This chapter sets out a proposal for a strategy to develop a harmonised micro-credential system in Czechia. The strategy takes into account the assessment of the Czech context and European Union Council Recommendation highlighted in the previous chapters and draws on an analysis of international practice carried out as part of the project. It also reflects the findings and feedback from stakeholder consultations undertaken in summer and autumn 2025 based on a preliminary version of the strategy. The strategy presented here is structured around eight building blocks, which correspond to distinct but related areas requiring policy action.
Towards a Harmonised Micro‑Credential Ecosystem in Czechia
Abstract
Building block 1: Anchoring micro-credentials in national regulatory frameworks
1.1 Adopt a legally anchored national framework for micro-credentials.
1.2 Develop a template for micro-credentials that ensures a transparent communication of the learning outcomes achieved.
1.3 Define a minimum and maximum volume for micro-credentials to permit flexibility, allowing both credit and time-based definitions.
Building block 2: A national governance and co-ordination framework
2.1 Establish a micro-credentials co-ordination team in MŠMT, which will also be responsible for coordinating with other government departments on micro-credentials policy.
2.2 Adopt an explicit national strategy and implementation plan for micro-credentials and secure resourcing for investment in national systems, piloting and roll-out.
2.3 Strengthen understanding of regional skills needs across the country as an input to micro-credential development.
Building block 3: Further developing micro-credentials in higher education
3.1 Work to expand provision of micro-credentials in higher education, particularly in technical universities and non-university institutions.
3.2 Mandate expression of workload in ECTS and hours in higher education and establish clear recognition procedures.
3.3 Require labour-market alignment evidence for all higher education micro-credentials.
Building block 4: Introducing micro-credentials in Vocational Education and Training
4.1 Initiate micro-credential development in tertiary professional schools (VOŠ) as a priority.
4.2 Finance the development of a dedicated micro-credential implementation manual for VOŠ institutions.
4.3 In the medium-term establish a targeted engagement programme for secondary VET schools.
Building block 5: Laying the foundations for micro-credentials in the adult learning sector outside VET and higher education
5.1 Introduce a quality assurance pathway for private providers building on the accreditation process used for “retraining” programmes.
Building block 6: Electronic certification and authentication
6.1 Agree on and implement a national micro-credential certificate template and digital verification platform.
Building block 7: Information, guidance and online platform
7.1 Create a national cross-sector micro-credential information portal.
7.2 Strengthen career guidance and lifelong learning support infrastructure across regions.
Building block 8: Funding, sustainability, and enabling legislation
8.1 In the medium-term, establish a national skills fund to provide a sustainable financing source for upskilling and reskilling across education and training sectors.
8.2 In the medium term, consider developing a Lifelong Learning Act to strengthen governance and cross-sector coherence.
Based on international practice and considering the guidelines established by European Union Council Recommendation 2022/C 243/02 (European Union, 2022[1]), it is possible to distinguish eight main “building blocks” that can together contribute to a harmonised micro-credential system (Figure 3.1). These building blocks include a system-level regulatory and governance framework for micro-credentials, sectoral approaches to micro-credentials, which apply common principles to the distinct realities of different education and training sectors, and system-wide tools to promote implementation and uptake of micro-credentials, including common authentication systems, information and financing modalities.
Note: Developed and refined by the OECD project team.
The proposed strategy in this chapter sets out these eight building blocks in turn, in each case explaining why the building block is required and the proposed approach in the Czech context. Where relevant, the proposals and recommendations refer to international examples which can serve as inspiration for the implementation and refinement of the strategy proposed here.
Czechia currently lacks an overarching national framework defining micro-credentials. In the absence of a shared definition, existing initiatives in the higher education sector (see Chapter 2) have referred to the definition contained in the EU Council Recommendation on micro-credentials but have expanded and interpreted it in ways that are largely applicable only in the higher education sector, given the explicit links to the established system of academic credits (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System – ECTS) and internal and external quality assurance procedures for higher education. While efforts in the higher education sector have produced a degree of clarity in that sector in relation to what micro-credentials are, they leave the VET and non-formal adult learning sectors without a shared reference framework and do not provide a basis for a truly “harmonised” approach to micro-credentials in Czechia.
During the consultation phase of this project, stakeholders consistently emphasised the need to anchor a future micro-credentials system in national legislation. Stakeholders strongly prefer a legislative route over a voluntary, guidelines-based approach, given the legal traditions of Czechia and in line with the approaches adopted in several comparable European systems. Stakeholders broadly agreed that the national framework should establish common core characteristics while permitting flexibility for the higher education, VET and adult learning sectors to adapt implementation to their own specificities.
Recommendation 1.1: Adopt a legally anchored national framework for micro-credentials
Without a clear national definition and legal framework, a risk exists that the term “micro-credential” will be used indiscriminately and inconsistently by different providers, generating confusion and reducing trust in the concept of micro-credentials among employers and learners. This in turn risks reducing uptake and recognition of micro-credentials in the national skills system and investment in their development. As a minimum, providers need basic common definitions and standards relating to the design of micro-credentials, assessment and recognition requirements. Without this, learners have little basis on which to assess the value of micro-credentials.
EU Council Recommendation 2022/C 243/02 establishes a common European definition and standard elements for the description of micro-credentials. It does not, however, prescribe a specific route for anchoring micro-credentials in national legislative and regulatory frameworks, reflecting the principle of subsidiarity and Member states’ responsibility for their education and training systems.
In Estonia micro-qualifications have recently been embedded in amendments to the country’s pre-existing Adult Education Act. This Act now defines micro-qualifications explicitly as educational modules with workloads ranging from 5 to 30 credits as defined in national legislation. One credit corresponds to 26 hours of learner’s work in the acquisition of knowledge and skills (Parliment of Estonia, 2025[2]). Credentials resulting from these modules are officially registered in the Estonian Education Information System, the national register of education. Higher education providers can offer micro-credentials with ECTS credits while non-formal providers issue micro-credential credits as defined in the Adult Education Act. Moreover, the legislative amendments include principles for provision and quality assurance of micro-credentials, aiming at extending the micro-qualifications system to vocational education and adult training institutions. The amendments formalise the provision of micro-credentials in law and expand it from higher education to include vocational and adult-training institutions and make Estonian Education Information System registration a mandatory pre-requisite for providers to receive public funding for delivering micro-credentials.
Australia has opted for introducing national guidelines rather than legislation. The National Micro-Credentials Framework offers a clear definition – a micro-credential is “a certification of assessed learning or competency, with a minimum volume of learning of one hour and less than an AQF [Australian Qualifications Framework] award qualification” (Australian Government - Department of Education, Skills and Employment, 2022[3]). This definition is supported by four unifying principles: micro-credentials should be outcome-based, responsive to industry needs, tailored to support lifelong learning, and transparent and accessible. To promote portability and informed choice, the framework also specifies critical information requirements (e.g. learning outcomes, volume of learning, assessment type, industry or credit recognition) that every micro-credential should disclose, alongside minimum standards for listing on the national information portal. Together, these elements aim to improve coherence while preserving the flexibility that makes micro-credentials attractive to diverse learners and providers.
While non-legislative, guidelines-based approaches to creating national frameworks for micro-credentials such as that in Australia, can theoretically create a solid reference point for developing micro-credentials in an education system, it is likely that a legislative anchor would be most appropriate in the Czech context. This not only reflects national legal traditions, whereby many aspects of policy are embedded in legislation, but also the need to establish common basic standards across multiple education and training sectors, which fall under the responsibility of different ministerial departments.
Elements that should be defined in primary legislation (Education and Higher Education Acts)
Definition and scope: define micro-credentials based on the EU Council Recommendation as the record of the learning outcomes that a learner has acquired following a small volume of learning and which have been assessed against transparent and clearly defined criteria.
Explicit specification that micro-credentials may be issued – and the associated small volume of learning delivered – in different education and training sectors by different provider types.
The categories of provider that can issue micro-credentials.
Legal recognition: state that micro-credentials are officially recognised learning achievements.
Governance: assign responsibility for development and oversight of the system to the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports.
Elements that should be in more readily amendable regulation or delegated powers through secondary legislation
Size: credit ranges and/or workload in hours in different education and training sectors.
Provider requirements: eligibility criteria for institutions and registration procedure.
Quality assurance procedures: accreditation process for different types of providers, approval criteria, monitoring and audits and external quality assurance processes (see below).
Certification: structure of certificates and digital credentialing system (see below).
Recognition and stacking rules: how micro-credentials convert into ECTS and count towards degrees, and if/how they are transferable across sectors.
Funding mechanisms: relationship with other national financing tools for adult learning, including retraining programmes offered by the public employment service and a possible future Individual Learning Account (ILA).
