A micro-credential approach for life-long learning in the urban renewable energy sector.

The present paper describes the development of a novel framework for the creation of specialised Micro-Credentials supporting the training and re-training of students and professionals on the integration of renewable energy and sustainable fuels in urban settings. The framework is built upon a set of stackable micro-credentials, co-designed with the stakeholders input and it uses advanced natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning algorithms to assess the impact on the job market at regional level. The use of Micro-Credentials are considered to be the optimal methodology for enhancing the knowledge of specific topics especially for life-long learning for professionals. A co-design approach of such an innovative educational framework with relevant stakeholders fosters a tailored educational path for green upskilling. Finally, the framework is validated processing and analysing a large dataset of job descriptions, extracting the skills required by the market, organising the skills in categories and clusters. All this process lead to the creation of a basket of 74 Micro-Credentials oriented to students and professional with both a technical and non-technical backgrounds. • Renewable job-market skill needs identification through NLP and machine learning. • Educational co-creation approach based on stakeholders interaction. • Microcredential (MC) framework for life-long learning in the renewable sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]