What are MicroMasters and why should you take one in 2020?

Did you know that there’s a shorter and more flexible further education option called MicroMasters?

MicroMasters are officially valid postgraduate courses, consisting of one module from a master’s degree, which can therefore be taken separately.

“You may take the course whenever you wish, at your own pace and at a much lower cost.  This goes to show how flexible these courses are,” said José Escamilla, Director of TECLabs at Tec de Monterrey.

Universities such as MIT, Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania are using them to make their content more open and flexible.

ADVANTAGES OF MICROMASTERS

Unlike a traditional master’s degree, MicroMasters have six online courses known as MOOCs, which have a minimum duration of approximately 20 hours.

These programs correspond to approximately 25 percent of the total credits of a traditional master’s degree.

However, if students decide to pursue a master’s degree in the future, these courses are revalidated, so they would only have to take the remaining percentage.

“Although these programs are a large part of a master’s degree, the cost is much lower, which is a great advantage,” said Escamilla.

Another advantage is that you don’t need an entrance exam for this type of program. It’s only needed when students decide to complete their master’s degree.

Escamilla maintains that this educational trend provides an option for organizations seeking to train their employees in specific skills.

“Although these programs are a large part of a master’s degree, the cost is much lower, which is a great advantage,” José Escamilla, Director of TECLabs
 

OPTIONS AT TEC DE MONTERREY

EGADE Business School, the Tec de Monterrey business school, offers two MicroMasters, said Julien Marcel Depauw, Director of Academic Innovation at the school.

The MicroMasters course entitled “Professional Skills: Negotiation and Leadership” is available now, while “Innovation and Entrepreneurship“ will start up in 2020.

Both MicroMasters courses can be found on the edX online education platform.

When students enroll on a course, they can access the online content at their own pace and present a project at the end that documents what they’ve learned.

The cost of studying these programs ranges from 15 to 18 thousand pesos.

Each MOOC has an expert teacher on the subject. These teachers include directors of master’s degree and entrepreneurship programs.

“EGADE is recognized as the best business school in Latin America, which means that people from other countries are interested in our courses,” said Depauw.

“We want to reach people we would not normally see, as we don’t have a campus where they live. We’re looking for more democratic access to education,” added Escamilla.

EVER MORE COMMON TRENDS

There are several further education options offered by the Tec, besides the MicroMasters courses, such as the Coursera platform courses or online diplomas.

Ciro Herrera, Director of Professional Development at the Tec, commented that “Advanced Certificates” are being developed in areas such as Engineering, Humanities and Architecture.

One of these certificates is for courses or micro degrees that form part of the Cybersecurity master’s degree, which started up recently.

 “We’ve noticed that students looking for a micro degree are people who want to enter a particular area of knowledge.

“They already have some responsibility in their jobs and want further training, but don’t necessarily want to take a postgraduate course,” said Herrera.

Like the MicroMasters, these courses offer online modules with projects which will validate the knowledge and experience learned.

You can learn more about the micro degree and MicroMasters courses on offer in the links.

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