Czechia should therefore amend relevant existing national legislation to anchor a national micro-credential framework legally. The simplest and most practical approach would appear to be to insert relevant provisions establishing basic common standards for micro-credentials into the Education Act (Act No. 561/2004 Coll. (Government of Czechia, 2004[4])) and the Higher Education Act (Act No 111/1998 Coll. (Government of Czechia, 1998[5]))., as these Acts cover all formal education and training providers in the country and fall under the responsibility of the MŠMT. In parallel, the MŠMT should develop secondary legislation (in the form of a ministerial decree or similar regulatory instrument) providing more detailed implementation rules, which can be amended comparatively easily by the Ministry if necessary, depending on the results of initial implementation. Such a ministerial decree should also cover the provision pf micro-credentials in the non-formal adult learning sector (including commercial training providers) as, at the time of writing, no legislation exists that explicitly regulates this sector of providers.
As discussed below, this strategy recommends a pilot activity to trial the development of micro-credentials as part of the offering of retraining (“rekvalifikace”) programmes implemented by the Public Employment Service according to the provisions of Section 108 of the Employment Act (Act No. 435/2004 Coll. (Government of Czechia, 2004[6])). The language of the Employment Act, which does not define retraining programmes in detail and assigns responsibility for the accreditation of these programmes to the MŠMT, does not exclude the provision of micro-credentials as a form of the broader retraining offering. It would nevertheless be valuable for the MŠMT to coordinate with the MPSV to ensure the compatibility of the Employment Act with the offer of micro-credentials for retraining purposes, where micro-credentials could serve as a tool to modularise retraining programmes. This can be a topic addressed in the framework of a national micro-credentials co-ordination body discussed below. As recommended in Recommendation 8.2, in the medium-term, Czechia should consider developing a national Lifelong Learning Act to provide enhanced coherence to the legal basis for its national skills system.
Recommendation 1.2: Develop a template for micro-credentials that ensures a transparent communication of the learning outcomes achieved.
The EU Council Recommendation sets out a set of mandatory and optional elements (see Table 3.1) that need to be included in micro-credentials, which, to recall, are defined at EU level as “the record of the learning outcomes that a learner has acquired following a small volume of learning”, with the focus on the credential, rather than the programme that leads to it. Many of these standard mandatory elements, which are designed to support recognition in national contexts and across the EU, are simple administrative facts, such as the name of the learner, details of the issuer, the form of learning activities, assessment methods and quality assurance arrangements. However, three elements among the mandatory elements for micro-credentials specified at EU level are more complex and pose greater challenges for implementation: “learning outcomes”, “notional workload” and “level”.
Source: Council of the European Union (2022[7]) Council Recommendation of 16 June 2022 on a European approach to micro-credentials for lifelong learning and employability 2022/C 243/02 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32022H0627(02)#ntr1-C_2022243EN.01002101-E0001 (access on 29 April 2026).
In the absence of shared national standards, providers must independently define the learning outcomes of the micro-credentials that they offer. While this allows flexibility, it also carries a risk that learning outcomes in micro-credentials are defined in inconsistent ways and are not aligned with identified labour market needs and recognised professional and educational standards. This, in turn, undermines the transparency and recognition of micro-credentials.
As noted in the previous chapter, Czechia’s National Register of Qualifications (NSK) has been developed as a tool to map the competencies – which may also be framed as learning outcomes – required for specific occupations defined in the National System of Occupations. The qualification standards for occupations in the NSK describe not only the competencies required but also specify assessment criteria and methods and attribute each qualification to a level in the European Qualifications Framework. The NSK is used to some extent in the VET sector in Czechia, although its use is reported to vary substantially between study field, and as a reference for the targeted short-term retraining (“rekvalifikace”) programmes accredited by the MŠMT.
While the NSK provides a national reference framework with ready-defined learning outcomes, which could be exploited in a national micro-credential system, as also discussed in the previous chapter, the system has two main limitations which mean it cannot be used as the sole reference framework for defining learning outcomes for micro-credentials in Czechia. Firstly, it focuses on vocational qualifications linked to established occupations, typically filled by graduates from vocational education and training, and does not capture qualifications and learning outcomes in a broad range of roles typically filled by higher education graduates. Additionally, the stakeholder consultations undertaken as part of this project identified concerns that the NSK does not capture all relevant occupational standards in vocational fields or reflect fast-paced changes in skills requirements and the task composition of specific occupations.
Internationally, countries have adopted different requirements relating to the specification of learning outcomes for micro-credentials in their system-level frameworks:
Croatia has made it compulsory for micro-credentials to be referenced to the Croatian Qualifications Framework (CROQF) register1, which, like the NSK in Czechia, specifies learning outcomes that must be assessed to achieve qualifications linked to specific occupational standards (The Agency for VET and Adult Education, 2022[8]). However, unlike the NSK, the CROQF covers the entire education and training system in Croatia, meaning a common approach can be applied in VET and higher education, albeit only for professionally oriented fields of higher education. Maintaining occupational standards up to date in the face of changing task composition in specific occupations remains a challenge in the Croatian system.
The guidelines used for micro-credentials in higher education in Australia require universities to focus strongly on demonstrating the relevance of the learning outcomes defined for micro-credentials but do not require the use of a standard national framework (Australian Government - Department of Education, Skills and Employment, 2022[3]). This also reflects the fact that the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) is built around general learning outcomes descriptors by level, rather than detailed descriptors for each specific qualification or occupation.
More generally, countries that have developed national systems of occupational standards with similar aims to the NSK in Czechia have tended to address the risks that their systems become excessively rigid or rapidly outdated by defining standards at a sufficiently general level – as in Germany – or by requiring a mandatory cycle of updating, as in Belgium (Wallonia). Findings from case studies show that the connection between occupational and training standards is stronger when a single organisation is responsible for the development and maintenance of both (OECD, 2024[9]), though this observation relates to wider job-related training and rather than specifically to micro-credentials. Ireland, Finland and Estonia do not require micro-credentials to be linked to occupational standards, although research on course provision indicates that in some cases providers opt into referencing occupational standards themselves (Cedefop, 2023[10]).
In light of the need to accommodate the delivery of micro-credentials across education and training sectors, the implementing regulation for micro-credentials should permit but not require micro-credentials to define the learning outcomes in relation to the NSK. It should require that clear and transparent learning outcomes are documented for all micro-credentials, including those in higher education and in the parts of the VET system that do not use the NSK. At the time of writing, a project led by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MPSV) is understood to be ongoing to link the Central Competence Database, developed as part of Czechia’s National Occupational System (MPSV, 2026[11]), and the European Skills, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations (ESCO) system. This would result in a mapping of ESCO skills and knowledges to occupations in the National Occupation System, which could be of relevance as a reference point for learning outcomes in micro-credentials, once the competence database is fully developed. A standard template for micro-credentials should be developed going beyond the mandatory fields listed in the EU Council Recommendation (Box 3.2).
In addition to the basic mandatory fields from the EU Council Recommendation listed in Table 3.1, a Czech national template for micro-credentials, mandated through regulation, could contain:
A requirement for a set of transparent learning outcomes defined:
With reference to a specific qualification and learning outcomes in the NSK or
With reference to established academic standards (notably in higher education) or
Independently, with reference to identified skills needs or
A combination of approaches a) to c).
A short statement with a fixed character limit of how the micro-credential contributes to national or European skills requirements forcing providers to explain this as concisely as possible.
The level of the qualification (associated with its complexity) in relation to the European Qualifications Framework, which is also the reference for the levels in the NSK.
The volume of learning expressed in ECTS (if applicable) or learning hours (see Recommendation 1.3).
Enrolment pre-requisites.
Space to indicate, if relevant, the grade achieved by the learner and explication of the grading scale.
An indication of whether the micro-credential can be stacked to form a larger qualification and the nature and level of this qualification.
Recommendation 1.3: Define a minimum and maximum volume for micro-credentials to permit flexibility, allowing both credit and time-based definitions
The VET, higher education and adult learning sectors express the volume of learning required for qualifications in different ways, which complicates the task of establishing a common standard for expressing the volume of micro-credentials in a harmonised system. A clear understanding of the volume of learning is required to facilitate understanding of the workload involved by learners and recognition by employers and other education and training providers. Comparable and trusted systems for expressing learning volume are a necessary but not sufficient condition for micro-credentials to be stackable.
No education and training system examined for this project uses a standard measure of learning volume for micro-credentials across education and training sectors, and every national system is responsible for defining what a “small volume of learning” covers in their national system. Ireland, for example, uses ECTS for higher education micro-credentials and defined workload hours in further education and training. Estonia and Finland require micro-credentials offered outside of higher education to express learning volume in learning hours, while permitting, but not requiring, the use of ECTS for micro-credentials offered in higher education. These flexible approaches are also compatible with the EU Council Recommendation, which calls for the use of ECTS where possible but permits the use alternative workload descriptions in compliance with EQF principles.
