Revamping Exec Ed in the Microcredential Era

• When schools partner with local companies to design new programs, they create credentialing pathways that meet the needs of employers and ensure participants learn critical skills.
• Short-term programs will draw more candidates if employers update tuition reimbursement models to include microcredentials.
• With certificate programs, schools can rapidly design, approve, and launch new learning experiences that respond to emerging trends and immediate market needs.

 
Today’s learners seek more than just degrees. They want fast, targeted, flexible, affordable, and career-relevant learning experiences. That’s particularly true for executive learners, who are seeking alternative credentialing pathways such as microcredentials, certificates, and stackable degrees that will provide them with new knowledge they can immediately apply to workplace challenges. These short modular programs also allow learners to map out their own educational journeys.

For instance, a professional might begin by earning a certificate in digital transformation, later stack it with leadership and project management credentials, and ultimately convert all the credits into a full EMBA. A stackable approach not only meets executive learners where they are, but also provides clear, flexible pathways for them to follow as they progress in their careers.

Some business school leaders hesitate to adopt shorter credential programs, fearing that these options will cannibalize existing bachelor’s and master’s programs. But in today’s competitive job market, where the value of education is increasingly measured by its direct impact on career outcomes, schools must replace university-centric thinking with employer-centric thinking.

We believe that academic leaders should not view microcredentials and certificates as threats to traditional programs. Rather, administrators should see these options as innovative extensions that can complement and revamp the executive education portfolio, ensuring that their schools stay relevant and responsive to current market trends. We are certain that degree and nondegree programs not only can co-exist, but also can augment and strengthen each other.

Here, we identify three ways academic leaders can overcome barriers that might impact the sustainability of short-term programs.

1. Partner With Employers

It’s essential for schools to build employer-backed credentialing pathways through formal articulation agreements. Typically, articulation agreements are set up between two or more educational institutions to outline how credits earned at one school will be transferred to another.

But universities can take a similar approach by working with local companies to establish articulation agreements. Because these agreements make it clear how new educational offerings will be of value to employers, companies are more willing to sponsor employees who attend the programs. Employers often guarantee that executives who enroll in classes will enjoy benefits such as interviews for open positions, internship opportunities, promotions, raises, or some combination of these elements.

Articulation agreements are advantageous for everyone involved. They reduce the perceived risks for learners. They enable employers to shape the curriculum to meet specific upskilling needs, ensuring that graduates are job-ready from day one. And they enhance the credibility, visibility, and relevance of the university’s programs.

When schools build employer-backed credentialing pathways through formal articulation agreements, companies are more willing to sponsor employees who attend the programs.

One standout example comes from the Southwest Florida Leadership Institute (SFLI) at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers. SFLI has partnered with the region’s largest healthcare employer to co-develop microcredentials in systems thinking, value-based care, and financial leadership. These credentials are not just academic exercises—they are embedded into the hospital’s leadership promotion criteria.

This arrangement ensures a strong alignment between the school’s curriculum and an individual’s career advancement. The initiative has proven so successful that nearly 300 senior leaders have completed the program and are now ready to transfer their learning into their organizations.

Other administrators who would like to make more of their partnerships can consider these approaches:

• Work with employers to develop formal articulation agreements that tie program completion to tangible outcomes for executive learners.
• Co-design microcredentials with human resources departments to ensure alignment with internal career ladders.
• Embed these programs into corporate talent development strategies, making them part of succession planning.

2. Revise Tuition Reimbursement Models

Because learning doesn’t always happen in a classroom or culminate in a diploma, employers should develop flexible funding models that support lifelong learning and skill development. This means recalibrating outdated tuition reimbursement policies to cover educational opportunities such as short nondegree credentials and certificate programs.

According to Meagan Baskin, director of SFLI and one of the authors of this article, too many professionals who are eager to sign up for short-term programs don’t do so because these options aren’t covered by tuition reimbursement. “Employers are alienating an entire population of motivated workers who do not have an interest in long-term programs such as bachelor’s and master’s programs,” she says.

Too often, public sector agencies—at city, county, state, and national levels—offer tuition reimbursement only for credit-bearing courses. This is even true of universities, which offer employees and their families free or reduced tuition for a certain number of credit hours per semester, but rarely include microcredential programs under these benefit schemes.

