From Practice to Policy: Rethinking Micro-Credentials in Higher Education

In higher education, transformation is often framed through policies, strategies, and global frameworks. Yet, in practice, meaningful change rarely begins there. It begins in context—in small, grounded responses to real challenges faced by learners and communities.

For us, this journey to pioneering micro-credentials started with youth work. In fact, with hindsight, the building blocks were there much earlier. 

We were engaging with practitioners who were already contributing meaningfully to their communities. They had experience, skills, and commitment, yet many lacked formal recognition of their learning. Traditional university structures, with fixed entry requirements and linear programme pathways, were not designed to accommodate such learners. This raised a fundamental question: how can higher education systems recognise and value learning that takes place beyond formal institutional settings?

Starting from the Learner, Not the System

Our response emerged through the OERQI platform (http://oerqi.uom.ac.mu), [project funded by the MRIC in 2019] grounded in the principles of open, inclusive, and flexible learning. The objective was not only to provide access to learning opportunities, but to recognise and support competencies developed in real-world contexts. 

This approach aligns with broader international directions, particularly from UNESCO and the Commonwealth of Learning, calling for more inclusive lifelong learning systems that extend beyond formal education. It reflects a shift towards recognising learning as a continuum, where formal, non-formal, and informal experiences all contribute to the development of knowledge and competencies.

In this context, learning is no longer confined to institutional boundaries. It is distributed, contextual, and increasingly shaped by the realities of work and society.

From Initiatives to System Thinking

As the work evolved, a range of approaches began to take shape. These included short professional development pathways, the integration of open and external learning resources within formal university structures, and work-based learning models developed in collaboration with industry.

Individually, these initiatives responded to specific needs. Collectively, they revealed a broader shift, from programme-centric models to more flexible, learner-centred systems.

What became increasingly evident is that micro-credentials are not simply about shorter courses. They are about reconfiguring how learning is structured, recognised, and connected across different contexts.

This has important implications for how universities conceptualise pathways. Learners do not follow uniform trajectories. Some enter through prior experience, others through formal education. Some progress continuously, while others move in stages over time. A responsive system must be able to accommodate this diversity while maintaining academic integrity and standards.

Implications for Policy and Institutional Practice

These experiences suggest that micro-credentials should be understood as part of a broader transformation towards more open, inclusive, and flexible higher education systems.

At the policy level, there is a need to enable modular and stackable learning architectures, supported by frameworks that facilitate credit accumulation, transfer, and recognition across institutions and sectors. This includes strengthening mechanisms such as recognition of prior learning and alternative admission pathways, which are essential for widening participation and supporting lifelong learning.

There is also a need to reinforce partnerships between higher education and industry, particularly in the co-definition and validation of competencies. Such collaboration ensures that learning remains relevant and aligned with evolving socio-economic needs.

At the institutional level, this calls for a shift from delivering predefined programmes to enabling flexible learning pathways, where learners can navigate different routes towards recognised qualifications. It also requires a stronger focus on competency-based approaches, where assessment is grounded in authentic, real-world application.

Digital technologies, including emerging forms of digital credentialing, can support this transformation by enhancing the portability, transparency, and trust of learning achievements. However, technology should remain an enabler rather than a driver. The core of the transformation lies in the design of learning and the recognition of competencies.

A Quiet but Important Shift

What started as a targeted initiative in youth work has opened a wider reflection on the role of the university in a rapidly changing world.

It has shown that inclusion is not only about access, but about recognition. That flexibility is not about lowering standards, but about rethinking how standards are achieved. And that relevance is not something that can be designed in isolation, but must be grounded in real contexts.

This is not a radical disruption. It is a gradual but necessary shift.

One that moves higher education towards systems that are more open, more inclusive, and more responsive to the needs of learners and society.

And perhaps, in doing so, it allows the university not only to remain resilient but to continue to resonate with the aspirations of the communities it serves, while renewing its role in shaping more equitable and sustainable futures.

THE World University Rankings

In October 2022, the University of Mauritius was included for the first time in its history — and for Mauritius — in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. This milestone reflected the cumulative effects of institutional efforts undertaken over several years across teaching, research, international engagement and external partnerships, rather than any single initiative. 