Czechia should adopt a similar approach, where implementing regulation requires micro-credentials to be defined in terms of learning hours, with ECTS applied where appropriate in higher education. A standard credit-to-workload conversion could be established to support cross-sector portability in the longer term, although efforts should initially focus on developing and ensuring the uptake of individual micro-credentials in the different education and training sectors.
Stakeholder consultations suggest the lower bound for the volume of micro-credentials should permit micro-credentials as small as one to two ECTS, with an upper limit of approximately 30 ECTS to preserve the defining “micro” character of the credential. This approach is consistent with the EU Council Recommendation's call to specify the size of micro-credentials in a way that enables comparison and accumulation. Czechia should evaluate the size of learning programmes leading to micro-credentials during the implementation and piloting of the different elements of the micro-credentials system.
The lack of co-ordination between different public and private actors in the Czech skills system was a recurring theme in the stakeholder consultation workshops undertaken for this project. Co-ordination gaps are evident at three levels:
First, the policies governing different education and training sectors have historically been developed with limited cross-sectoral linkages. Within the MŠMT, connections between the departments responsible for higher education and vocational education and training have been few, although the expansion of the National Accreditation Bureau’s responsibilities to cover quality assurance of professional tertiary schools illustrates a move to greater inter-sectoral co-ordination and may create new opportunities for collaboration.
Second, cooperation between the MŠMT and the MPSV – the primary ministries responsible for education and training and for labour market policy respectively – has been limited. Existing co-ordination mechanisms, including the National Qualifications Council (Národní rada pro kvalifikace), provide some basis for cooperation, but stakeholders pointed clearly to the value of more systematic collaboration between the two ministries and their associated agencies.
Third, the cooperation between education and training providers and employers varies considerably across the system. The overall picture that emerges from the consultations is of a VET sector that remains largely school-based, with often outdated curricula, and universities that pay limited regard to evolving skills demand in programme development. Non-formal providers outside of VET and higher education (i.e. primarily commercial training providers) are generally more responsible to labour market needs, though concerns about quality remain.
The organisations active in the micro-credential space in Czechia – essentially universities and, to a more limited extent, certain regional authorities – are operating without a national co-ordination framework. Micro-credential initiatives have been funded as time-limited projects without mechanisms for long-term implementation or sustained co-ordination. Stakeholders broadly agreed that a national, cross-departmental body is required to coordinate the development of the national framework and oversee the micro-credentials system.
Recommendation 2.1: Establish a micro-credentials co-ordination team in MŠMT, which can also liaise with other government departments on micro-credentials policy
Micro-credentials are not yet a mainstream part of education, training and labour market policy in Czechia. As noted, responsibility for the different policy areas that need to be coordinated to build a harmonised micro-credentials system lies with different ministerial departments. The MŠMT has responsibility for education and training provision and certification – including for adult learning – although responsibility for core policymaking in VET, adult learning and higher education is distributed between the Section for Education and Youth and the Section for Higher Education, Science and Research2. The MŠMT has coordinated work on micro-credentials in Czechia to date and is best placed to take the lead in overseeing the further development of micro-credentials as a learning offering. The MPSV, meanwhile, has responsibility for key supporting policies for a future micro-credentials system, including the development of skills intelligence, active labour market policies and the co-ordination of targeted retraining and funding initiatives to support adult learning, including the pilot of individual learning accounts (which as of April 2026 has been downsized due to lack of funding).
The largely ad hoc and project-based patterns of cooperation on micro-credentials across MŠMT departments and between the MŠMT and the MPSV means no single body is responsible for driving forward the policy agenda and there is an ongoing risk of fragmented, duplicated effort and inefficient use of public resources. The Czech authorities need urgently to address this governance gap to provide the basis for further developing and implementing the strategy proposed in this report.
Add information on the governance models introduced in:
Paragraph 2 of the Adult Education Act in Estonia stipulates that an Adult Education Council must be created. The Adult Education Council is an advisory body comprised of the representatives of the relevant ministries, continuing education institutions, formal education institutions, representatives of employers and employees and other persons and authorities engaged in the area of adult education (Parliment of Estonia, 2025[2]). The Adult Education Council advises the Ministry of Education and Research and other organisations in adult education policy making, by representing the positions of the organisations in the council and providing expert analyses, including for policies related to micro-credentials.
SOLAS, the state agency that oversees the Further Education and Training (FET) sector in Ireland and the micro-qualifications programme, has long-standing experience in coordinating the governance of training models in the FET sector. Within SOLAS, the unit for Enterprise, Employees and Skills facilitates innovation and knowledge transfer in the FET sector and builds and maintains collaborations with stakeholders for job-related training (SOLAS, 2024[12]). For instance, the Skills to Advance initiative, which includes delivery of micro-qualifications, works in collaboration with enterprise, sectoral agencies and the Regional Skills Fora3 (and the Education and Training boards) to address enterprise ongoing upskilling needs. This collaboration feeds directly into curriculum design for micro-qualifications. The collaboration with employer bodies and key stakeholders is also reflected in the support services SOLAS offers, such as supporting SMEs who need assistance to develop their workforce, and the launch of a strategic collaboration with Enterprise Ireland in 2024 to strengthen local enterprise through upskilling opportunities.
In line with the EU Council Recommendation, which also calls for effective cooperation, governance, and partnership between education and training institutions, social partners, employers, employment services, and regional and national authorities, Czechia should put in place an effective governance model for micro-credentials. The Minister for Education, Youth and Sport should nominate a specific department in the MŠMT which will be responsible for the further development and implementation of a national strategy for micro-credentials. This department should have a mandate for inter-departmental co-ordination across the areas of higher education, VET and adult learning teams within MŠMT, as well as to cooperate systematically with relevant representatives of the MPSV, education and training providers from higher education, VET and adult learning, employer organisations, relevant analytical and research bodies involved in skills intelligence, unions and workers’ associations.
These work of this department should draw on expertise from existing formal and informal collaborations, such as experts involved in the higher education micro-credential pilot, the TRAUTOM initiative in the Moravian-Silesian region and those involved in micro-credential development within the framework of European University Alliances. In the long run, if feasible, the Czech authorities should consider establishing a national cross-departmental steering body to coordinate policy efforts in lifelong learning.
Recommendation 2.2: Adopt an explicit national strategy and implementation plan for micro-credentials and secure resources for investment in national systems, piloting and roll-out
Micro-credential development in Czechia has to date been driven largely by time-limited project funding in the context of European Union support programmes. This includes the Technical Support Instrument project that has resulted in this strategy proposal. While European Union funds can still play an important role in supporting the further development of micro-credentials as a tool for upskilling and reskilling in Czechia, EU-supported efforts and the goal of developing a harmonised micro-credential system need to be embedded into a clear national policy framework.
As noted in the previous chapter, Czechia adopted its current education and training strategy in 2020 with a time horizon of “2030+”.4 This strategy highlights the value of a flexible lifelong learning system and commits to strengthening lifelong learning opportunities, including in the VET and higher education systems, but does not mention micro-credentials or contain detailed actions to reshape Czechia’s lifelong learning system.
In parallel to taking forward some of the initial practical steps outlined in this proposed strategy, it would be valuable for the lead unit for micro-credentials in MŠMT to develop an explicit national strategy and implementation plan for micro-credentials, which can be adopted and pursued at ministerial level. This strategy and implementation plan, which can be a concise document, can draw on the proposals in this report and outline a realistic plan for phasing and resourcing implementation.
Some resources to support the immediate next steps to develop a national micro-credential system will need to be secured from the state budget, notably to pay for national policy development and staff posts in the MŠMT and sustain existing national systems that can support micro-credentials. It is possible that additional funds to support the trials and support mechanisms recommended in this report can be secured from uncommitted European Social Fund allocations for the period up to 2027, although the scope for this may be limited. It will almost certainly be possible to support micro-credentials development actions with future European Social Fund allocations or alternative EU funding mechanisms under the 2028-34 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), from 2028 onwards. Policy and implementation planning should be developed with these timeframes and funding opportunities in mind.
Recommendation 2.3: Strengthen understanding of regional skills needs across the country as an input to micro-credential development
Regions in Czechia have distinct skills profiles and economic structures, which influence the types of micro-credential that are required to support upskilling and reskilling effectively. Although, as noted in the previous chapter, the MPSV has supported some initiatives to improve understanding of skills needs across the country, the activities have also been based on ad hoc projects and Czechia lacks an institutionalised skills intelligence system. Although disruptive trends such as the diffusion of artificial intelligence (AI) create substantial uncertainties about some areas of future skills demand, information on current skills gaps and anticipation of future demand factoring in predictable demographic and technological changes helps to target the planning and development of learning programmes.
