Micro-credentials appear set to become a core feature of publicly funded higher education in Australia, after education minister Dan Tehan praised universities¡¯ willingness to deliver short-form offerings during the coronavirus pandemic.

But experts have warned universities not to embrace bite-sized courses that teach narrowly focused skills without broader occupational and societal context.

Most Australian universities moved quickly to deliver the cut-price online courses unveiled by Mr Tehan as part of his April?higher education relief package. For as little as A$1,250 (?693), students can undertake six-month courses that count towards full bachelor¡¯s or master¡¯s degrees.

Most universities did not limit places in these courses, even if it meant running them at a loss at a time when their finances were already severely constrained by the coronavirus.

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Universities hoped that Mr Tehan would announce more secure funding arrangements for micro-credentials when he addressed the National Press Club on 19 June. Instead of unveiling a dedicated funding stream, he indicated that they would be financed in the same way as other types of courses.

Universities had already been given the ¡°flexibility¡± to rearrange their bachelor¡¯s, diploma and postgraduate places within their individual funding allocations, he said. ¡°We want short courses to be a permanent fixture of the Australian higher education system, and lock in the flexibility for providers,¡± Mr Tehan said.

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¡°Micro-credentials address the most common barriers cited by adult workers who are not intending to undertake further formal training or study: time and cost.¡±

An education department??suggests that micro-credentials will be bankrolled under a ¡°new funding envelope¡± for commonwealth-supported university places, to be developed over the next five years.

It says that the government will spend A$3.1 million to implement recommendations of last year¡¯s?review of the Australian Qualifications Framework,?partly to foster ¡°better recognition and greater uptake of micro-credential qualifications¡±.

Separately, the government has committed A$4.3 million for a ¡°one-stop-shop for micro-credentials¡±, offering students a ¡°nationally consistent platform to compare course outcomes, duration, mode of delivery and credit point value¡± ¨C although it has been??that the government¡¯s??already provides this service.

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Catherine Friday, lead government and health sciences partner with consultants Ernst & Young Australia, said that micro-credentials had ¡°tremendous¡± value ¨C but mostly as complementary units for existing students rather than stand-alone alternatives to traditional degrees. ?

¡°It would be a mistake to expect that we would see students just wanting to do micro-credentials without some of the other deep technical learning,¡± she said.

University of Technology historian Tamson Pietsch and University of Toronto tertiary education researcher Leesa Wheelahan say that the micro-credentials push was part of a broader drive to arm people with ¡°21st-century skills¡± instead of occupations.

Writing in?, they say that skills mean different things in different contexts. For example, childcare workers dealing with tantrums need vastly different problem-solving skills from oil workers trying to put out a fire. ¡°It is not possible to teach problem-solving or other skills independently of occupations,¡± Dr Pietsch and Professor Wheelahan warn.

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Sin Yin Long, an education specialist with Ernst & Young, said most employers were not yet ready to give people jobs on the strength of their micro-credentials. ¡°But maybe I see that happening in the future,¡± she said.

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com