From Gatekeepers to Bridge Builders: EMU Microcredentials

By: Joe Rodriguez & Zuzana Tomaš

Eastern Michigan University, like many regional public institutions, stands at a decisive fork in the road. Demographic contraction, doubts about the value of a four-year degree, and employers’ hunger for verifiable skills are converging faster than our traditional curricula can adapt. Public funding is tightening, federal policy is in flux, and artificial intelligence tools are reshaping both the labor market and student expectations at a pace our semester system struggles to match. Yet moments of pressure are also moments of possibility. Imagine if we chose to become architects of new educational pathways, purposefully-built to meet workforce needs, rather than guardians of old gates. This post shares EMU’s emerging blueprint: a university-wide, faculty-driven system of non-credit microcredentials that invites a broader, more diverse learner population into our classrooms while renewing our own sense of purpose.

Enrollment in Michigan’s regional, public universities has declined in the past ten years, and EMU has not been immune. At the same time, statewide initiatives such as “Sixty by 30” call for 60 percent of working-age adults to hold a post-secondary credential by 2030. Employers now scan resumes for specific competencies rather than aggregate credit hours, while adult learners weigh every tuition dollar against immediate career benefit. If we cling to a single, degree-only model, we risk further shrinking course sections, reducing departmental resources, and diluting our public service mission. Non-credit, skills-focused microcredentials offer an agile response: they attract new audiences, reconnect alumni seeking upskilling or reskilling, and complement our degree programs. 

Under the current working framework at EMU, a non-credit microcredential is intentionally compact -- roughly 12.50 contact hours that can be completed in under six weeks -- and zeroes in on a foundational, skills-based competency that the labor market can readily recognize. These offerings are affordable, tightly-focused, and assessed through demonstrations of mastery designed and overseen by subject-matter experts. Guiding principles remain two-fold: accessibility (low cost and multiple delivery modes) and academic rigor (faculty-owned outcomes and assessments). Importantly, microcredentials can be configured as stackable -- designed so that two or three complementary microcredentials build toward a broader, industry-relevant competency set -- while still standing on its own for learners who need just one skill. Likewise, microcredentials can be mapped to a clearly articulated pathway into for-credit degree programs, allowing motivated learners to petition for degree-applicable credit through a prior learning portfolio. 

Our momentum to build non-credit microcredentials began in Fall 2024 when the Provost’s Office sponsored a cross-functional team of faculty and administrators to attend the UPCEA Convergence Conference. After closely studying the landscape, we returned and drafted a mission-driven microcredential framework tailored to EMU’s commitment to access and regional workforce needs. Throughout the Winter 2025 semester, we refined that framework in iterative conversations -- presenting its academic-quality guardrails to the Provost’s Office, Faculty Senate (including the Academic Issues subcommittee), and at a Dean and Department Head meeting. Each audience sharpened the model while expanding campus awareness.

In May 2025 we hosted a five-session seminar, sponsored by the Faculty Development Center,  for a cohort of twelve faculty and lecturers representing every college and rank. Guided workshops in market analysis, outcomes mapping, and assessment produced eleven microcredential proposals for administrative review. Seminar participants reported increased competence and confidence to create non-credit microcredential courses, and left energized by the innovative proposals they drafted for skills and competencies ranging from increasing police accountability and community-centered leadership to 3D printing and entrepreneurship. Per an anonymous post-seminar survey, they particularly appreciated analyzing examples from other institutions, learning from one another, and receiving feedback on their own work. We are exploring the feasibility of a second FDC seminar on developing microcredentials this academic year that will again provide structured support and peer feedback.  

To faculty and lecturers who worry that short-form credentials may dilute academic rigor, we offer a unifying perspective: non-credit microcredentials do not lower our standards; they broaden the entry ramp toward them. By concentrating on one verifiable skill at a time, we invite learners who might never have crossed our threshold -- working adults, career shifters, and high school graduates weighing their next step -- while preserving the depth of our degree programs. Microcredentials become living laboratories for pedagogical experimentation: sprint courses, interdisciplinary studios, or co-taught industry boot camps that can later enrich our traditional curricula. Just as important, this work re-energizes our public service mission. When a local employer sees an EMU badge on a resume, it signals that regional talent was cultivated by subject-matter experts using performance-based assessments that can be validated and verified. When a badge earner chooses to continue into a for-credit program, we have not merely opened a gate but built a bridge -- one that honors both access and excellence. In a landscape crowded with corporate academies and profit-seeking boot camps, only universities can blend deep interdisciplinary insight with civic responsibility. EMU’s emerging microcredential framework stands out because it is rooted in stakeholder leadership and innovation while staying true to the university’s mission. 

Higher education’s gates are still ours to guard, yet the winds of change insist we also widen them. By embracing microcredentials, EMU can transform external headwinds into forward momentum, serve learners we have yet to meet, and renew the creative energy of its faculty and lecturers. The crossroads is real; so is the opportunity. By working collaboratively, we can expand access, deepen engagement, and strengthen our university for years to come.