We have all noticed, during this long period of crisis, imposed by COVID19, UNIMED has not stopped rejuvenating the Euro-Mediterranean cooperation and collaboration, with the latest achievements, sharing best practices, through its forum, for discussion and networking, to keep on the eLearning, as one of the ways to keep learning alive. The pandemic has forced a massive shift away from learning and teaching in traditional settings, with physical interactions, and replaced it with technology, mainly digital technology, that enables communication, collaboration, and learning across distance. Educators cannot deny that the digital shift is a complicated tool, and it does not solve all our institutional problems. Still, we cannot ignore that it remains a source of innovation and expanded potentials. It truly brought many existing internationalization best patterns and trends to the surface.

Today, I would like to reflect on a personal experience on how I managed to integrate micro-credentials in my courses at my Home University. However, first, I would like to mention that my participation in this webinar is the result of the collective webinars I attended on the future of Higher Education, mainly presented by UNIMED SubNetworks on Mobility and Intercultural dialogue, on eLearning and Open Education, on Employability and Institutional Partners as ALF, ESN, ETF, FAO, and UfM. In addition, Anna Lindh Foundation, COIL Lasallian Teachers Network, UNESCO, EAIE, ITC, ILO, OECD, Search for Common Ground, Sharing Perspectives Foundation, Soliya, kiron, Migration Matters, UNICollaboration, Erasmus+ Virtual Exchange, and many others.

Micro-credentials are quickly gaining interest nowadays, as they are instrumental in supporting up-skilling in response to the rapid transformation in the labor market. By applying micro-credentials, educators and students expand knowledge, encouraging dialogue and mutual exchange of information. The actual gain is the massive exposure to the inter-cultural experience, leading towards structuring graduates' talk towards self-awareness by reinforcing their globalized citizenship. Knowledge exchange and micro-credentials collaboration activities may not come naturally to integrate at the margin of our academic paradigm smoothly.

Moving forward, we need to understand better the concept of micro-credentials with a better and more in-depth understanding of the business environment, which can help improve teaching, provide students with flexibility, autonomy, accountability, and – more in general – with a "learning-to-learn" attitude. We need to embrace a micro-credentials paradigm in all sectors and fields, which should orient our missions and activities, and apply 21st-century acceptable practices, that target young graduates' employability. I believe the post-crisis world will be more indebted, less global, and more digital. Accordingly, having embedded and integrated the micro-credentials into my teaching in the recent three years, I can assert that the outcome has been positive, and I highly recommend this approach.

On a practical level, adopting these methods has helped me shift from a teacher-centered learning approach to a learner and virtual-training-centered practice. This is a genuine opportunity in front of us today. We have an essential role and opportunity to create a new and even more healthy learning culture. We still have a long way to go to develop micro-credentials plans and bridge educators, who conduct education and exchange programs, to learn more about designing, preparing for, and facilitating future programming outreach. Therefore, strengthening micro-credentials opportunity became a part of transitioning from in-person to future employment opportunities by creating a new perspective of managing the transition from University to the world of work using a holistic approach.

So, why is there a need to adapt and act quickly?

The job crisis is hitting fresh graduates as we confront a tough employment market, and we cannot return to the world as it was before March 2020. We are heading, into a real social crisis, as the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered one of the worst job crises in Palestine. Emerging jobs will require new skills, and for such a transition, we need to keep our courses up-to-date and make learning more adapted to individual needs, which means customizing and personalizing our services to create our digitized identity competitive edge. Therefore, there is an essential need to collect good practices for rebuilding our home institution's future. Part of it is increasing the awareness, and understanding of the risk associated with a global challenge, to plan for the future of education at Higher Education, adjoined with applied measures that have job creation for all academic sectors. Micro-credentials can play a massive part in the solution. We are now addressing an important issue related to international labor market systems. In particular, this approach concerns micro-credential connected to the new labor market.

What are the fundamental theoretical steps we need to consider?

Starting with an acceptance of the use of micro-credentials, acknowledged and accredited by the Ministry of Higher Education. For this reason, to have the proper mindset to work with micro-credentials, there is a need to create an awareness campaign by collecting Higher Education Institutions' collaboration on the evolving topic. This data will be required in designing and supporting the MoHE policy in support of HEIs future framework. There is a need to work with the internal policymakers and influencers, official representatives, and executors to receive feedback for evidence-based policy development, to have better regulation, and move towards the modernization of the framework conditions applied by HEIs. Therefore, developing policies that address internal problems at the HEIs level will ultimately benefit the entire academic pyramid. This initiative will allow us to look at the past, go on through suitable (high demand) globalized courses, and learn more about our current and future programs.