In its first appearance, the University was placed in the 1001–1200 band among approximately 1,800 ranked universities worldwide, with a further group of institutions holding reporter status. The University’s performance across individual dimensions highlighted both emerging strengths and areas requiring sustained attention, particularly in teaching, research intensity, industry engagement and international outlook. Our teaching score and research environment score increased significantly in the recent years.

 

In this context, the University has also engaged with complementary ranking and benchmarking exercises, including the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, which focus on the University’s contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals through research, stewardship, outreach and teaching. Participation in the Sub-Saharan Africa rankings further supports the University’s efforts to position itself within its regional higher education landscape, in a manner that is contextually appropriate and strategically measured.

  

After the break....

After 9 years at the top management level of the University, I am back in my position at the Centre for Innovative and Lifelong Learning as a Professor in Education Technologies, and I am also heading the Centre, as I have been since 2009. I am also currently a COL chair on Distance Online Learning and UNESCO Chair on Education Technologies.

During this time, I struggled to maintain my blog, which I cherished and which pushed me to reflect and share my perspective on education, technology, and, from time to time, broader educational issues of interest to me. 

The next article will be about the entry of the UoM in the Prestigious THE World University Rankings under my tenure as Pro Vice-Chancellor. 

The polemic surrounding University Ranking of UniRank (4icu.org) : The case of UoM being 85th in the African Top 100

This is an interview I gave to the News on Sunday paper that appeared on 26th July 2020.

1. There is a controversy about the ranking of UoM. What do you have to say about it?

First of all, the ranking of UniRank is not based on academic components. It is a ranking of Universities based on their popularity, which is measured by the web traffic that passes through these websites. On the other hand, the media has wrongly reported that it is a ranking of RUFORUM. RUFORUM is an association of African Universities with respect to Agriculture. It has released a statement highlighting that in the ranking released by UniRank, 24 of its member Universities are listed in the Top 100.

Coming to the University of Mauritius, our web traffic varies throughout the year according to the different events that take place at the University. For instance, during our admission period, there is an increase in the traffic, while during the term time majority usage of the website is internal.

As an example, the University of Nairobi, ranked 7 on this UniRank, has about 84000 students enrolled, as compared to a student population of roughly 10000 for UoM. Another example is the University of Zimbabwe ranked 72 in the UniRank. University of Zimbabwe, has 20000 students. However, the University has listed its research budget to be 41M USD and it has about 800 academic staff. University of Namibia ranked 39 has about 30000 students, 3 times our current student population. On Webometrics ranking, which accounts for research outputs as well, University of Zimbabwe is ranked 40, University of Namibia is ranked 104 while UoM is 52.

So, what are we exactly talking about? What is the benchmark that we want to use? How reliable are those ranking in terms of a real assessment of quality of teaching, research and innovation of the institutions concerned?

We do not have an issue with the media reporting on this ranking, but our concern is that there is erroneous information that is being relayed by a few persons especially those within academia, with the unique motive to cause harm to the University.


2. Does this ranking has an impact on the image of the university?

No, it does not as long as it is being properly conveyed. However, the way this ranking has been portrayed in the media definitely impacts on the perception of the public on the University. We are not claiming that everything is perfect and that we are satisfied with the way things are at UoM. This is not the case, as we always want to continuously improve on all aspects of our operation from teaching and learning to research, consultancy and services to our students.

3. What the population should understand about this ranking?

The key element that we want to highlight is that this ranking does not in any way imply a decrease in quality of teaching and learning or in terms of research output. On the other hand, there are also other types of ranking, such as the one used by Webometrics, which also include inter-alia research output, citations and the research profiles of academics on Google Scholar. On that ranking we are 52 in Africa and 33 in Sub Saharan Africa.

The population has to understand that despite all what is being said, the University of Mauritius is still No1 in Mauritius according to both UniRank and Webometrics ranking alike. On the other hand, the population also has to understand, that due to our size in terms of the population in Mauritius, the student population, and academic staff numbers at the University, it is clear that it is not a level playing field when it comes to international ranking using metrics linked to web traffic for instance.

