For several years, Brock has been seeking to build its infrastructure around continuing and professional education and to increase its number of offerings in this area. These courses would serve a broad population, including working professionals seeking to upgrade their skills or credentials, those seeking to re-skill and re-integrate the labour market, as well as those looking to enter post-secondary education for the first time.

At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in massive labour market disruptions. The province has consulted with universities and colleges on the possibility of creating educational opportunities specifically oriented toward this re-integration process. In this case, some of the focus has been on the development of ‘micro-credentials’, which are characterized by their brevity, shareability, traceability, and their orientation to labour market needs.

The Working Group on Micro-credentials will explore the feasibility of increased micro-credential offerings at Brock. Specially, the Working Group will:

• Propose a working definition of ‘micro-credential’ appropriate to the Brock context;
• Create an inventory of existing micro-credential offerings at Brock;
• Identify potential micro-credential offerings at Brock;
• Review existing data to identify potential areas of demand from employers and industry for micro-credentials;
• Define processes for the creation of micro-credentials at Brock; and
• Propose next steps and/or a path forward to increase Brock’s micro-credential offerings.

The working group will meet monthly during the course of the 2020-21 academic year. It will report to the Senior Academic Leadership Team (SALT) and will consult and engage with Senate on relevant topics, including the approval process for micro-credentials.