At some organizations, workers can pay for certificate programs through professional development funds. But university administrators and industry partners could also revise their policies so workers could get tuition reimbursement for microcredentials and other noncredit courses.

Companies should recalibrate outdated tuition reimbursement policies to cover educational opportunities such as credential and certificate programs.

Administrators might take these actionable pathways as they create new tuition reimbursement models:

• Collaborate with employers to expand tuition benefits to include certificates and microcredentials.
• Create shared-cost models where both the employer and institution invest in employee development.
• Position nondegree programs as tools for retention and leadership development, especially in industries facing talent shortages.

3. Prioritize Agile Curriculum Development

In a world where industries are reshaped overnight by technological advances and global events, the traditional curriculum development cycle—often spanning years—is no longer viable. Business schools must create mechanisms to rapidly design, approve, and launch new learning experiences that respond to emerging trends and immediate market needs.

Microcredentials and noncredit programs are ideal vehicles for schools that want to rapidly iterate and deploy new courses without sacrificing quality. Academic administrators can view new microcredential courses as prototypes rather than finished products. Guided by design thinking, schools can rapidly design, test, and refine content with real users—students and employers—before scaling. This approach reduces risk, accelerates time to market, and ensures that programs are truly aligned with evolving industry needs.

As an example, a business school might explore a new specialization in AI-driven innovation by first launching a microcredential called Applied AI for Innovation Strategy. The faculty could co-create the curriculum with input from tech leaders and alumni and test it with a pilot cohort of professionals. At the end of the course, faculty could get participant feedback on the usefulness of the case studies, AI tools, and ethical frameworks that were covered in the class.

If learners express strong demand for deeper dives into topics such as prompt engineering or AI product development, the school could iteratively expand the credential or fold it into a larger degree pathway. This agile, user-centered process allows the school to build market-responsive programs without waiting years for a full curriculum overhaul.

Microcredentials and noncredit programs are ideal vehicles for schools that want to rapidly iterate and deploy new courses without sacrificing quality.

Schools can launch microcredentials in as little as six weeks if they take these seven steps:

Determine need. Discuss emerging trends with advisory boards, community associations and chambers, and other relevant stakeholders. Potential topics for new courses might include remote leadership; AI integration; and compliance with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policies. To accelerate support from university leaders and reduce their aversion to risk, get local employers to commit to co-designing the program and enrolling staff.

Identify subject matter experts, including faculty and business partners who can curate and deliver content quickly.

Establish a microcredential task force. Assemble a small team—a faculty lead, an instructional designer, a program coordinator, and a dean or associate dean—that has the decision-making authority to bypass red tape.

Find industry partners and advisors who can review the curriculum to ensure it will meet real-world challenges.

Alert legal and marketing teams. Make certain they are available to provide quick reviews of contracts, branding efforts, and communications.

Establish fast-track approval processes for curriculum “buckets.” Obtain standing approval for certain types of content—such as leadership, innovation, analytics, and ethics—that can be assembled into microcredentials without needing committee review.

Collect data. Use short-term pilots to test demand before scaling into full programs. Solicit feedback from participants and employers to develop a deep understanding of which new courses and programs will be perceived as most valuable.

The Future of Education

Alternative credentialing pathways offer benefits to three groups of stakeholders.

First, short-term programs are useful for employers because they allow companies to outsource learning and development initiatives while still maintaining an organization-centric curriculum. By co-creating microcredential programs with schools, employers improve workforce retention and competitiveness.

Second, these educational offerings provide upskilling and reskilling opportunities to professionals who might not have the desire, time, or money to earn traditional degrees.

Finally, microcredential programs are beneficial for universities because they help protect a school’s reputation and enrollment numbers while opening doors to new learners. Short and modular programs also can generate additional revenue for the school.

The future of education will belong to institutions that can respond quickly to evolving market needs with rigorous, branded programs that provide flexible, modular, and value-driven learning pathways. When schools offer real-world relevance, partner with employers, and deliver agile programs, they can expand their impact, enroll new learner segments, and sustain competitiveness.

It’s time for business school leaders to reimagine what executive education can be.