Other OECD systems examined as part of this project have made substantial use of different skills intelligence methods to support the development of micro-credentials. Estonia, for example, has exploited a range of quantitative and qualitative methods of skills anticipation in a single national system (OSKA) to identify occupations and sectors where skills demand in greatest and target funding for new learning programmes and revision of existing provision. Micro-credentials for upskilling and reskilling have been part of this holistic approach to realigning education and training with skills needs. With a particularly strong focus on regional stakeholder engagement, Ireland’s micro-qualifications in the VET sector have been developed though sector-based cooperation between employers and education and training providers, through a network or Regional Skills Fora (see Box 3.4).
To support the future roll-out of micro-credentials in the non-formal adult learning, VET and higher education sectors, Czechia should invest in updating available intelligence on regional skills needs across the country. Ideally, information should be gathered at national level on a) current skill shortages and future needs by region; b) the types of qualification and skills training needed to help meet these shortages and needs and c) the education and training providers in each region that are best placed to address identified training needs. These efforts, which will probably fall under the responsibility of the MPSV and should build on any recent skills intelligence activities in Czechia (such as Kompas), will, in light of limited resources and internal capacity, likely need to be implemented as a project contracted to external providers or academics. In the medium to long term, Czechia would benefit from more structured, ongoing work on skills intelligence to ensure a regularly updated set of skills intelligence information by region, to support further targeting and revision of learning provision.
Skills assessment and anticipation (SAA) systems are designed to generate timely and policy-relevant intelligence on current and future skill needs, in order to guide education, training and labour-market policies. An effective SAA system rests in several interlinked components that together translate labour-market signals into policy action.
A strong analytical foundation is essential. This component combines multiple sources of quantitative and qualitative data, including labour-force surveys, administrative employment data, employer surveys, vacancy and online job-posting data, sectoral foresight studies and macroeconomic projections. Using a mix of analytical methods, such as skills forecasting models, scenario analysis, sectoral studies and qualitative expert inputs, helps address uncertainty of the analysis and capture structural changes such as digitalisation, automation and the green transition.
Institutional co-ordination and stakeholder involvement are critical to ensure relevance and credibility of the analysis. SAA systems are most effective when ministries responsible for education, labour and economic development cooperate closely and when social partners, employers, education providers and regional actors are actively involved. Stakeholders play a key role both in validating analytical results and in ensuring that identified skill needs reflect real workplace requirements, especially in fast-changing sectors.
A core element of a skills intelligence system are mechanisms for translating results into policy and practice. Results of SAAs must be embedded in decision-making processes, influence curriculum design, funding proprieties, accreditation standards, retraining programmes and career guidance; Without clear institutional channels linking anticipation results to higher education, vocational education and adult learning systems, even high-quality analysis has limited impact.
Communication, monitoring and adaptability underpin the system’s long-term effectiveness. Regular dissemination of findings in accessible formats enhances transparency and use by policy makers, education institutions and individuals. Continuous monitoring and evaluation allow SAA systems to adjust methods and assumptions as labour-market conditions evolve, particularly in response to long-term transformation such as decarbonisation, technological change and demographic shifts.
Source: OECD (2026[13]) Anticipating Skill Needs and Adapting Higher Education: From Insight to Alignment, OECD (2023[14]) Assessing and Anticipating Skills for the Green Transition: Unlocking Talent for a Sustainable Future, and OECD (2016[15]) Getting Skills Right: Assessing and Anticipating Changing Skill Needs
The pilot project on micro-credentials in Czech higher education, which ran from 2022-24, is widely viewed to have been a success and an inspiration for further development of micro-credentials across the system. It has demonstrated that micro-credentials can be developed and delivered within the Czech context and has generated valuable experience on which a more systematic approach can be built.
The consultations and analysis undertaken for this project nevertheless highlight three main concerns about the development of micro-credentials in Czech higher education. First, since the end of the pilot project, micro-credentials are being developed by individual higher education institutions in a relatively uncoordinated manner in the absence of a binding national framework (see above). Second, the development of micro-credentials in Czechia has hitherto focused exclusively on the needs and particularities of the higher education sector, without consideration of how this credential type could be implemented in other sectors and how a harmonised national system could be created. Finally, the current – and still limited – offering of micro-credentials in higher education appears to be insufficiently aligned with key skills requirements in the labour market, particularly in fast-evolving fields such as AI and other priority sectors.
The institutional autonomy of Czech universities and their internal governance models limits the scope for direct public policy intervention in programme design or to steer the modalities of cooperation with employers. Nevertheless, a national micro-credential framework, combined with targeted funding incentives, accountability measures, and quality assurance tools, has the potential to incentivise a more labour market-oriented approach (OECD, 2023[16]). The specific characteristics of higher education and the distinct added value of the sector in offering micro-credentials at advanced EQF levels aligned with their research and teaching specialisations justify and call for sector-specific approaches to support further development of micro-credentials in higher education, within the broader national framework outlined under building blocks 1 and 2.
Recommendation 3.1: Work to expand provision of micro-credentials in higher education, particularly in technical universities and non-university institutions
The Czech higher‑education pilot has proven that micro‑credentials can be designed, issued and verified in the national context, but the current offer risks being too narrowly anchored in a subset of universities, with limited systematic linkages to applied and technical domains (Kočí et al., 2023[17]; Czech National Agency for International Education and Research, 2023[18]). Consultations highlighted a tendency for programme development in higher education to evolve “largely in isolation” from external economic sectors or other parts of the education and training system. If micro‑credential development remains concentrated in a limited number of research‑oriented university departments, there is a risk that future micro-credential offerings will not meet real-world needs, particularly in fast‑moving fields, such as AI or green technologies. A broader institutional base would improve coverage of priority skills.
International practice shows that broadening participation beyond traditional research universities helps align provision with priority skills and applied labour‑market needs. Australia’s national higher education micro‑credentials pilot funds short, targeted courses in national priority areas (e.g. teaching, nursing, IT, engineering, science) and requires transparent listing on the MicroCred Seeker platform, widening participation across providers and steering supply specific labour and skills to shortages (Australian Government - Department of Education, 2025[19]). Finland deliberately included both universities and universities of applied sciences in its pilot – eight projects across seven institutions – to test an up‑ and reskilling‑oriented concept (JOTPA, 2024[20]). Ireland’s MicroCreds spans seven universities under a shared ECTS‑aligned design and recognition approach to extract high‑demand modules and create stand‑alone courses aimed at labour‑market needs (McCoshan, 2023[21]). Together, these cases illustrate how diversifying the provider base supports responsiveness while preserving standards.
In the Czech context, this implies making concerted efforts to promote the development and uptake of micro-credentials in more professionally oriented higher education institutions to incentivise the offer of programmes in clearly identified priority areas, such as AI, engineering or green skills. Initial expansion can build on the technical assets from the higher education pilot (definition, certificate, verification), assuming these remain compatible with the planned national framework.
Subject to the approach finally adopted in the national strategy and resourcing plan (see Recommendation 2.2), the further expansion of the micro-credential offering in higher education will probably need to be funded through some level of targeted public funding, although this could explicitly require co-financing from employers and institutional core budgets. In the medium- to long-run, the expectation would be that the offering of micro-credentials will be funded from core institutional budgets and – primarily learner and employer contributions (see below). The future funding and accountability mechanisms for higher education institutions embedded in the new Higher Education Act can be used to incentivise the ongoing provision and updating of micro-credentials and make certain requirements of institutions, such as listing in the national catalogue to strengthen transparency and portability.
Recommendation 3.2: Mandate expression of workload in ECTS and hours in higher education and establish clear recognition procedures
While the higher education pilot project standardised certificate content and promoted ECTS use for micro-credentials in higher education in Czechia, persistent ambiguity remains around how workload should be expressed and stackability and recognition toward formal qualifications. Historically, the workload of lifelong‑learning offerings in higher education in Czechia has been expressed in hours and this was also the case for many micro-credentials trialled in the pilot project. Current practices for recognising micro-credentials as credit towards larger qualifications – based on the ECTS system – are uneven across faculties and institutions, which weakens portability and the value proposition for learners. Without clear, consistent rules for expressing workload in both hours and ECTS and for recognising micro‑credentials, learners cannot reliably plan pathways nor compare offers, and institutions face uncertainty about credit decisions.
