Credentialing in Higher Education: Current Challenges and Innovative Trends

One could argue that the transcript -- that is, credentialing -- is the only nonnegotiable service of a higher education institution. Colleges and universities are the beneficiaries of this growing credential society because they are the gatekeepers of many of those credentials. Credentials matter in a knowledge economy as a key indicator of critical life outcomes, and the first step is modernizing the credential infrastructure for a digital world. Colleges and universities need to capture the entire educational experience to create a common understanding of both course and campus-based achievements. And higher education needs to do so electronically via a consistent document structure and data standard that institutions can use as a way to extend their traditional academic transcript or as a next-generation successor. Finally, higher education needs to do all this in a way that protects, preserves, and limits access to that data but that makes the data portable, available, and actionable for learners, graduates, other institutions, and employers.