Furthermore, our degrees are highly valued abroad and are internationally recognized. People should not forget the University of Pretoria and University of Cape Town, are the top Universities in Africa and they have linkages with the University of Mauritius with respect to our medical degree programmes.

University of Mauritius launches iLearn, a MOOC platform based on the concept of Open Learning and Micro-credentials

Learn. Inspire. Lead – This is the motto of behind this new online capacity building platform of the University of Mauritius. This innovative technology, called XENOPS (now rebranded as XENED) is an advanced customization of Open EdX which is a well-known platform for the delivery of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).

The University is championing the concept of micro-credentials based on blockchain technology where participants have the possibility to enroll on courses for free or for a small fee and will have the possibility to earn micro-credits that can be accumulated and transferred into recognized University credits.

The XENED platform provides functionalities to better monitor and track learner progress and provides a seamless and flexible online learning experience. The University has already identified a number of its online modules and open educational resources that would be offered through this platform. For the launching of the platform, an online course on Internet of Things will be offered for free to Mauritian and international participants as from September 2020. The course was developed as an open educational resource (OER) through the support of the Commonwealth of Learning.

The Pro Vice-Chancellor (Planning & Resources), Dr Santally highlighted: “The University of Mauritius has played a pioneering role in the development of education technology as an academic field and led by example in terms of capacity building of education practitioners and innovation in teaching and learning through technology. This initiative is another example of our broader vision to lead the digital transformation of education and opening up access to high quality training to build the workforce of the future in the country”

Mr Balaji Baradhazhvar, CEO of Crystal Delta Ltd further added: “We are proud to be associated with the University of Mauritius. It is a strengthening of our policy to promote Universities in small island states. We are already working with the University of South Pacific, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT). We are particularly motivated with this partnership as it also entails research and innovation activities in the areas of blockchain and micro-credentials with the team at the UoM”

The courses that will be dispensed through this platform will relate to ICTs, Digital Literacies, Youth Work Development, Leadership Development, Human Rights and a number of other areas in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. The University through its consultancy unit will also be engaging with the different stakeholders especially the private sector to mount customized online training for the upskilling of their staff. At the moment, most of the training is held through face-to-face training on campus. The Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Planning & Resources) mentioned that in the long term, the vision is to broaden this initiative into a massive capacity building platform that promotes continuous professional development at a National scale to accelerate the development of Mauritius into a knowledge society.

It is not about the technology.....anymore

We have witnessed in the world over the past two months, and the past few weeks in Mauritius, a sudden wake up call regarding e-learning by many people coming from different spheres of the education sector, including the technology solution providers, when confinement was imposed rather abruptly and when millions of kids and individuals throughout the world found themselves to be out of school. What we witnessed after that was mainly a series of communications, articles, and rush towards technology. We heard about Zoom and suddenly controversies emerged about security. We heard about Moodle, Google Meet or Microsoft Office 365 tools to allow people to keep working and classes ongoing. Everybody was focusing on one aspect – the technology. As usual we witness a fierce battle from the solution providers but also the users and the corporate clients, where each one of them wants to show that the solution they embraced is the best.

And amidst all this brouhaha, the educator, parents and the kids are lost somewhere in between. We lost sights of the major stakeholder. The kids. We have been advocating for years about student-centered education. We have been talking about 21st Century Teaching and Learning, in which technology is not necessarily central but is considered as an important enabler to make it happen. Yet, in this time of crisis as it came unannounced, and for which we were unprepared for, in a number of ways, the basic instinct of many were to get into a race to show whose technology is the best, and who is the leader because they have some piece of technology in there, but which in reality, was under- or not utilized at all. No one focused on the practice, and the optimal use of the technology. Practically no one had a framework including a continuity plan for the educational services to continue with positive impact on teaching and achievement of learning outcomes in particular.

