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Developed by the University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA), the Hallmarks of Excellence in Credential Innovation are a collection of best practices and aspirational goals that can help guide institutions of higher learning to assess their efforts involving alternative credentials.
Eight pillars, or best practices, focus on alternative credentials within the context of universities and academic degrees. The Hallmarks of Excellence in Credential Innovation also serve as a toolkit for those in online and professional continuing education who would champion and advocate for alternative credentials at institutions where such efforts might be viewed with skepticism.
The Hallmarks of Excellence call for:
The eight pillars identified in leading credential innovation in traditional universities are:
A Credential Maturity Index was developed as a tool for institutions to examine their organization’s relative maturity around the best practices identified in the Hallmarks of Excellence. The results of the index were utilized by survey respondents who attended Convergence 2023: Credential Innovation in Higher Education in Washington, D.C.
In 2021, UPCEA formed the Council for Credential Innovation and the Alternative Credentials Network. Together, the new bodies formed a new community to advance quality standards, policy, and best practices in credential innovation and the alternative and non-degree credentials arena.
A foundational resource in this effort was UPCEA’s Hallmarks of Excellence in Credential Innovation, a quality framework for non-degree credentials at the enterprise level.
A benchmark study was also released by UPCEA and research partners Modern Campus and The EvoLLLution, “Shifting Paradigms: Understanding Institutional Perspectives on Microcredentialing.” The report revealed how alternative credentials position higher education institutions to overcome one of the greatest critiques leveled at them, which is a lack of connectivity between programming and the needs of learners and the labor market.
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