Estonia’s Adult Education Act amendments define micro‑qualifications at 5-30 ECTS in the higher education sector, require national registration, and embed recognition of prior learning (VNIL) – a package that clarifies workload, quality, and recognition routes across HEIs (European Commission, 2024[22]). The Netherlands (Npuls) pilot uses a common 3-30 ECTS range, with quality assurance arrangements aligned with the ESG (Standards and guidelines for quality assurance in the European Higher Education Area), providing a shared “language” while leaving content to providers (Nplus, 2024[23]). Ireland’s higher education micro‑credentials are ECTS‑aligned even where they are not formal NFQ awards, strengthening portability signals.
Building on this international experience and on the EU Council Recommendation – which stipulates that the notional workload for micro-credentials should be expressed in ECTS where possible (European Union, 2022[1]) – Czechia should mandate dual expression of workload (hours and ECTS) for all higher education micro‑credentials. It should also require institutions to publish procedures setting out how they will recognise micro-credentials towards formal programmes, including rules for internal transfer across faculties. The dual expression of workload will accommodate adult‑learning practice while aligning Czech higher education with European credit norms, while the recognition requirement will normalise transparent, criteria‑based decisions and clarify stackability. Implementation can build on the existing higher education certificate and verification infrastructure, with an update of guidance and catalogue metadata to display workload in both measures and to link to each institution’s recognition policy, following the spirit of the approaches adopted in Estonia the Netherlands and Ireland.
Recommendation 3.3: Require labour-market alignment evidence for all higher education micro-credentials
Consultations highlighted that universities’ incentive structures in continuing education do not consistently prioritise labour market needs, and the current portfolio of micro-credentials includes both job‑oriented and more general, academic offers (Czech National Agency for International Education and Research, 2023[18]). The current offer of micro-credentials does not yet adequately address the skill needs of the labour market and there is limited structured cooperation with employers in programme development. Without a minimum evidence requirement for labour market alignment, public support risks financing micro‑credentials with limited impact on priority skills gaps (OECD, 2023[16]). A clearer connection between micro-credential provision and skills evidence would help steer short‑form learning in higher education towards in‑demand domains. Establishing a light but firm accountability floor would preserve institutional autonomy while ensuring that publicly supported provision targets verified skill demand.
Internationally, countries increasingly tie public support in higher education to labour market relevance (OECD, 2023[16]). Australia’s higher education pilot channels funding to micro‑credentials in nationally identified priority areas, using intelligence from Jobs and Skills Australia, and requiring providers to list programmes on the national platform MicroCred Seeker for transparency (Australian Government - Department of Education, 2025[19]). Finland’s pilot requires higher education providers to demonstrate labour‑market demand in proposals, underpinned by The Service Centre for Continuous Learning and Employment (JOTPA) and national/regional skills‑anticipation tools (e.g., Skills Needs Compass, Labour Force Barometer), which help steer topics to areas of need. Ireland blends skills intelligence (EGFSN, SOLAS/SLMRU and the Regional Skills Fora) with enterprise co‑design, ensuring higher education micro‑credentials and further education and training (FET) micro‑qualifications target verified sectoral needs (Cedefop, 2023[24]; SOLAS, 2024[25]).
Internationally, some OECD countries tie public funding in higher education to labour market relevance (OECD, 2023[16]). Australia’s higher education pilot channels funding to micro‑credentials in nationally identified priority areas, using intelligence from Jobs and Skills Australia, and requiring providers to list programmes on the national platform MicroCred Seeker for transparency (Australian Government - Department of Education, 2025[19]). Finland’s pilot requires higher education providers to demonstrate labour‑market demand in proposals, underpinned by The Service Centre for Continuous Learning and Employment (JOTPA) and national/regional skills‑anticipation tools (e.g., Skills Needs Compass, Labour Force Barometer), which help steer topics to areas of need. Ireland blends skills intelligence (EGFSN, SOLAS/SLMRU and the Regional Skills Fora) with enterprise co‑design, ensuring higher education micro‑credentials and further education and training (FET) micro‑qualifications target verified sectoral needs (Cedefop, 2023[24]; SOLAS, 2024[25]).Czechia should require higher education institutions to present evidence of labour market alignment for each micro‑credential that is eligible to receive public funding through subsidies to institutions or learners, drawing on employer input, use of skills intelligence, or regional needs assessments. Higher education institutions should also be required to including a summary of evidence of labour market relevance in the national catalogue entry. Funding decisions for short-term offers should favour priority-aligned proposals, while leaving room for institutions to offer market-financed courses outside public calls. Over time, a shared template for documenting employer engagement and skills evidence would normalise this practice.
Micro-credentials in skill domains related to vocational education and training could help Czechia respond more quickly to changing skill needs by offering short, targeted learning linked to formal VET qualifications and professional standards (OECD, 2023[26]). Developing micro-credentials in VET would expand the current adult learning offering in technical, medium-level skills segments – where demand is often highest – and complement the even more targeted, employer-driven provision in the non-formal education sector (OECD, 2023[16]).
The VET system in Czechia is characterised by several well-documented rigidities and weaknesses. Secondary VET remains largely school-based and with limited work-based learning, with programmes and curricula that are often highly specialised and outdated, although revision processes are currently underway, led by the National Pedagogical Institute and aimed at modernising fields of study and better aligning provision with labour market needs (NPI ČR, 2026[27]). At the same time, ongoing reform efforts create an opportunity to embed the development and offer of micro-credentials into a broader modernisation of the sector. The MOV modularisation pilot demonstrated that secondary VET schools can develop stackable learning modules that could inform future development of micro-credentials, even though implementation of modularisation across the system remains limited and voluntary (Kolektiv projektu MOV, 2020[28]). In tertiary vocational education, the Tertiary Professional Schools (VOŠ) are undergoing a period of institutional change linked to new accreditation and quality assurance arrangements, and consultation feedback suggests there is substantial interest in exploring micro-credentials through pilots and targeted trials. The question, therefore, is less whether VET can contribute to a national micro-credential system, and more how to sequence development so that early progress is feasible, credible and scalable.
Recommendation 4.1: Initiate micro-credential development in tertiary professional schools (VOŠ) as a priority
If micro-credential development in Czechia continues to advance mainly through universities, the resulting system is likely to remain concentrated in higher education and to underserve the medium-skill segments of the labour market (OECD, 2023[16]). In a system where participation in formal adult learning remains low (see previous chapter), and the VET system is facing a range of broader challenges, it is unlikely that VET micro-credentials will develop without a strong policy steer.
A further policy risk is that vocational micro-credentials could evolve in one of two inefficient directions. On the one hand, they could become too tightly tied to existing programmes and therefore reproduce the rigidity, narrowness and outdated content that stakeholders already associate with parts of Czech VET. On the other hand, they could proliferate as small, weakly specified offerings that are difficult for employers and learners to interpret and trust. A credible starting point is therefore needed in a part of the VET system where quality assurance is formalised, labour-market links are well established, and new provision can be tested without simply replicating existing programme structures.
Tertiary professional schools (VOŠ), which offer programmes at ISCED level 6 outside the higher education system, appear to offer the most promising entry point for developing micro-credentials in VET in Czechia. The consultation process also identified an appetite for this on the part of the VOŠ sector. The recent shift of responsibility for quality assurance to the National Accreditation Bureau for Tertiary Education and new accreditation arrangements create a window of opportunity to introduce a framework for developing micro-credentials in higher VET. An early pilot of micro-credentials in VOŠ could build on a recognised institutional base and formal quality arrangements, while targeting occupations that sit between upper-secondary vocational preparation and university-level provision.
Internationally, Finland offers a particularly relevant example. As discussed in Recommendation 3.1, Finland is using a differentiated approach to micro-credentials across sectors. In VET, vocational qualification units are being developed into micro-credentials for continuous learning, supported by nationally described learning outcomes, a national database of units and a 2026 funding reform intended to make provision more viable (OECD, 2023[26]). Ireland also shows that non-university, applied providers can play a credible role in short, labour market-oriented provision when they operate within a clear framework and recognised quality arrangements (OECD, 2023[16]). Together, these examples suggest that vocational micro-credentials are most feasible where they are anchored in recognised institutions and supported by clear implementation rules.
Czechia should therefore prioritise the development of micro-credentials in the VOŠ sector as the first VET-related pillar of the future system. Early pilots should focus on a limited number of institutions and fields where employer links are already established and where short-form provision can complement university offerings. This would allow Czechia to test how far VOŠ can provide accessible, labour-market-relevant micro-credentials with clear learning outcomes, transparent assessment and credible certification, while avoiding the risk that vocational micro-credentials are either absorbed into existing rigid programme structures or remain outside trusted institutional frameworks.