So, in this rush, we forgot about

1. Digital Inclusion
2. Organizational e-Learning Maturity Levels
3. Quality Assurance and Instructional Design Processes for e-Learning and mass media delivery
4. User Readiness and learning curve for technology adoption for instructional uses
5. Technical and end-user support

Technology in education can be broadly categorized in two parts, namely high-end technology and low-end technology. Often, there is a tendency to think that high-end technology will have higher impact on learning and vice-versa for low end technology. This is not true as we can have a high-end technology with low impact on learning while we can have low-end technology with high impact on learning. When a course is shifted from a face-to-face environment to the e-Learning mode or to be delivered on mass media such as TV, there are a number of instructional design implications. If there is a need to replace a classic uni-directional lecture online, then a simple video conferencing tool with a PowerPoint loaded on it will suffice. The impact or the success of the lecture will be determined mainly by the knowledge/expertise of the presenter combined with his or her presentation and communication skills. On the other hand, if a traditional classroom for primary school children that follows a classic lesson plan adapted for the classroom environment and the whiteboard is going to be shifted on television or online, then this is a completely different matter. It cannot be simply transferred just by using the technology. The instructional design and a methodology are important. There might even be a need to rethink and adapt the lesson to fit in the new delivery medium. Quality assurance is key, and there is no room for mistake, professional standards have to be top in such situations.

The technology is not missing, the content is not missing, and the teacher is not missing. But the conceptual and practical translation and transformation of a classic “teaching period” is very important to ensure the successful transfer of knowledge from one point to the other. I must point out here that the knowledge cycle is not complete, as we are catering only for the transfer, but not for the application of the knowledge through learning activities. On television for instance, the knowledge application phase is difficult to ensure, and the knowledge transfer phase is single-paced, which may not be adapted for all learners, as it will mostly adhere to the one-size-fits-all approach. A convergence of technologies is therefore needed to ensure both the knowledge transfer, and application phases take place. All of this need a framework to be in place and to ensure teachers, educators and academics alike are at ease with, and have the necessary competencies to make it work. Capacity-building of teachers have to be on the operationalization of such a framework, and not rather ad-hoc training on scattered pieces of technology. Technical support to teachers is very important element to ensure the uptake is constant, as many will end up abandoning technology due to minor hiccups. This leads us to first of all gauge the readiness of teachers, but also engage in an honest assessment of the actual digital divide, as this is the most complex part of the problem. I do not have a quick fix ready-made solution or idea on how to solve this, except being tempted to say, let’s give a free TV and laptop or tablet to each household. Digital inclusion should be on the agenda of Governments as a top priority especially for the underserved population.

To end this piece of reflection, we have to also accept the fact that we are not in an ideal world, and despite all the things we may write about, things will not happen in an ideal way. I had highlighted it in the past, and for a long time advocated that empowerment of the teachers was an essential element in the integration of technology in teaching and learning. Decentralization of the digitization of the curriculum is important to be considered, as today we saw that educators who were volunteers came forward to conceive technology-driven lessons albeit in a disorganized way. Their goodwill makes them perfect to become the 'change-agents' of the future. But if we want to accelerate the digitization of curriculum, we need to find a mechanism where this is decentralized in a distributed instructional design process model, using standards, guidelines and rigorous quality assurance mechanisms to ascertain that learning via multiple media is meaningful and pedagogically relevant. In this way, the content digitization process will be carried out in much less time to cover in full the curriculum and will lead to real learning transformation. 

Let us refocus on the process, the instructional approaches, and the pedagogy – not on the technology.

Teaching online if you have to work from home (and while on the move)

For a few years now, given the significant advances in web technologies and internet connectivity, I’ve been advocating against the use of the term “distance learning” anymore. At least not, in countries where connectivity is not an issue. At least not, within countries so small like ours (an island in fact) where travelling from one point to another is not a big problem. What I’ve rather been saying was that with such technology at hand (and which is still going to get better), that we had a unique opportunity: Digital Transformation of the Teaching and Learning process. To the layperson, simply put it – teaching and learning differently. Just as they would use WhatsApp or Viber to ‘telephone’ differently. As usual, very few would care, until we experience some crisis situation like the Covid-19. In many cases, tech-savvy and creative teachers are already using simple communication tools and social media to keep in touch with their students, sharing resources and interacting with each other. 

