For Immediate Release – October 27, 2017

New Grant to Credential Engine to Map and Inform Credentialing Marketplace

Washington D.C. – Credential Engine is pleased to announce a new grant from Lumina Foundation, an independent, private foundation committed to increasing the proportion of Americans with degrees, certificates and other high-quality credentials to 60 percent by 2025. Through this new body of work, Credential Engine will establish a first-of-its-kind baseline inventory of the current number and type of postsecondary credentials offered in the United States in an effort to improve credential transparency.

The grant builds off an existing relationship between Credential Engine and Lumina, which has been supporting the organization since its inception as the Credential Transparency Initiative in 2013. Now formally known as Credential Engine, it is dedicated to the mission of promoting transparency and credential literacy in the marketplace. By offering tools and services that create a singular credentialing description language, a common Credential Registry to store and link credentialing data, and an applications marketplace that offers data accessibility, Credential Engine aims to capture critical credentialing information – such as competencies, quality assurance metrics, employer preferences, and cost – from all types of credentials – including degrees, certificates, apprenticeships, badges, licenses, and everything in between.

“A baseline report on the number of credentials currently offered in the U.S. is critical to the work and mission of Credential Engine,” says Credential Engine executive director, Scott Cheney. “Right now, we know the marketplace of credentials is unwieldy and increasingly crowded, but until we know exactly how vast the landscape is, and its contours, we won’t be able to create true transparency at scale because we won’t know how much of the market we’ve captured or whether we’re missing key areas.”

Lumina is supporting this work as part of the foundation’s Goal 2025, an initiative targeted at improving American postsecondary credential attainment from approximately 40 percent currently to where 60 percent by 2025.

“Lumina knows that in order to build an equitable, accessible, responsive and accountable higher education system, we need reliable data,” said Courtney Brown, vice president of Strategic Impact at Lumina. “By gaining a better understanding of the number of postsecondary credentials currently out there, Lumina will be better equipped to provide students and workers with the information they need to attain a high-quality postsecondary credential.”

Credential Engine will be utilizing this approximately $70,000 grant to enlist the research services of The George Washington Institute of Public Policy and the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness to begin the work of mapping the credential landscape.

###

About

Credential Engine is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the mission of promoting transparency and credential literacy in the marketplace to reveal the world of credentials and inform the public.

Credential Engine Communications Contact: Carrie Samson csamson@credentialengine.org

Sign Up for Our Newsletter

Get our monthly newsletter and other important updates right in your inbox.

Name(Required)

More Updates

Skip to content