Exploring micro-credential affordances in Bangladeshi higher education

The concept of affordance is helpful to understand the advantages that can be offered to users. However, little is known about the affordable Micro-Credential courses (MC) offered by Higher education (HE) providers. This study utilizes Gibson's affordance theory as a lens and aims to validate the affordances of MCs for HE. Furthermore, this study provides an MC implementation plan in HE. Utilizing two focus group studies, this study explores micro-meso-macro-centric affordances. These affordances include financial governance of the guardian, flexibility in education, lower course fees, more certificates and recognition, the opportunity to gain in-depth industry-related knowledge, industry networking and expansion of job opportunities, the ability to fulfill employer needs, rapid skill acquisition, the lifelong learning system, competitive advantages of HE, the opportunity to improve HE courses, industry-university collaboration, country-wide dynamic learning environment creation and the opportunity of joint research opportunities. Among these, the affordance of guardians and countries is rarely identified in prior studies. The novelty of this study is that the affordances are observed from student-centric—rather than micro-centric student to macro-level employer and country-level affordances; this approach is rarely identified in prior studies. The study presented here offers significant practical value, as the identified affordances can aid the education system in contemplating how MC can be created and used to promote engagement and smooth integration into contemporary HE systems. From a national perspective, the findings are expected to contribute to sustainable development goals, particularly emphasizing high-quality education.