So, what are the options available to the educator (mainly targeting upper secondary) or the academic of the University who has to teach from home? The answer is quite a few. Unfortunately for some, it is still not clear in their minds. Teaching and learning differently in the new era do not necessarily need an eLearning platform like Moodle or be familiar with big terms like instructional design. Yes, such things do help but are not the sine-qua-non conditions to succeed. Others would be using Google classroom, and some despite having a Gmail or a Microsoft account would be terrified of the idea of having to use the different tools in the Software Suite which they never even bothered to have a look.  

As they say, there is no need to panic. Just ask yourself the right questions, and if you have the answers, then you are ready-to-go.

Question 1 : Do I have a reliable internet connection?  

The first thing to ensure is that you have a good internet connection. An ADSL connection of 10MBPS will be enough in most cases. 3G unlimited packages also work fine. 

Question 2 : Do you have a computer (PC or Laptop) and Smartphone?  

Ideally, a functional PC or Laptop and a Smartphone with simple modern communication tools (WhatsApp/Viber/Messenger) is fine. To start with you can have WhatsApp group with your students where you can start by exchanging messages, and documents (PDFs/Video/Voice Memos) with them. Remember you can run WhatsApp and Viber from your computer as well.  

Question 3 : Do you have a Facebook account?  

If not, well it is the time that you may think of creating one. You can create a private Facebook group with your students in it. It is an alternative to the WhatsApp group. You can also have both at the same time. With a Facebook group, you can share a videos, images, links, and also engage in productive discussions in the form of comments and replies. You can even have a live video where you can talk in real-time to the students. You can also do an offline video and share it with the students. You can organize simple polls with the students to keep them engaged.  

Question 4: Some more tools and ways?  

There are quite a few of them. I will enumerate some classic and well-known ones here. This list is however non-exhaustive.  

Start a YouTube Channel  

You can create an account on YouTube where you can upload your own video resources, and then share the links with the students. In this way you have your own video channel. To do your videos, you can use your laptop or computer webcam or your phone to do a nice selfie video (with photogenic effects, of course).

Start a Blog  

A blog allows you to setup a kind of personal website in an intuitive way. People often use wordpress.com or blogspot.com to start a blog. If you have a Gmail account, it might be easier to start with Blogspot.com. Your students can be asked to follow the blog, and you can post articles and lessons there for them to read, and to interact by posting comments (in the form of Q&As) on the articles. In a blog article you can easily embed a YouTube video and other resources such as images or sound.   

Install Zoom for Online Meetings  

Zoom is a user-friendly software with a nice intuitive interface that allows you to setup virtual classrooms where you can conduct an online meeting (video conferencing / sharing your screen and your PPT) where many participants can attend. The lecture can be recorded, downloaded and shared with others. The free version of ZOOM allows for 40 mins sessions with many participants. So, you can plan accordingly, and have different 40 mins sessions.  

PPT to Videos  

New versions of Microsoft PowerPoint have an in-built feature where your PPT can be easily exported to a Video format. If you have done a set of PPT slides, all you need to do is to carry out a voice recording on each slide, and then export your file to video format. This video can then be shared on Facebook group, WhatsApp group, or YouTube and then embedded in your blog if you wish to add some instructions for doing homework via a blog post.

Homework and Correction  

While your students can easily share their own homework files (digital) or a picture of their handwritten essays with you via the groups (WhatsApp/Messenger) or via email, managing these and providing feedback can be a bit cumbersome for you. Still though with some patience you will be able to get through it. You can fix this though, if your students have a Gmail account, where they can share the file with you on the shared Google drive. You can easily open them, put your comments in them, and then the students can access these comments as you complete them.  

Concluding note  

If you are a regular social media user (Facebook/WhatsApp) and have an email account, you are ready to go. It’s not complicated to keep in touch with the students and guide them through the learning process. If you are motivated to go the extra mile, then a panoply of possibilities exists, where you can be independent of other people and systems. Still, with or without Covid-19, in the 21st Century that should be the standard practices to resort to, of course, notwithstanding the fact that, in a more regular situation, we can then use classroom time for more productive educational activities.