Higher education is approaching a time when skills, outcomes, and flexibility can matter as much as the degree itself. The emergence of artificial intelligence, automation, demographic transformation, the green transition, and changing employer requirements are prompting universities to reconsider how they design, deliver, and recognize education.
The emerging model can be based on three key ideas: competence-based education, flexible education paths, and alternative credentials.
The scale of the changes in the labor market is impressive. As the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025 indicates, to meet the needs of over 1,000 companies and more than 14 million employees, about 170 million jobs will be created, and about 92 million jobs will disappear, with a net creation of 78 million jobs.
At the same time, by 2030, employers expect 39% of current skills to change. The report also identifies growing skills such as AI, big data, networks and cybersecurity, and technological proficiency. At the same time, creativity, resilience and flexibility should remain among the main human skills.
These figures have serious implications for universities. Surely, getting a degree at 21 will no longer guarantee that a graduate has all the competencies needed to do a job for 40 years. Today, education is becoming a process of continuous development through gaining new knowledge and acquiring new re-skilling skills.
For example, a student studying journalism might be expected to carry out tasks such as fact-checking, multimedia production, data interpretation, AI-aided research, and ethical storytelling, rather than just passing subject-specific exams.
Another transformation is flexibility.
UNESCO asserts that flexible learning pathways enhance accessibility, quality, and equality.
Flexible paths of knowledge acquisition include blended learning, MOOCs, workplace-related education, experiential learning, and micro-credentials.
Importantly, learners can switch from one type of education to another rather than being constrained within a traditional educational system.
Indeed, alternative credentials are especially important.
According to UNESCO, a micro-credential acknowledges specific learning achievements as evidence of the understanding and skills individuals have acquired.
Such credentials are valuable in themselves and also allow individuals to earn multiple credentials.
This implies that individuals can build a learning portfolio throughout their lives rather than depend on a single diploma.
The figures describing the digital learning process reveal the impact of this phenomenon.
UNESCO estimates that approximately 100 million students worldwide have taken multiple MOOCs, and by 2018, over 900 universities had launched 11,400 MOOCs.
Therefore, online learning can create a global infrastructure that makes education accessible despite the absence of a traditional university.
There are also economic grounds for the need for alternative credentials.
According to OECD’s “Education at a Glance 2025”, proving skills to people can increase the value of partial education gained due to the issuance of certain qualifications.
The study indicates that achieving a certain educational level does not ensure the acquisition of needed skills.
When considering international education, it can dramatically influence student mobility for the sake of their education.
Instead of going abroad to receive only a three- or four-year qualification, international education involves obtaining degrees in different countries over the long term.
The only issue that needs to be settled is the credibility of alternative credentials.
The growth in the number of certificates without common criteria can result in a phenomenon called credential inflation.
The conclusion is that there is no need to compete between degrees and certificates; the future of education will consist ofof creating an educational ecosystem of degrees, skills, experiences, and micro-credentials that can work together.
The main qualification of the future will not be a degree but the ability to acquire new skills and knowledge permanently.
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