What Are Microcredentials? All You Need to Know

The global market for microcredentials is projected to hit $117 billion by 2025. And more than half of higher education leaders already issue them for academic credit.

The trend speaks for itself—learners want targeted, on-demand skill recognition.

Institutions and employers need scalable ways to validate those skills. And microcredentials fill that space—connecting what learners gain with what the market demands.

This is what brings us to today’s question: What are microcredentials? 

This guide explores how microcredentials work, what they are, what makes them valuable and how to create them efficiently. 

We’ll also walk through when to use them and explore the most popular use cases across education, business and training.

As a digital credentialing platform, Certifier helps issue microcredentials, stackable badges and digital certificates with ease. No matter if you're starting fresh or upgrading your program, this guide will show you where to start (and how to scale).

Let’s start with the microcredentials definition.

TL;DR 

Microcredentials are verified credentials that prove specific skills—used in education, corporate training and professional development.

They’re used to upskill learners, recognize achievements and support learning goals.

Digital microcredentials are stackable, shareable and easy to verify.

To build a microcredential program: identify the skills, design modular content, choose your badge or certificate format, add assessments. You can use a tool like Certifier to issue and track at scale.

Certifier helps you design, deliver and automate digital microcredentials, badges and certificates—no manual work required.

What are microcredentials?

Microcredentials are skill-focused rewards for accomplishing learning programs that prove someone has mastered a specific area of expertise—whether it’s data visualization, engineering fundamentals or AI ethics.

Unlike a full degree, a microcredential program takes just hours or weeks to complete. It builds job-ready skills—not credit hours—and gives learners targeted expertise that's in demand across industries.

Microcredentials are often delivered online, designed to be flexible and tailored to meet real-world career goals. For universities and course creators, they’re an effective way to offer high-quality education at scale—without the cost or time commitment of a full degree.

How do microcredentials differ from degrees, certificates and badges?

Let’s see how microcredentials differ from other credential types.

Microcredentials

Designed to teach a specific skill or competency in a short amount of time. These are ideal for students or professionals looking to gain new or advanced skills without committing to a full degree. Most are offered online and can be completed at your own pace.

Degrees

Take several years to complete and cover a broad academic subject. They’re often required for entry into certain professions but may not focus on emerging technologies or job-specific skills.

Certificates

Shorter programs that sit somewhere between a degree and a micro credential. Usually, they focus on a particular area (like teaching, engineering or sustainability) and are often part of formal degree programs.

Digital badges

These are visual, verifiable tokens of achievement. Badges show progress or skill completion. While badges are portable and shareable, they don’t always represent a full learning journey on their own. Read more about digital badges for recognition and achievement.

What are microcredentials used for?

Microcredentials are surprisingly versatile. They serve different roles depending on who’s issuing them—or earning them.

Microcredentials for learners

Microcredential issuers use these digital credentials to give learners a fast, verifiable way to prove skills. If you’re running a learning program, microcredentials offer a faster way to certify skills without waiting for a full degree.

For learners, that means:

Earning proof of in-demand skills in hours or days

Making career pivots without starting over

Gaining confidence in emerging tech and tools

Being able to add credentials to LinkedIn, CVs and digital portfolios

Most microcredential courses are offered online, learners can upskill at their own pace—around work, school or life.

Microcredentials for teachers 

If you're running an online course, bootcamp or training program, microcredentials in education add tangible value to the learning experience. Whether you teach via self-paced modules or live classes, you can:

Offer stackable credentials that reflect progress

Recognize specific competencies or milestones

Improve learner motivation with shareable digital achievements

Microcredentials for businesses

In corporate learning environments, microcredentials can replace outdated training certificates and bring structure to internal development. L&D teams and HR departments use them to:

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Verify specific, job-relevant skills employees gain through training or development

Certify completion of internal programs with skill-based credential

Make skill sets visible and verifiable across teams to support internal mobility

Promote continuous learning through modular credentials in areas like tech, healthcare or engineering

How to build a microcredential program? (step-by-step)

Some might say that a good microcredential program is nothing but shrinking a degree. That's not entirely true. A microcredential program should zoom in on a skill, package it smartly and make it verifiable. 

Here’s how to do that—in a way that works for everyone.

01 Identify the target skills

Start by asking: What skill does someone walk away with—and can they use it immediately?

The best microcredentials validate specific competencies in a particular area, not general exposure. Instead of “Leadership,” try “Giving performance feedback” or “Running productive one-on-ones.” Instead of “Data Science,” try “Building regression models in Python.”

Where to look:

Job postings: What skills show up again and again?

Academic programs: Where can you supplement learning with hands-on application?

Internal teams: What skills matter in your company’s upskilling strategy?

Trends: Think emerging technologies like AI, digital marketing analytics or no-code tools.

If you’re unsure, build a pilot with 1–2 in-demand, verifiable outcomes. You can always scale from there.

02 Design the learning content

Microcredential courses are typically shorter than full classes, but they still need structure. Many creators treat them as mini learning experiences that combine depth with flexibility.