There are three main pillars to apply this method:

Step1: increasing social responsibility and ownership in the HEIs system to face the new challenges of the region
Step2: rethinking new policy instruments at the Euro-Mediterranean cooperation and collaboration level
Step3: reinforcing networking opportunities, on HEIs level, with enterprises and socio-economic realities.
By sharing and comparing micro-credentials experiences in the digital transformation era, in one think learning and teaching tank, we can explore further challenges and opportunities to identify supportive mechanisms, processes, and partnerships, that can enhance digital and virtual education, and accrediting micro-credentials, as part of the solution and beyond.

How would this empower the University Position?

By outlining the University's internationalization landscape and identifying international and intercultural dimensions (formal and informal curriculum).
By improving the University's capacities and capabilities for micro-credentials through staff training and translating general awareness of the concept into a streamlined university strategy and action plan.
By building our students' inter-cultural knowledge and sensitivity to cultural diversity by transforming our University into a vibrant multi-cultural focal point.

How to measure the Output?

By the data collection and publishing micro-credentials on the university profile report.

By micro-credentials alliances of the University interactive functions, webinars, university strategy, and action plan.

By enhancing the capacity for international and regional micro-credentials collaborations study (virtual and actual) visits in the EU and training.

By enhancing the University's Inter-cultural micro-credentials environment and digital storytelling.

The results will support the university reporting, sharing, and giving information on the University micro-credentials position intentionally. The methods and best practices will be available (accessible) on the university website as a competitive marketing edge.

So, what is the next step?

Micro-credentials are an efficient and effective tool to keep both inbound and outbound academic staff engaged in a globally focused education until we return to some sense of normality. Therefore, each Faculty can create an approach based on a clear understanding of its own culture, familiarity with the academic staff dynamics, and the timeframe to achieve specific results. Each Faculty also needs to build its capacity and capability and prepare academic staff, to implement meaningful micro-credentials experiences. Successful, proven micro-credential programs can be integrated by linking classrooms in different countries and cross-cultural settings. These initial programs are highly recommended, as they encourage faculty members to adopt and implement micro-credentials models.

This can take place by:

Developing each faculty ID micro-credentials scheme.
Increasing joined micro-credentials partnerships.
And Securing micro-credentials sustainable growth.

These micro-credentials stimulate the practice of 21st-century skills, such as cross-cultural competencies and foreign language proficiency, as participants directly engage with cultural others. There is a primary key to upgrading Faculty academic staff competencies by engaging them in the creation of micro-credentials scheme in three basic steps:

Step1: Reduction in time/workloads and connect it with incentives.
Step2: Mechanisms to recognize participation engaged with training opportunities
Step3: Develop more and better communication and dedicate to the Faculty developed plan.

In terms of stages:

Stage One ——————————————–

develop clear incentives for participants to secure engagement and involvement in the process;
define a clear understanding of commonly used micro-credentials terminologies with best practices and methods to set a common ground of understanding;
prioritize micro-credentials scheme from institutional perception and academic staff perspective.

Stage Two ——————————————–

establish a common ground of understanding between each Faculty and academic staff;
enable transparent atmosphere to engage academic staff with the foreseen drafted micro-credentials strategy;
integrate the future needs, demands, and scope of the labor force scheme into the planning.

Stage Three ———————————————

respect each Faculty culture and main core issues before accrediting the final draft;
attend and conduct tailor-made micro-credentials training and developmental courses;
refresh the micro-credentials activities from time to time to match with the most up-to-date demands;
and keep active communication and information on dissemination.

As we can see, history is being written with great speed, and we are faced with choices and decisions that will define our University's future. We do not yet know what the full impact of the pandemic will be on us. However, we know that the emerging economic crises lead to the loss of jobs. This will have drastic consequences on the ability of youth to advance with their education. Therefore, each situation must coordinate efforts to ensure continuity of learning by applying micro-credentials to protect domestic and international financing.

The quest for maintaining a priority for financing and greater international cooperation is to help to ensure the continuation of education in what is likely to be very challenging times, as it comes coupled with a request for greater efficiency and accountability, so we can continue to add value to national efforts, to advance education for all that is relevant to a changing world. All of this underlines the importance of an overarching educational framework of trust and cooperation. We need to be more recognized and more highly valued. Teachers are essential participants in defining the future of education. Today it is clear that nothing can substitute for collaboration between teachers, whose function is not to apply ready-made technologies or pre-prepared patterns.

In conclusion, community-engaged and community-led learning is a crucial component of education and must be central to any micro-credentials strategy that addresses present and future challenges. The use of digital technologies for learning has generated interest for many years, and technologies have over-grown in the context of the COVID-19 crisis interest in micro-credentials. The forced scramble for materials and platforms that we have seen during the pandemic poses a significant risk to the teaching profession and its autonomy. It could have severe consequences for the future of education. Therefore, our efforts should focus on educators to develop ownership of material with open educational resources by applying micro-credentials to avoid being dependent on digital platforms provided by profitable private companies.