Recommendation 4.2: Finance the development of a dedicated micro-credential implementation manual for VOŠ institutions
If VOŠ institutions are to play an early role in micro-credential development, they will need more than general policy support. At present, one of the main barriers to their participation is the absence of practical implementation guidance. Unlike universities, which already benefit from a shared definition certificate model, catalogue and verification tools – albeit ones that is not yet anchored in legislation – VOŠ institutions do not yet have a comparable operational framework for designing and issuing micro-credentials. At the same time, the sector is adapting to new accreditation and quality assurance arrangements, making this a suitable moment to clarify how micro-credentials should be developed within the sector. Without such guidance, VOŠ are likely to remain dependent on university partnerships or to delay participation altogether.
International examples point to the value of practical implementation standards for non-university provision. In Finland, vocational qualification units are being described nationally with explicit learning outcomes and prepared for use as micro-credentials in continuous learning (OECD, 2023[26]). In Ireland, streamlined validation arrangements have been used to support smaller, stackable offers in the further education and training sector without imposing the full burden of procedures designed for longer qualifications (OECD, 2023[16]). As discussed in Recommendation 3.2, clarity on workload, documentation and recognition is important for portability and learner value. In the VOŠ context, this clarity first needs to be translated into usable operational guidance.
Finland: Nationally described vocational units can support the use of micro‑credentials in continuous learning
In Finland’s VET approach, micro-credentials are being operationalised through vocational qualification units (VQUs) rather than as wholly separate short courses: the model builds on the recommendation of the Tutke4 working group and uses existing qualification units as the basis for labour-market-recognised certificates for continuous learning. The implementation work is being led centrally by the Finnish National Agency for Education, which is describing the learning outcomes of these units in the national database; once this work is completed, providers will be able to select from a pool of around 3 000 VQUs to decide which micro-credentials to offer, creating a common technical and documentation basis across the system. A further operational enabler is the new VET funding system planned for 2026, which is intended to make the provision of VQUs as micro-credentials more economically viable for institutions. In Czechia, a practical implementation manual for VOŠ could similarly translate general principles into standardised descriptors, documentation rules and provider choices.
Ireland: Streamlined implementation arrangements can help applied providers deliver smaller, stackable offers
In Ireland’s further education and training sector, implementation has been structured through a centrally guided model in which SOLAS, Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI, the state agency for quality in the further and higher education system), Education and Training Boards (ETBs) and enterprise actors jointly developed a FET micro-qualification model applicable across the sector, with micro-qualifications embedded in the National Framework of Qualifications by validating them as special-purpose awards. Operationally, this sits alongside QQI’s adapted programme-level validation procedures, which retain core quality criteria but use simplified templates and remote desk-audit reviews to make the approval of smaller, stackable offers more proportionate than procedures designed for longer programmes. The model also supports consistency in delivery: once a micro-qualification has been approved, the ETB that led its development can offer it first, after which it can be taken up by other ETBs, helping align provision and quality across providers. This points to the value of a VOŠ implementation manual that does not only define standards, but also clarifies validation steps, documentation requirements and how approved offers can be used more consistently across institutions.
Drawing on these implementation standards piloted internationally, the lead unit for micro-credentials should facilitate the development of a dedicated implementation manual for VOŠ micro-credentials, likely developed by external experts in consultation with sector representatives and the relevant quality assurance bodies. The manual should provide practical guidance on learning outcomes, workload description, assessment, employer involvement, documentation and quality requirements, while clarifying how short-form provision should relate to existing VOŠ programmes. This would reduce unnecessary dependence on universities, increase consistency across the sector and make it easier for VOŠ institutions to contribute independently to a future cross-sectoral micro-credential system.
Recommendation 4.3: In the medium-term establish a targeted engagement programme for secondary VET schools
Even if VOŠ institutions provide a useful entry point, a micro-credential system that stops there would still risk missing a large part of the medium-skill labour market. Findings from consultations suggest that broader participation from VET schools in micro-credential provision is unlikely to emerge organically. The MOV modularisation project showed that while modularisation is feasible, the appetite for implementing modular approaches systematically is limited (Kolektiv projektu MOV, 2020[28]). Consultation feedback also pointed to weak VET engagement with the current project and to the broader structural challenges of school-based provision, uneven employer collaboration and limited system responsiveness. Nevertheless, these observations need to be interpreted in context. Schools’ capacity to engage in new modular initiatives was significantly constrained during the COVID-19 pandemic and associated school closures. In parallel, as mentioned earlier, there are ongoing revisions of the framework curricula for secondary vocational education, including the preparation of modularly structured programmes by the National Pedagogical Institute as part of revisions to the framework curricula for secondary vocational education (NPI ČR, 2026[27]). While these reforms are not designed specifically for micro-credentials, they could reduce some structural barriers to more flexible provision over time. At the time of writing, it is not yet possible to assess the extent to which these reforms will address the structural challenges identified. However, if effectively implemented, they could help create more favourable conditions for the future engagement of VET schools in micro-credential provision.
International experience suggests that applied providers are more likely to participate when dedicated support and brokerage arrangements with employers are in place (OECD, 2023[16]). Ireland’s further education and training sector shows how a non-university provider base can deliver short, stackable provision through common structures and strong local delivery capacity (OECD, 2023[16]). Estonia’s Green Skills programme similarly shows how targeted partnerships between providers, employers and sector bodies can accelerate the development of new modules and micro-credentials in priority areas (Drenkhan, 2024[29]). These arrangements matter because they create practical channels through which skills intelligence and employer demand can be translated into short, relevant learning offers.
Building on this international experience, Czechia should establish a targeted engagement programme for VET schools, combining practical templates, design guidance, pilot funding and an intermediation function linking schools with employers and regional actors. The purpose should not be to bring the whole school network into the system at once, but to support gradual entry by schools that are able to develop labour-market relevant micro-credentials in fields where short-form learning has clear value. Building on existing regional cooperation where this already exists would make the approach more feasible and would help ensure that the future micro-credential system does not remain predominantly higher education focused.
In Czechia, most non-formal education and training is provided by commercial training institutions, firms or organisations providing education for their employees, and non-profit organisations in the adult learning sector. No governing body oversees the provision of training by non-formal providers; no register of non-formal training providers exists and there are no mandatory quality assurance requirements for non-formal providers. Some courses provided by non-formal commercial training providers are funded by active labour market policies in the form of retraining (rekvalificace) and through the Individual Learning Account pilot. These retraining courses must all be accredited by the MŠMT.
Private providers are flexible and responsive to labour market needs, but currently lack robust national quality assurance, contributing to low public trust. Stakeholders consulted for this project consistently raised concerns about the risk of poor-quality provision damaging the reputation of a future micro-credential brand. At the same time, stakeholders from the private training sector and employer representatives agreed that private providers can offer tailored training to meet specific needs faster and more flexibly than formal education and training providers. Employer-led non-formal education and training dominates adult learning in Czechia and is an important piece of lifelong learning in the country.
Recommendation 5.1: Introduce a quality assurance pathway for private providers building on the accreditation process used for “retraining” programmes
Non-private providers should be included in the harmonised micro-credential system, and a quality assurance process needs to be introduced to enable this inclusion. Both Estonia and Ireland combine institutional quality assurance for autonomous and formal providers of micro-credentials in the higher education sector and study field- and programme-level quality assurance for non-university and non-formal providers that are guaranteed by regulatory bodies. This model balances regulatory assurance and provider autonomy, enabling providers with existing institutional accreditation to design and implement micro-credentials quickly, while permitting other providers, such as non-formal providers and those in the VET sector, to be a part of the micro-credential system through a programme-level quality assurance process.
In order to facilitate an implementation of the national framework, between 2019 and 2022, HAKA tested a custom external quality assurance (EQA) model for micro-qualifications. Initial reviews at the institutional level showed significant variation in quality within the same provider. Around half of the assessed non-formal institutions failed to meet minimum standards across all areas. Based on these findings, HAKA concluded that institution-based quality assessment was not effective for smaller, specialised providers. After consulting with stakeholders, HAKA replaced the institutional-level EQF with a field-specific approach that accredits providers by study programme group, using ISCED-F subject-field codes as the reference. Under this new system, non-formal providers – such as private companies, NGOs, and professional bodies – must pass this study field-level review before they can offer micro-qualifications worth 5 to 30 credits. Universities and VET colleges, by contrast, are automatically eligible through their regular external accreditation processes.
The quality assurance pilot, which had involved about 120 non-formal training organisations by mid-2022, introduced a simplified review process lasting two months. Providers begin by submitting a self-evaluation. Then, a panel of two to four experts reviews a sample of courses, assessing them across four areas: curriculum, teaching and learning, staff, and resources. Based on this, HAKA can grant full five-year accreditation, conditional accreditation, or reject the application. Once accredited, each micro-qualification must be listed in the Estonian Education Information System (EHIS) after a compliance check by the Ministry of Education and Research. Only those programmes registered in EHIS are eligible for public or European Social Fund (ESF) support and the learner tax rebate.
