A Texas-sized push for microcredentials at a state university system
A certificate program that broadens the job prospects for students in traditional liberal arts fields. Another certificate that allows art students to demonstrate mastery of design software. A skills badge that helps bioscience students demonstrate to employers that they know their way around a lab.
Within the University of Texas System, nine UT campuses have each embarked on their own microcredential offerings designed to meet the regional needs of their student populations, and a new partnership with Coursera makes online professional training available to all UT students, faculty, staff, and alumni.
The Texas Credentials for the Future program helps universities close the gap between the skills employers need and what students learn in a degree program. Rather than place the responsibility on students to find opportunities to develop practical skills related to their education, credentialing programs like the UT System’s add a layer of training onto degree studies that helps students signal to employers their readiness to apply their education.
Here’s a closer look at microcredential offerings at three of those campuses:
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President and CEO, Stephen Moret, provides a testimony during the “Strengthening WIOA: Improving Outcomes for America’s Workforce” hearing on March 5, 2025.
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Strada is extending an invitation for each institution to participate in the State Opportunity Index survey and to receive confidential and benchmarked results, free of cost.
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Strada worked closely with state data agencies and higher education executives to identify 10 critical elements that contribute to the capacity of state data systems.
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Microcredentials empower students at The University of Texas at Austin
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A Texas-sized push for microcredentials: The University of Texas at San Antonio
How The University of Texas at Arlington prepares students for immediate employment
Innovative leader brings an extensive track record of navigating through challenges to create effective education-to-employment data systems
Three-year grants awarded to four institutions will support expansion of programs designed to help learners succeed during and after completion of their degree or credential. These programs deploy a broad range of strategies from new technology solutions to embedded, industry-recognized credentials, which will be made available to thousands of new learners through these grants.
At a time of growing societal uncertainty about the value of higher education and declining enrollment, the views of alumni turn out to be particularly insightful. This group can provide especially valuable feedback about how their education experiences have enriched their lives, which can help us ensure that today’s students maximize all the benefits that college offers.
Phase 2 allows Taskforce members to seek up to $1.5 million ($6.25 million total) to expand efforts to connect education to employment.
As a field, higher education has experienced a continuing evolution in how to measure success. For nearly five decades success efforts were focused on access, followed by the past decade and a half pursuing completion, and the field now has a growing focus on the value of a degree and student outcomes beyond completion.
Strada Education Network announced today the winners in the initial phase of a $10 million grant challenge aimed at helping higher education institutions identify and expand new solutions that will improve career and life opportunities for more students of color, first-generation students, those who struggle to afford education, and adult students and workers.