Report on Training of the micro-credential implementation practice in Project partner countries

The Training on the micro-credential implementation practice in Project partner countries was organized at the FH Joanneum Gesellschaft MBH, Graz, Austria, 8th – 10th November 2022.

The meeting was held according to the Agenda, with a total of 12 representatives from Partner Institutions, two from University of Belgrade (UB), four from Qualification Agency of Serbia (QAS), three from Accreditation Council for Entrepreneurial and Engaged Universities (ACEEU), one from the University of Lleida (UDL), and two from per FH Joanneum Gesellschaft MBH (FHJ).

After welcoming speeches by Mr. Sinisa Djurasevic on behalf of the Project coordinator and the host of the meeting Mr. Hochrinner from the UAS FH JOANNEUM, the project team started work on the project issues. First general project activities and its development/progress were discussed. The recommendations from the Erasmus National Agency from Serbia regarding the project results and outputs were taken into consideration. All project partners agreed upon a common standard and preparation of the reports. Common dissemination activities and the set-up of the webpage were also presented as the necessary input for it.

Regarding the project management activities and reporting, time sheets and necessary supporting documentation as well as the common platform for sharing the documents, interesting/useful papers on the topic of micro-credentialing in Europe and broader were discussed.

Each partner institution prepared a report on the micro-credential implementation practice in the project partner country. The results were presented by the representatives in detail and were discussed after each presentation. The guests also had the opportunity to visit the facilities of FHJ and talk to other staff about their work. Possibilities of a new project and/or further cooperation were taken into consideration.

The second day of the meeting was dedicated to the topic of micro-credentials. Following topics were talked about:

• What are micro-credentials? A European overview and recommendations;
• Discussion on micro-credentials approach in partner countries;
• Sharing good practice on micro-credentials from partner countries: Germany – offer on micro-credentials by private providers (such es online universities, private universities, ), Spain (perspective of the Catalan quality agency and examples) and Austria (good practice at FHJ by CORSHIP project – first micro credential in Austria);
• Discussion on the role of the ministries of education in each country, their ideas and progress on this

The third day was again dedicated to the topic of micro-credentialing, where the partners continued the overview on a different project which already dealt with this topic at the European level. The most interesting part was the video from the Masterclass in Bled, celebrating in 2019, Slovenia, to the topic of micro-credentials within the scope of the project MicroHe and the leading experts. The remaining time was organized as a workshop – how to design a micro-credential (content, ECTS, stackability, exchangeability, evaluation, validation, recognition processes etc.).

The project training was concluded with a wrap-up and the plan for the upcoming training in Lleida, which will be dedicated to the legal framework in each partner country, making a proposal for the best legislative model.