Transforming CS Curricula into EU-standardized Micro-Credentials – The Hard Parts

Since the working environment continues to develop, mobility and flexibility are becoming increasingly important for both companies and employees. Therefore, universities need to transform their study programs into smaller units, so called micro-credentials, which offer flexible and individual learning pathways. To permit EU-wide exchange, micro-credentials have to be recognized and quality-assured and the certificates have to provide a transparent and universal skill set. The process for converting modules into micro-credentials still contains some open issues: micro-credentials typically have a size between 1 and 3 ECTS which means that bigger modules must be broken down into smaller parts. The division of units leads to the problem of assigning especially transversal skills and how to assess, verify and certify them. Additionally, it is not yet clear how micro-credentials are to be classified in the European Qualification Framework (EQF) as modules are accredited in study programs within a certain EQF level. Since micro-credentials can be taken stand-alone this is not always possible. This paper discusses these problems and gives an overview of the state of the art for solving some of them. Therefore, the concept of partial skills is introduced. Keywords: micro-credentials, lifelong learning, skills, partial skills