Open Badges for Competence Recognition and Employment Application: Insight from the German Qualification Program

Abstract

This paper describes current developments, practices and insights related the application, potentials and challenges of open badges for competence recognition and employment application in context of a blended learning qualification program for migrant academics in Germany. The program is called “Credit Points for migrant higher education graduates with engineering degrees (short: “Credit Points”) and is the first supplementary qualification program for migrant academics in Germany applying open badges for competence recognition and employment application. The program “Credit Points” is anchored at Beuth University of Applied Sciences Berlin1, at Gender and Technology Center2 and is part of the German federal IQ Network3. The IQ Network focuses on promoting Integration through Qualification (IQ) and aims to achieve a sustainable improvement in the labour market integration of adults with migration background. Since the IQ Network has a federal structure with coordinated networks of projects in all federal states in Germany, the project “Credit Points” is part of to IQ Network Berlin4, coordinated by the Senate Department for Labour, Integration and Women5. IQ Network including the project “Credit Points” is founded by the German Federal Ministry of Research and Education, the German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and the German Federal Employment Agency.