Czechia should introduce a quality assurance pathway for private providers wishing to offer micro-credentials, including a light external review of assessment practices and staff qualifications. The MŠMT currently accredits small learning programmes offered by non-formal (including commercial) training providers as part of the system of retraining implemented under the Employment Act and the ILA pilot. However, the accreditation unit as resourced at the time of writing is overstretched, limiting the feasibility of scaling quality assurance. The most practical option is to adapt the current retraining accreditation system to incorporate micro-credentials, which would certainly require a strengthening of the capacity of the retraining accreditation team. Priority should be given for micro-credentials in in-demand sectors/skills, such as digital skills training and the green transition. In the medium to longer term, Czechia could also consider introducing a programme or study-field level quality assurance for non-formal providers. This would require further capacity for quality assurance either within the MŠMT or in the National Accreditation Bureau.
Reliable, cross‑sector electronic certification is essential to build trust in micro‑credentials, support employer verification, and enable portability across providers (OECD, 2023[30]). Today, verification practices in Czechia are fragmented. Higher education has a functioning electronic certification system – implemented for micro-credentials by Masaryk University – but there is no cross‑sector format or verification service used across VET and non‑formal providers.
Learners and employers cannot easily verify the authenticity of micro-credentials or compare them across providers and sectors, reducing trust and recognition (OECD, 2023[30]). In workshops, stakeholders reported limited awareness of alternatives and stressed risks of confusion, low employer recognition, and vendor lock‑in if multiple, incompatible solutions emerge. Czechia also plans to roll out the European Digital Identity Wallet (EUDIW), which is expected to be operational by the end of 2026 and could host verifiable micro‑credentials – making interoperability with EU standards a near‑term requirement. A method for using blockchain for certificate verification has been proposed as part of the Moravian‑Silesian Employment Pact project TRAUTOM. If implemented, this might bring useful evidence on the feasibility of using this technology for certification. However, it is not clear at the time of writing if this mechanism has been implemented in practice and none of the comparator systems examined during this project have used blockchain-based certification systems.
Recommendation 6.1: Agree on and implement a national micro-credential certificate template and digital verification platform
Czechia should build a single, cross‑sector electronic credential and verification layer that extends the higher‑education solution operated by Masaryk University to VET and non‑formal providers, so that learners and employers can verify the authenticity of micro-credentials and interpret key information consistently across the system. While the current system developed during the higher education pilot has uses a standardised electronic certificate template, this template will likely need to be adjusted slightly to ensure it fits with the proposed nationwide template for micro-credentials (see Recommendation 1.2). With Czechia also preparing to roll out the EUDIW, the next step is to agree on a national template and verification service compatible with this system that other sectors can adopt and that will permit micro-credentials to be stored in the EU wallet.
The recommended approach is to reuse and scale what worked in the higher education pilot. The first step would be to agree a national certificate template and minimum data schema – including issuer identifier, learner ID, title, learning outcomes, workload/size, level/EQF where relevant, assessment method, the basis for quality assurance, and a unique verification link or signature (see Recommendation 1.2) – and embed these elements in the existing electronic issuance and verification workflow so that they can be adopted by VOŠ, VET schools and, in a proportionate way, by eligible non‑formal providers. In practice, this means extending the Masaryk‑led verification platform, publishing onboarding templates and conformance guidance for non‑HE providers and introducing proportionate provider checks (e.g. institutional registration and a stated quality assurance reference) to prevent misuse without adding undue burden. This will provide a single point of trust across sectors while preserving providers’ flexibility in delivery and programme design.
Second, the verification backbone should be complemented by a public, searchable registry that makes issued micro‑credentials discoverable and comparable across sectors (OECD, 2023[30]). Here, Czechia can build on the assets already in place. These include the higher‑education “Studuj na VŠ” (“Study in Higher Education”) catalogue and the “Jsem v kursu” site linked to the pilot of individual learning accounts. In the short term, the registry should interoperate with these platforms; in the medium term, it can evolve into a cross‑sector portal so that learners and employers can find and compare offers (and, where learners consent, verify credentials) in one place. This responds directly to stakeholder feedback calling for a unified access point and clearer information architecture for micro‑credentials.
International experience provides two practical design references. The Dutch edubadges system shows how a trusted, national issuing and verification platform can serve all tertiary and vocational institutions, with badges that present study load, level, language, and learning outcomes and are verifiable by employers – illustrating how to organise provider onboarding, metadata discipline, and digital signing/verification at scale (SURF, n.d.[31]). In parallel, the Credential Engine in the United States demonstrates how a common schema and open registry can make credentials discoverable and interpretable (provider, accreditation, time/cost, audience, delivery, etc.), a transparency function that complements the core verification layer (Credential Engine, 2026[32]). Together, these models point to a combined verification‑plus‑registry architecture that Czechia can tailor to its context.
The Netherlands: SURF edubadges as a cross‑provider digital credential backbone
The Edubadges programme in the Netherlands issues secure, electronically signed badges that function as verifiable micro‑credentials. Operated by SURF (the national ICT cooperation body for education and research), Edubadges are available to all tertiary and vocational institutions that register on the platform. Each badge includes study load, level, language of instruction, and learning outcomes. The badge is linked to the issuing institution and cannot be reproduced or manipulated, allowing employers to verify authenticity from the learner’s shared portfolio. This creates a trusted, portable record of short learning that institutions can embed into their credentialing practice.
The Edubadges infrastructure is also used to pilot micro‑credentials in both higher education and VET through the Npuls programme. Because all badges adhere to a common specification and are issued by verified organisations, the platform supports cross‑institution recognition and sector‑wide visibility of short learning. In practical terms, Edubadges offer Czechia a reference model for provider onboarding, common metadata (learning outcomes, level, workload), digital signing/verification, and portfolio‑based sharing that employers can trust
The United States: a common registry and schema to increase transparency
In the United States, Credential Engine operates a cloud‑based Credential Registry using a common description language (CTDL) to map the credential landscape. The public Credential Finder permits users to filter and compare credentials by type, geography, focus area, with structured information on provider, accreditation, time and financial cost, audience level, and delivery method. This architecture demonstrates how an open schema and registry can make credentials discoverable, comparable, and interpretable across thousands of providers and programmes.
For policy transfer, the registry + schema approach is complementary to a verification layer: a national data standard (covering field names, required elements, validation rules) ensures consistent publishing across sectors, while a verification service (e.g., the current higher education system extended cross‑sector) ensures authenticity. Together, they support employer trust, portability, and alignment with EU standards for electronic learning credentials.
Source: DRAFT_24CZ07 International Report_TC.docx (box 2.6 on The Netherlands: edubadges; box 3.8 USA: Credential Engine)
The 2022 EU Adult Education Survey revealed that Czech adults have less desire to participate in training than the average across the EU. Awareness building and outreach is key to ensure the success of the future micro-credentials system. The success of the Individual Learning Account (ILA) pilot (2023-2025) in Czechia illustrates that a strong online media campaign and collaboration with regional actors (regional labour offices in the case of the ILA pilot) can be effective in ensuring that training reaches the regions and the individuals that would benefit the most (OECD, 2025[33]).
Recommendation 7.1: Create a national cross-sector micro-credential information portal
Online portals have become the go-to place for information on education and training. However, due to the low levels of harmonisation of micro-credentials, information on these qualifications can be harder to find than for traditional degree programmes. Centralised information portals across education and training sectors can help lower the mental barriers to participation, as potential learners with lower confidence can receive information about training opportunities from the VET sector and adult education institutions. The advantage to listing micro-credentials together with all other training courses in the sector is that learners can have a full overview of all the types of training courses that are available in their desired field (e.g. sustainability) and are able to see a catalogue of courses that tackle different learner needs (e.g. timing, length, delivery mode, training methods). This enables them to choose based on their ability, motivation and need, without having to compromise on their desired upskilling topic.
In Finland, information about micro-credential offerings will be available on the platform of the Continuous Learning Digitalisation project. The platform aims to create an online one-stop-shop for continuous learning that consolidates information on skill demands alongside education and training supplies. The work has already started using the architecture of the existing online study catalogue for higher education, and the new portal aims to cover programmes offered by different types of providers, including higher education institutions, VET providers and eventually also private providers (Ministry of Education and Culture, n.d.[34]). The service is scheduled to be launched in August 2026.
