Polish higher education institutions have the opportunity to join the global trend of microcredentials – short, digital forms of confirming acquired knowledge and skills. This solution could change the way of learning, teaching and confirming competences in higher education.
The digital transformation in higher education in Poland is progressing at an ever-increasing pace. Along with it, there is a growing openness to new forms of learning and certifying learning outcomes. Microcredentials―digital badges confirming specific competences―are becoming one of the key elements of this change.
In a world where employers are increasingly looking for proven practical skills, microcredentials can bridge the gap between education and the labour market. They enable HEIs to offer students and graduates shorter, flexible forms of learning that lead to a digitally recognised credential. Such solutions are already being successfully developed in many western European countries, according to the European Commission's 2024 report ‘Microcredentials in Higher Education’.
From pilot to partnership with universities
The idea of microcredentials is promoted in Poland by the Educational Research Institute – National Research Institute, which is implementing a project entirely dedicated to this topic. It focused initially on the ICT sector, but over time it has extended to the academic community.
We have a very rich and diverse higher education community in Poland. This diversity also requires new forms of skills certification, such as microcredentials, emphasises Dr. Wojciech Stęchły, chief expert on the design of digital solutions for skills development at the Educational Research Institute – National Research Institute.
The third phase of the project, currently underway, involves working with HEIs from all over Poland. In July 2025, Opole University of Technology was the first higher education institution in the country to issue a microcredential in the Odznaka+ application, developed as part of the IBE PIB project.
Thanks to such experiences, we can work with HEIs to develop recommendations for the standardisation of microcredentials in Poland," adds Dr. Stęchły.
Benefits for higher education institutions, students and researchers
As Jolanta Urbanikowa, an expert on the internationalisation of education from the University of Warsaw, emphasises, microcredentials are an enormous opportunity for universities.
They allow educational content to be updated more quickly and better respond to the needs of the labour market. They can also support internationalisation if courses leading to microcredentials are available in different languages, especially English, as well as to foreign students, she explains.
In this way, microcredentials can contribute to increasing the attractiveness of Polish universities and facilitate their integration into European and international education networks.
Data shows that in the 2025/2026 academic year, approximately 400,000 students will begin their studies at higher education institutions in Poland, of whom as many as one in three may drop out. One of the reasons for this is that education programmes are too long and inflexible.
A new direction for the development of higher education
Microcredentials may be the answer to this problem – they enable students to obtain smaller but significant credentials that can be accumulated and combined into larger qualifications.
This is an ideal proposition for people who want to combine learning with their professional or private lives. Microcredentials allow them to learn at their own pace and build their own educational path, concludes Jolanta Urbanikowa.
Microcredentials may become one of the most important directions for the development of Polish higher education. It is a tool that not only supports HEIs in adapting to the needs of the labour market, but also enables students and researchers to engage in flexible, modern lifelong learning.