From Degrees to Skills: Are Micro-Credentials the Future of Workforce Development?

The past three years of devastating experience with the COVID pandemic have compelled higher education providers to adopt online platforms as the predominant mode of education delivery. This move, as part of the broader education reform, presents formidable challenges. It serves as a litmus test for adaptability to meet the industries’ requirements and the evolving technology and social change for industry-relevant skills. This study intends to unveil the key determinants that shape employers’ expectations of competency-based learning, explicitly focusing on micro-credentials. A quantitative survey method was employed, collecting 360 valid data points from employers across different industries in Malaysia. The Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) approach was utilised to test the research framework. The findings reveal significant impacts of employability skills, regulatory support and perceived performance on employers’ expectations to accept micro-credentials. In contrast, teaching staff, teaching design and technical skill set were found to be insignificant on employers’ expectation to accept micro-credentials. This study explores competency-based education, focusing on designing and adopting micro-credentials to meet dynamic workforce demands. The findings stress the need for industry acceptance of micro-credentials as valid indicators of skill-based learning, which is crucial for aligning education with industry needs and enhancing employability.