Designing personalized student development through microcredentials: an institutional approach

2020 saw many challenges across the planet as the population sought to try to comprehend the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the implications for our lives at home and work. Amidst this period of uncertainty and challenge, Abertay University, a small Scottish University, decided that it could not just maintain the curriculum status quo and needed to react to better support new students who may be coming to university with different questions and challenges to previous cohorts. This chapter will outline the principles behind the design of the microcredentials, explain how students and staff embraced the opportunity, before revealing the positive impact it had on student retention. It will also hint at the longer-term implications of the student decisions in selecting microcredentials and how the university is seeking to replicate this challenge and guidance through higher level microcredentials that build upon the first year experience, but move to a focus on student personal and professional development.