Welcome to Sedefop's Skill Set and Match podcast. I'm Panos Polizzoidis.

The last two years have been marked by unprecedented turbulence that has had a dramatic impact on Europe's economies and consequently on the world of work and education.

The coronavirus pandemic and the war in the Ukraine have accelerated long-term trends and made key transitions a matter of urgency,

transitions such as the digitalization and the greening of the economy.

In order to cater for these fresh needs,

the community of vocational education and training

has been exploring ways in which vet systems can provide,

recognize and validate the skills required for these sprint transitions.

And the word microcredentials has been cropping up again and again as

part of the debate on what policymakers ought to focus on in the immediate future. In this sixth episode

of SEDAFOP's skill set and match podcast, we'll try to shed some light on what microcredentials essentially are,

what role they could play in preparing Europe's workforce for the challenges ahead,

and what must be done in order to avoid pitfalls and make the most of microcredentials.

Sedefop has done a lot of research work on the matter matter and with us to help us understand more about microcredentials

are Lucas Zahilas, head of vet and qualifications at SEDEFOP, and Anastasia Poolyu, the expert in qualifications and credentials,

who has held a leading role in the agency's research on microcredentials.

Welcome and thank you for joining us.

Thank you very much, Panos.

Thank you, Panos.

Right, let's start from the basics.

Define micro-credentials. What are they, Anastasia?

In many cases, they are seen as a product of the proliferation of MOOCs, what we consider the massive online open courses.

...