Microcredentials and the Master’s Degree: Understanding the National Landscape to Support Learners and the Workforce

Microcredentials, certificates, and badges are one of the fastest growing sectors of the higher education market. Despite this increase, little is known about how microcredentials are changing the graduate education landscape. In particular, the relationship between stackable microcredentials – certificates or badges that can be combined into a degree – and the master’s degree remained unclear until recently.

With support from ETS, CGS embarked on a project to explore the relationship between non-degree graduate microcredentials and the master’s degree. The report takes a mixed methods approach, using focus groups, surveys, and interviews to better understand what microcredentials are and how they are intersecting with graduate degrees.