Microcredentials offer a route to an employment market where what you know matters more than whether you studied at Oxford or Harvard, but universities resist change because they can reap “nice monopoly rent” from the status quo, according to Andreas Schleicher.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s director for education and skills told Times Higher Education that the supply of skills was “front-loaded in the initial phase of your life”, when there needed to be a shift towards lifelong learning.
“I would give people more ownership over what they learn, how they learn, where they learn, when in their life they learn – I think it’s going to be absolutely crucial,” he continued.
Change was needed to remedy a situation in which “we do nothing for people at the margins of employment, who are at risk from automation, who want to learn for their next job”.
