The Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL) advanced significantly in 2025 based on global input. These updates enhanced the structured, shared data needed to support transparent and interoperable learning-and-work ecosystems. This year’s achievements reflect the combined efforts of Credential Engine, global partners, and the CTDL Advisory Group, all working together to ensure that the world’s learning opportunities, credentials, and career pathways are transparent, discoverable, and interoperable.
The opportunities provided by digital credentials make this work more essential than ever. In the United States alone, the Counting Credentials 2025 report identifies more than 1.85 million unique credentials, with an increasing share now digital. This reflects a global shift toward new forms of learning recognition. As digital credentials expand worldwide, the need for interoperable data becomes even more critical, reinforcing the benefits of CTDL.
Transparency and interoperability are essential in a world where learning and work often cross borders. CTDL provides the common, structured language needed to describe qualifications, credential types, prior learning recognition, skills, competencies and quality assurance in ways that can be reused across institutions, nations and technical systems. In 2025, CTDL evolved significantly through technical updates, strategic pilots, and global collaboration.
As AI rapidly evolves and becomes increasingly embedded in education, employment, and credentialing systems, the need for clear, structured, machine-readable data remains essential. AI systems depend on transparent, comparable, and trustworthy information, and CTDL provides the shared language that makes this possible.Â
Guided by the 2025 CTDL Plan of Work, developed collaboratively with the CTDL Advisory Group and enriched by broad international input, this year’s accomplishments highlight CTDL’s growing role as foundational infrastructure for connected learning and work ecosystems worldwide.
Collaboration: Advancing CTDL Through Global Participation
First released in 2017, CTDL is an evolving, living language with 1,378 terms (as of 12/15/25), including classes, properties, concept schemes, and concepts—many of which were strengthened or added through this year’s work (see the CTDL Schema Release Timeline for details: https://credreg.net/page/schemareleasetimeline).
In 2025, Credential Engine convened globally open groups that brought together community input and international expertise to shape CTDL’s evolution. Significant enhancements were developed through broad, collaborative engagement. Information, materials, and recordings from these collaborations can be found in the CTDL Task Group & Focus Group Archive:
https://credentialengine.org/taskgrouparchive/
These efforts included internationally represented task groups and a global focus group, each contributing essential updates grounded in real-world and aspirational needs across ecosystems.
Qualifications Frameworks as Data Task Group
This task group concluded its work at the end of 2024 to expand CTDL to allow the description of national and regional qualifications frameworks. In 2025, updates were fully implemented along with Credential Registry publishing support. These updates support transparent, comparable, and interoperable representation of frameworks worldwide, strengthening recognition and mobility. CTDL Handbook: Qualifications Frameworks: https://credreg.net/ctdl/handbook#qualificationsframeworks
Credential Types Focus Group
Building on the findings of the Qualifications Frameworks as Data Task Group, this focus group refined how CTDL distinguishes and describes credential and qualification types defined by public authorities. The resulting CredentialType class and supporting terms enable clearer modeling of credential types across global education and workforce systems. CTDL Handbook: Credential Types: https://credreg.net/ctdl/handbook#credentialtypes
Prior Learning Recognition (PLR) Task Group
The PLR Task Group developed new CTDL terms and concept schemes for describing the policies, agreements, evidence, evaluation methods, and outcomes that are important in the recognition of prior learning. These additions address a global need to make recognition of learning transparent and comparable regardless of whether the learning arises from formal, non-formal, or informal activities. Publishing support begins in early 2026.