The Czech pilot for micro-credentials in the higher education sector produced a catalogue of micro-credentials offered by higher education institutions, which is currently integrated in the “Studuj na VŠ” platform, maintained by the Czech National Agency for International Education and Research. A catalogue of retraining courses is also included in the “Jsem v kursu” site, linked to the pilot of individual learning accounts, maintained by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. However, there is no unified cross-sector access point for micro-credentials, information on upskilling opportunities is scattered, and guidance is inconsistent. Czechia should create a national cross-sector micro-credential platform, integrating offerings from all types of providers, with filtering by region, provider type, and skill area. Further analysis should determine whether a future cross-sectoral portal could build on the existing “Studuj na VŠ” or “Jsem v kursu” platforms, or whether a new site should be developed. This portal should form part of a broader integrated lifelong learning information environment.
Recommendation 7.2: Strengthen career guidance and lifelong learning support infrastructure across regions
Alongside platforms and websites, policymakers and education and training providers can extend their outreach efforts to target groups by, for example, creating targeted media campaigns to broaden take-up of micro-credentials. Although information and marketing campaigns are key to raising awareness of micro-credentials and adult learning, these are unlikely to be sufficient to engage harder to reach groups which might need upskilling and reskilling. As a result, the micro-credential use risks being concentrated among already well-educated learners and the system may fail to address key areas of skills shortage.
Career guidance infrastructure should be strengthened across regions, explicitly linked to micro-credential offerings and to skills intelligence initiatives. The success of micro-credentials in the further education sector in Ireland is largely due to the outreach activities of SOLAS and the Education and Training Boards (training providers). Through the Skills to Advance programme, the ETBs have built strong connections and collaboration with local enterprises, and the ETBs carry out outreach activities to inform enterprises and their employees of the need and value of training, including micro-qualifications. Currently, ETBs can offer micro-qualifications and other training to enterprises specific to their upskilling needs and with flexible schedules tailored to the employees’ time constraints.
The Czech example of the Moravian-Silesian Region’s TRAUTOM initiative5 provides a similar example. TRAUTOM has sought to support skills development for key economic sectors in the region through a partnership model involving the Moravian-Silesian Employment Pact – an association created to steer the project – the VSB Technical University of Ostrava, regional secondary schools, the Moravian-Silesian automotive cluster, other regional businesses and career advisers. The project activities have focused on developing sectoral skills and education strategies, supporting businesses to develop in-company training plans, developing education-business partnerships to secure new work-based learning opportunities and update curricula and development of new retraining (rekvalifikace) programmes to respond to specific skills shortages in the automotive, energy and metallurgy sectors. Czechia should take advantage of existing outreach efforts and implement a strong career guidance network to bring awareness of micro-credentials and other upskilling initiatives to ensure learning support across regions. This will require cooperation between regional government bodies, training providers, local employers and actors involved in outreach activities.
The success of a harmonised micro-credential system will also depend on the supporting policies to enable the long-term sustainability of the system. Developing a cohesive and supporting adult learning infrastructure is key to guarantee the success of the micro-credential system, but also the success of other initiative in the education and training sector. Supporting policies, such as legislative framework for lifelong learning can increase the uptake of training, while securing stable funding enables long-term operation of the micro-credential system.
Recommendation 8.1: In the medium-term establish a national skills or training fund
The sustainability of the micro-credential system may be at risk when EU funding ends, risking the discontinuation of initiatives and loss of investment. Stakeholders consulted during this project generally accepted that micro-credentials should be broadly self-financing, paid for by fees charged to learners or employers, with state support reserved for specific target populations for whom a strong case for intervention exists.
To enable the offering of micro-credentials, the MŠMT (and supporting institutions) need to ensure that a sustainable funding model is developed. A recurring challenge with policy initiatives supported by temporary and project-based funding is the discontinuation of initiatives once funding ends. Micro-credential projects in Czechia have relied on diverse national and international funding streams, but these are often periodic and short-term. To ensure the long-term sustainability of micro-credentials, Czechia should embed their development and delivery within stable national funding strategies rather than relying on temporary project-based resources. This funding should also target providers to encourage the development of micro-credentials in priority sectors.
Generally, countries tend to offer micro-credentials free of charge or at subsidised rates in the initial years of a national pilot or during the establishment of a harmonised micro-credential system. In Finland, the courses offered through the pilot on micro-credentials in higher education are currently free. This is because the costs are covered by the project funding by the JOTPA. However, for the future viability of micro-credentials, the national framework for micro-credentials in higher education stipulates that the providers should be able to charge a fee for the courses in the future, under the assumption that they are valued products of competence development that people are willing to pay for (thus requiring micro-credentials to be labour-market relevant). In Estonia, providers are free to charge tuition of micro-credential courses. As the pilot is still in its early stages, there is not yet a national financing system that covers this type of training. However, seeing that micro-credentials have to be accessible if they are to address the skills needs of the labour market rapidly, the Ministry of Education and Research has aspirations of extending existing financial schemes to enable fee-free training for micro-credentials as well.
Drawing on international good practices, Czechia may wish to continue offering micro-credentials for free or at reduced cost in the initial years of their introduction/during the piloting phase. This enables the government to test out different aspects of the system before settling on the format that best addresses the training needs of the Czech labour market.
Once the system has been established, micro-credential training should be transitioned to a co-financing scheme, as well as integrated with the ILA system, and existing education and training support should be expanded to include micro-credentials. In Australia, students who are enrolled with an approved higher education provider may be eligible for Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) to assist paying for the cost of study. The micro-credential pilot in higher education is the first non-traditional course type that has been eligible for HELP, and this was authorised through legislative and regulatory changes. In Ireland, the National Training Fund is financed primarily through a dedicated levy on employers, collected as a percentage of employees’ earnings. The fund is administered by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS), and the revenues of the fund are used for training, upskilling and labour-market activation programmes rather than individual training support. Between 2015 and 2023, the National Training fund allocated EUR 182 million to support 461 courses and over 700 micro-credential courses in the higher education. The funding was channelled as a learner fee subsidy, earmarked for innovative methods of teaching and delivery for skills needed by enterprises and employers (Kelly et al., 2025[35]).
Recommendation 8.2: Consider developing a Lifelong Learning Act to strengthen governance and cross-sectoral coherence
As discussed under Building block 1, international experience show that voluntary guidelines alone rarely provide the governance coherence needed to build a harmonised micro-credential system. One of the challenges for lifelong learning in Czechia is the fragmentation of adult learning initiatives which have not been able to tackle the skill shortage issue in the labour market. In the absence of a unified legal framework for lifelong learning, responsibilities for quality assurance, recognition, financing and stakeholder involvement have become fragmented across multiple laws and implementing bodies, creating uncertainty for providers and learners and limiting scalability.
Czechia currently regulates different components of adult learning through separate legislative acts, each with its own procedures, standards and governance structures( Box 3.8). This fragmentation makes it difficult to introduce micro-credentials in a consistent way across sectors and hinders the creation of a coherent lifelong learning system that enables adults to accumulate and stack learning outcomes over time.
The Education Act, which declares the right of every individual to be educated throughout their entire life.
The Higher Education Act, particularly Section 60 on Lifelong Learning which grants higher education institutions the right to offer non-degree education courses to learners.
The Act on the Verification and recognition of the Results of Further Education enables the validation of non-formal and informal learning through examinations and the award of professional qualifications in the National Register of Qualifications (NSK).
In accordance with the Employment Act (Act no. 435/2004 Coll.) Decree no. 176/2009 of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports sets out the requirements for applying for accreditation of retraining programmes, the organisation of the retraining process, and the conditions for its termination.
There are benefits to creating unified lifelong learning legislation and outlining a harmonised micro-credential framework within such a legislation. For example, Estonia’s Adult Education Act provides a single legislative anchor for micro-credentials and defines responsibilities, quality assurance arrangements, and cross-sector coherence in adult learning. This approach has helped Estonia establish a more integrated system in which micro-credentials are recognised and values by learners, employers and education providers, and is one of the factors that have enabled the inclusion of non-formal providers in the micro-credential system.
In the medium term, Czechia should consider developing a Lifelong Learning Act to give the stable foundation needed to scale micro-credentials, support strategic workforce development and strengthen lifelong learning policy. This recommendation is not directly mandated by the EU Council Recommendation (which does not prescribe a specific legislative vehicle) but aligns with stakeholder preferences. Any legislative revision involving the Employment Act would need to be led by MPSV; further consultation with officials from both ministries is required.
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← 3. Following an OECD review of Ireland’s skills strategy, the National Skills Council and nine Regional Skills fora were relaunched in 2024 together with the new National Skills Strategy (ReferNet Ireland & Cedefop, 2024[36]). The purpose of the National Skills Council is to encourage engagement and collaboration between government departments and agencies, the education and training system, and enterprises. The National Skills Council and its work is overseen by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.