year before. Together, the campuses collectively enroll some 245,000 students. The partnership has so far cost the UT System about $1.7 million dollars.

When microcredentials are tied to specific companies, like Google or Microsoft, it could signal information about their skills to employers beyond what they learn from classwork, said Kelvin Bentley, an official at the UT system. That might be especially influential for students at smaller campuses, said Bentley, who is the program manager for the Texas Credentials for the Future, an initiative that focuses on expanding short-term credentials across the system and includes the Coursera partnership.

“We’ve just been really excited to be able to provide these microcredential courses to our students with the hope being that the combination of microcredentials from industry partners and the durable skills that they’re learning from existing course work will help set them apart in the world of work,” Bentley said.

Read the full article about free microcredentials by Lilah Burke at Higher Ed Dive.