CTDL xTRA Task Group
To accelerate publishing of information about credentials, courses, programs, and competencies as structured data, Credential Engine convened this Task Group to guide the development and use of CTDL xTRA, an open-source, AI-powered tool that extracts and transforms public web content into CTDL-ready data. Building on early pilots, the group explored use cases for scaling publishing, managing versioning, and expanding extraction capabilities, while identifying sustainable future self-service models. Learn more about CTDL xTRA: https://credentialengine.org/toolkit/credential-engine-ctdl-xtra-tool/
Demonstrating Transparency and Interoperability in Practice
Open University of Japan Micro-Credential Proof of Concept
Credential Engine collaborated with the Open University of Japan to describe and publish micro-credential data using CTDL in Japanese. This work highlighted CTDL’s multilingual adaptability and its value for emerging digital credential ecosystems.
South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) CTDL Publishing Proof of Concept
Credential Engine partnered with the South African Qualifications Authority to test how components of the National Qualifications Framework—including levels, competencies, and selected healthcare credentials—could be structured and published using CTDL. This proof of concept supports recognition, comparability, and learner mobility within and across systems.
Advisory Groups: Strengthening Governance and Global Trust Infrastructure
Issuer Identity Registry Research & Governance
Credential Engine and the Digital Credentials Consortium completed a major research initiative, producing the Issuer Identity Registry Research Report and Governance Framework, which defines governance and technical considerations for building trusted, machine-readable registries of credential issuers within verifiable credential ecosystems. Learn more: Â https://credentialengine.org/resources/issuer-identity-registry-research-report-governance-framework/
Issuer Identity Registry Governance & Integration Advisory Group
To advance implementation, Credential Engine launched a new advisory group to guide integration of the Issuer Identity Registry with the Credential Registry and to shape governance practices for trusted ecosystem participation. Learn more: Â https://credentialengine.org/2025/07/21/join-credential-engines-newest-advisory-group-for-building-trust-in-global-ecosystems/
CTDL Advisory Group
The CTDL Advisory Group met throughout 2025, offering expert insights and global perspectives that continue to guide CTDL’s evolution. The group also co-developed the 2025 CTDL Plan of Work, ensuring CTDL remains community-driven and responsive to emerging needs. Learn more:
https://credentialengine.org/advisory-groups/ctdl/
Global Engagement
Groningen Declaration Network (GDN)
Credential Engine became a Patron of GDN, delivered a three-part webinar series, contributed to the Toronto PCAT meeting, and presented in multiple sessions at the Oslo Annual Meeting. Together, these activities strengthened global collaboration around verifiable credentials, portability, and interoperability. GDN Conversation Series: https://groningendeclaration.org/gdn-conversation-series-with-credential-engine/
AfricaÂ
Credential Engine participated in the African Continental Qualifications Framework Forum and the SAQA Learning Exchange—both held in South Africa—and hosted the SAQA team in Washington, DC. These engagements strengthened partnerships and advanced regional efforts to structure and publish qualifications and credentials using CTDL. SAQA Proof of Concept Slide Deck: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1dbkC1A-nCGzAec1CPGffXRemR2w66V5NTvd2-8OoTwQ/edit?usp=drive_linkÂ
Open University of Japan Symposium
Credential Engine presented at the Open University of Japan International Symposium in Tokyo, sharing global insights on credential transparency, digital badges, and the role of CTDL in supporting interoperable micro-credential ecosystems across Asia. This engagement reinforced the growing international interest in CTDL and its adaptability for multilingual and region-specific use cases. Open University of Japan International Symposium Slide Deck: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1LMVmzMgQjWfFVsNsjLz4rQMBuJ5ovoq_0T8_AicsFag/edit?usp=drive_link
Cognizone Strategic PartnershipÂ
Credential Engine and Cognizone formed a strategic partnership to advance credential transparency and interoperability across Europe, Africa, and globally. The collaboration focuses on harmonizing CTDL with major regional data models (initially the European Learning Model (ELM) and the African Learning Model (ALM)), while jointly offering services and solutions that support cross-border credential recognition and linked open data publishing across ecosystems. Learn more: https://credentialengine.org/2025/10/28/credential-engine-and-cognizone-announce-strategic-partnership-to-advance-global-credential-transparency-and-interoperability-through-open-data/
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