West Virginia Launches Microcredential Initiative for Public College and University Students
Credit: aimintang / E+ / Getty Images- West Virginia recently announced a new microcredential initiative that will allow students to prepare for the workforce and become more competitive job applicants.
- Microcredentials are short, targeted courses that equip students with specific skills in a particular area.
- As West Virginia’s economy shifts away from traditional “extraction” industries such as coal and gas, the state is looking to retrain workers in emerging industries like manufacturing.
West Virginians looking to learn a new skill, change career fields, or become more competitive applicants in their job search will soon be able to earn microcredentials through the state’s public higher education institutions.
Microcredentials are short, targeted courses that equip students with specific skills in a particular area. They can usually be stacked, or combined, together to demonstrate mastery of a skill to an employer, without the time and or financial commitment of a multiple-year degree.
West Virginia’s new program, Credential WV, is currently in the first phase of its rollout, with statewide implementation happening over the next three years.
Dr. Corley Dennison, vice chancellor for academic affairs for the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission, told BestColleges that the program will heavily focus on including input from industry leaders to ensure the microcredentials offered will help students break into an in-demand career.
In recent years, West Virginia has seen an increase in solar panel and battery manufacturers and steel mills coming into the state. This shift has moved the workforce away from the state’s traditional “extraction industries” of coal, gas, and timber.
“It just seemed like West Virginia was a state that was primed for microcredentials because we’ve got a lower college-going rate, we have a large number of adults with some college, [and] we have a workforce that’s going to need to be retrained,” Dennison said. “So all these things sort of added up that we really thought this would be right for West Virginia.”
Some state institutions, like Marshall University, already offer microcredentials. The university’s microcredential program, the Marshall Skills Exchange, was officially launched in April 2024 and offers noncredit courses in areas such as advanced manufacturing, entrepreneurship and innovation, and aviation.
The microcredential courses are designed to be completed in just a few weeks or months and are offered in a variety of learning formats including on-campus, at a job site, or online.
“In today’s rapidly changing job market, individuals need opportunities to acquire new skills efficiently and effectively,” Dr. Julia Spears, assistant provost of Online Education and Certification, said in a press release. “Our microcredentials program addresses this need by offering targeted courses that equip participants with the expertise they need to succeed.”
Courses Students Can Apply Immediately
Spears was one of a handful of speakers from Marshall University to present at a recent summit focused on Credential WV and how to implement microcredentials into existing academic courses.
The summit also included higher education leaders from Ohio and Colorado, which offer a variety of microcredential options in their public institutions.
Dennison said he would like to adapt Colorado’s microcredential program setup and administrative structure and is interested in incorporating something similar to Ohio’s industry- and military-aligned credentials, which award academic credit for industry certificates or military training.
The University of Texas (UT) System also recently expanded its credential program, providing students at all of its institutions with free access to nondegree credentials and job certificates.
In the year since the program launched, UT students spent over 111,000 hours learning online through Coursera’s Career Academy and have completed more than 18,300 courses.
West Virginia officials say that stackable credentials, including microcredentials, can be beneficial to many different types of students.
“Imagine the working adult who can only take a few courses at a time, the recent high school graduate who wants to build a portfolio of skills quickly, or the mid-career worker who needs to reskill for a new job opportunity,” Dr. Sarah Armstrong Tucker, West Virginia’s chancellor of higher education, said in a press release.
“With microcredentials, we can give these individuals practical, career-relevant tools they can apply immediately — whether they’re looking to advance in their current roles or pivot to new industries.”
Adapting to Fit a New Economy
While the goal is to have each state institution in West Virginia offer microcredentials, Dennison said that it will be up to each school to decide what microcredentials they want to offer to students based on their unique workforce needs.
“I was talking to New York, and they were talking about surgical processing, which is sterilizing surgical equipment, and how that was one of their highest demand microcredentials,” he said. “So we really want autonomy for each institution to be able to meet the workforce need in their region.”
Dennison also emphasized the importance of involving industry leaders in the process of rolling out the state’s new microcredential program.
Leaders from the West Virginia Manufacturers Association, West Virginia Workforce Development, and a local glass company all spoke at the summit in a panel about using microcredentials as a pathway to workforce readiness.
“I think it’s important that we reach out to our state agency workforce development … finding out what industry needs are and then working to meet those needs,” Dennison said.
“While [traditional industries] will continue, it’s important that we have people that are credentialed and ready to work in a 21st century workforce.”