About – Micro-credential Portal

2019Pilot Programs

With the support of the Government of Ontario, eCampusOntario has launched 36 micro-credential pilot projects at Ontario colleges and universities. Each pilot project represents a unique partnership with an industry partner and a collaborative response to an identified skills gap.

A Micro-credential Framework was developed by eCampusOntario with a community working group of employers, colleges, universities and other public agencies dedicated to building a harmonized upskilling ecosystem in Ontario.

2020Ontario Launches Micro-credentials Strategy

The Government of Ontario invested $59.5 million to support Ontario’s first Micro-credentials Strategy, designed to help people retrain and upgrade their skills to find new employment.

Micro-credentials Become Eligible for Student Assistance
The Government of Ontario expanded the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) to include over 600 micro-credential programs, becoming one of the first provinces in Canada to financially support students learning part time through micro-credentials.

2021Ontario Launches Micro-Credential Portal

As a result of Ontario’s Micro-credentials Strategy investment, The Ontario Micro-credentials Portal is launched. This platform allows users to find relevant upskilling and reskilling opportunities based on occupation, skill, technology, industry, or keyword.

The Future is Micro
eCampusOntario publishes The Future is Micro: Digital Learning and Micro-credentials for Education, Retraining and Lifelong Learning, a report outlining what micro-credentials are and how they can support and advance people’s career goals and in turn bolster the national workforce. The report informs future work so that this innovative method of demonstrating skills proficiency can be honed as a transformative tool to help rebuild the economy and create a resilient system of lifelong learning that is accessible, flexible, and relevant.

The report was funded by the Government of Ontario, the Future Skills Centre (a non-profit funded by the Government of Canada), and created in partnership between eCampusOntario, the Diversity Institute, Future Skills Centre, and Magnet at Toronto Metropolitan University.

Ontario Invests in Micro-credentials Challenge Fund
Ontario provides $15 million through the Ontario Micro-credentials Challenge Fund Round 1 to accelerate the development of micro-credentials and expand program offerings. After a successful call for proposals, Ontario approved over 65 projects at colleges, universities, Indigenous Institutes, and career colleges across the province, creating over 300 new micro-credentials to support approximately 6,000 learners.

2022eCampusOntario Launches Micro-credential Toolkit

eCampusOntario’s Micro-credential Toolkit outlines how to navigate opportunities and challenges of developing micro-credentials around three core themes: collaboration, structures, and recognition. It also offers practical suggestions from practitioners who have developed micro-credentials at postsecondary institutions throughout Ontario. These practitioners share their knowledge on building micro-credentials based on their own experiences.

The Micro-credential Toolkit was developed by leaders in the micro-credential community who volunteered to participate in eCampusOntario-led working groups, sharing their practical knowledge and experience in building micro-credentials at postsecondary institutions.

2023Micro-credentials Portal Integrates Labour Market Data

The Micro-credentials Portal allows learners to search by current or past job titles to receive personalized micro-credential program recommendations based on alignment with one’s existing skill set. It now leverages labour market information (LMI) from the National Occupation Classification (NOC), Occupational and Skills Information System (OaSIS), Occupational Information Network (O*NET), the Model of Occupation, Skills, and Technology (MOST), Vicinity Jobs, the Canadian Labour Force Survey, and North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).

Additionally, the Portal displays occupational outlooks, hot-or-not hiring indicators to highlight job prospects, and spotlights programs in three in-demand industries. With the new LMI data, the Micro-credentials Portal makes it easier for learners to find the right training for their career goals.

The Portal makes use of OpportuNext, a career tool developed by the Conference Board of Canada in partnership with and Future Skills Centre, that provides data input to the Portal’s algorithms.

2024Micro-credential Portal Expands to Help Learners and Employers

The Portal launched a new employer interface leveraging LMI, allowing businesses to search by skill, job title, or technology to find rapid training programs that align with their upskilling or hiring goals. The interface also enables employers to share information about their training or recruitment needs with postsecondary institutions, facilitating connections between industry, educators, and skilled graduates. Smart AI tools in an admin panel are added in the backend to support automation of labour market information tagging to programs.

For learners, the Micro-credentials Portal listings are expanded to include non-OSAP micro-credentials. The program pages now display information about employer partnerships and stackability (whether a micro-credential can ladder into a larger postsecondary credential). For example, newly eligible listings may include 14-week programs that exceed the 11-week maximum for OSAP, micro-credentials designed for working professionals who do not qualify for OSAP, and programs that are offered at low- or no-cost, for which institutions have not sought OSAP support. This Portal upgrade helps meet the needs of learners more effectively, supporting in-demand skills development across a range of industries, and assist member institutions with gaining program registrations.

2025Economic Resilience and the Future of Upskilling

Ontario faces unique economic challenges in 2025. We face an unprecedented trade war with our largest trading partner, while Canada continues to lag behind its Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) peers in productivity.
Postsecondary education can help solve these challenges by upskilling in the labour force — getting people into programs and into good jobs.

eCampusOntario continues to expand platform capabilities and provide LMI-powered upskilling to support Ontario institutions.
This expansion will allow learners to find training opportunities within their geographic location and help training providers market their programs to support regional needs of the labour force. This expansion will provide better access to upskilling and training across the country.

History of the Micro-credentials Portal