A new trend in workforce development is emerging among employers and higher education institutions in southeastern Wisconsin as demand for specialized skills and certifications grows.
Micro-credentialing and upskilling certificates are in high demand as advanced skills become an increasingly popular ask of regional employers.
Carroll University and Milwaukee School of Engineering, among others, have begun prioritizing the expansion of their micro-credentialing and certification courses on top of their traditional offerings to compensate for a growing need for advanced skills beyond two- and four-year degrees.
The Higher Education Regional Alliance, a regional collaborative of 16 southeastern Wisconsin higher education institutions, recently introduced a new wave of micro-credentialing programs. HERA now offers more than 180 micro-credentialing courses, all created by participating institutions.
The popularity of HERA’s micro-credentialing courses has earned the recognition of the federal government, which granted $1.5 million to the program in April 2024 to support the creation of 20 new certificates within its high-priority programs.
Certificates in technology, business, health care, artificial intelligence and data analytics are quickly rising to the top of the micro-credentialing trend, according to Cindy Gnadinger, president of Carroll University and board chair of HERA.
HERA’s programming focuses on micro-credentialing, which is slightly more specialized than a certificate, Gnadinger said. Most micro-credential courses are structured similarly to the way that online college courses operate. Students participating in the courses enroll in a short-term, multi-chapter course which, upon completion, provide the student with a credential rather than a participation certificate.
“It’s a smaller, shorter way to achieve a targeted skill, or really whatever it is you’re trying to accomplish in a much quicker way,” said Gnadinger.
The demographics for enrollment in these courses vary, but within HERA’s offerings most people lie between the ages of 18 and 22, some of which are Carroll students. Courses are often used to advance an on-the-job skill. For example, an undergraduate student studying education might enroll in HERA’s Dyslexia Interventionist Credential program to better market themselves to employers, Gnadinger said. The courses are also available to working professionals.
While HERA’s micro-credentialing programs are rapidly gaining popularity, the value of four-year degrees is not decreasing, Gnadinger said. Rather, the programs are an expansion of academic opportunities at Carroll and a collaboration of higher education institutions and local employers.
“Higher education institutions have been looked upon as being archaic and slow to change,” Gnadinger said. “I think that couldn’t be farther from the truth.”
HERA’s collective work with area institutions and company leaders in offering supplemental education is part of an effort to evolve with a changing academic landscape. The introduction of nontraditional programming and flexible schooling is a focus of several higher education leaders in southeastern Wisconsin, including Gnadinger and Eric Baumgartner, executive vice president of academics at MSOE.
MSOE’s micro-credentialing and certificate programs are meeting enrollment goals as of this year and are continuing to grow. After their introduction in the early 2000s, MSOE’s micro-credentialing courses took a hit with the rest of the economy during the 2007-2009 Great Recession. In recent years, MSOE’s programs have been cut back, making way for the hiring of an executive director and a contract consultant to work with regional employers on their upskilling needs.
The 2024-‘25 school year is being used as its “rebuilding” year, said Baumgartner.
MSOE’s most popular certificate programs are artificial intelligence-related and are mostly geared towards AI machine learning. MSOE’s recent AI initiatives and its development of its on-campus AI infrastructure have made the creation of these programs relatively straightforward.
In addition to homemade programs, the micro-credentialing contract consultant has begun working with individual companies in the region to curate personalized programs for employers.
“We’re still in the building mode for those courses, but early indications are strong that there’s a need, and hopefully, we can fulfill some of those needs,” Baumgartner said.
MSOE’s programs attract mainly professionals working in science, technology, engineering and math, in communion with MSOE’s STEM-focused curriculum. Very few MSOE students have enrolled in the classes so far. However, the courses recently opened to MSOE faculty and staff who are filling several spots already.
“It’s the kind of education that helps people understand how to be a better project manager, or how to find out how AI is going to impact their industry,” Baumgartner said.
Tuition for the courses varies with length and intensity but generally cost less than a degree program course. Courses can cost anywhere between $100 and $2,500 with instruction varying from a one-session course with two hours of instruction to a multi-month program.
With its micro-credentialing and certificate programs, MSOE’s goal – similar to that of Carroll University and HERA – is to “serve southeastern Wisconsin students and professionals better than we’ve served them in the past,” said Baumgartner.