Suggestions:

Length: 5 to 30 hours of content is typical, but you will also find longer courses.

Format: Videos, readings, discussions, peer collaboration—mix it up.

Style: Modular is best. Break things into units that map to one clear outcome.

03 Choose your credential format

Not all learning needs the same kind of recognition. Choose a format that reflects the value and visibility you want for learners.

Digital badge: Perfect for short, skill-specific achievements. Easy to share on LinkedIn and ideal for modular, stackable credentials.

Digital certificate: Better for more formal completions—like finishing a workshop, passing a knowledge exam or completing a short program.

Both: Many organizations use badges as progress markers (per skill or module) and a certificate as a final credential.

Example:

A course on “Product Analytics for Marketers” could include:

A badge for completing the “SQL basics” module

A badge for completing “Interpreting funnel drop-off”

A certificate for finishing the entire course

04 Build in assessment

Microcredentials only carry weight if there’s proof of learning. Assessment doesn’t have to mean exams—but it does need to show that the learner met the objective.

You could use:

Short quizzes after each module

Peer-reviewed projects (e.g. portfolio submission)

Practical simulations (e.g. build a dashboard, write a PRD)

Final reflections with self-evaluation + instructor feedback

Bonus points if the learner produces something they can showcase (design mockup, writing sample, working prototype – just to name a few examples). It increases perceived value for employers—and makes the credential more credible.

05 Issue verifiable microcredentials using a reliable tool

Many programs stall: they design great content, but struggle to deliver and track credentials. That’s often because they’re not using a credentialing tool that supports the latest standards, like Open Badge 3.0.

Open Badge 3.0 is the latest version of the Open Badges standard—it’s the format for digital credentials. It uses cryptographic signatures and decentralized identifiers (DIDs) to make each badge tamper-proof and portable. They are independently verifiable as well.

For microcredential issuers, this means:

Credentials can be stored in digital wallets and shared across platforms

Employers and institutions can verify them instantly, without contacting the issuer

Badges include rich metadata like skills, evidence and alignment with frameworks

You’re issuing credentials that won’t break if your system changes

Certifier supports Open Badge 3.0, so you can issue standards-aligned microcredentials at scale—without the technical complexity.

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Why issue microcredentials digitally?

Microcredentials are only as useful as they are verifiable. If a skill can’t be trusted—or can’t be seen—it might as well not exist.

Digital microcredentials win. They look great on the screen, but they also work harder than a PDF ever could—for learners and for issuers.

They’re verifiable (and fraud-proof)

Paper certificates get lost. PDFs get copied. Screenshots don’t prove anything. Online microcredentials issued with a platform like Certifier are backed by Open Badge 3.0, the latest standard for digital credentials.

Every badge or certificate includes:

A unique ID

A scannable QR code

A verification link that confirms the credential is real and current (optional)

They’re shareable (everywhere it matters)

Microcredentials don’t sit in a drawer—they live where opportunity happens.

Learners can:

Add them to LinkedIn’s Licenses & Certifications section

Include them in email signatures or resumes

Post to social media (Certifier even lets you pre-fill captions and CTAs)

They scale (without breaking your systems)

Whether you’re an LMS provider, a university department or an event organizer with 3,000 attendees, issuing microcredentials manually can quickly become a nightmare. And let’s be honest: managing a folder of editable PDFs just doesn’t cut it anymore.

You can make it automatic:

Design once, use forever with templates

Upload learners via spreadsheet or connect to your LMS via API

Bulk-issue credentials with personalized fields

Set up reminder emails, expiration dates and branded delivery flows

Real-world example: Issuing at scale

An event organizer running a multi-track virtual conference wants to award attendees for completing sessions. With Certifier, they:

Create different badges per track

Collect attendee data via a form or LMS

Bulk-issue branded microcredentials post-event

Let attendees share them online (which drives visibility for next year’s event)

Automate issuing online microcredentials

At Certifier, we help institutions issue verifiable, stackable microcredentials in the form of digital certificates or badges. These credentials can be shared on LinkedIn, added to a digital portfolio or embedded directly into a résumé—all with a few clicks.

Moreover, you can group multiple microcredentials into a structured learning journey thanks to the pathway feature. 

Learners can earn a badge for each step and once they complete the full sequence, they’re awarded a final credential—all automatically. Certifier will issue a final credential as proof of completing the entire pathway.  

Here’s how Pathways make your microcredential program stronger:

Learners feel motivated—progress bars show learners how close they are to the next milestone

It’s easy to track progress—issuers see completion data, drop-off points and success rates in the dashboard

Issuing happens automatically—no need to manually issue final certificates—Certifier handles it

It’s great for modular training or level-based skills bundled courses or diploma or certification program. 

Use microcredentials in your course—it’s fast & easy

Microcredentials are likely the new currency of skills—fast, flexible and built for the real world. With Certifier, it takes minutes to issue proof that actually gets noticed. 

Sign up for Certifier to power up your next course or event with microcredentials that will keep everyone talk about you.