Implementation record University executive education

From executive education to a connected professional journey

How a globally recognised university’s executive education division extended the value of programme achievements through digital credentials and skills, with a foundation for continuing professional records.

Institutional case study Global executive learning Four-month initial delivery

01 Context

The programme ended. The professional journey continued.

The university’s executive education division serves experienced professionals and leaders through programmes delivered to an international audience. A participant may complete one programme, return years later for another and continue developing throughout their career.

The university already had academic expertise, established programmes and systems for learning delivery and completion. What it needed was a connected way to carry the value of those achievements forward. Separate certificates could record individual completions without building a continuing picture of the learner’s professional development.

Three requirements shaped the project: recognition that could be presented beyond the university, a richer description of the skills represented by learning, and a foundation for relating those skills to the world of work.

The project’s central question: How could each executive-learning achievement contribute to a professional journey that continues after the programme ends?

02 Approach

Six layers around the same achievement

The university worked with CertifyMe to introduce a credential infrastructure layer alongside its existing learning environment. Programme delivery remained in the existing systems. The six-layer approach connected recognition, verification and skills, while setting a direction for records that could grow across programmes and connect with workforce context.

  1. Presentation & access

    Credential access

    An eligible programme completion could generate a digital credential that the participant could continue accessing and presenting after the programme. The university’s recognition remained available beyond the original learning environment.

  2. Standards & interoperability

    Standards-based structure

    Credential structures used recognised standards, including Open Badges 3.0 and W3C Verifiable Credentials. These provided a structured representation of the university’s achievement designed for use beyond a single presentation interface.

  3. Verification & trust

    Verification workflow

    A receiving party could check the university issuer, the recipient associated with the credential and the recorded achievement. Verification carried the institution’s recognition into a digital record, rather than relying only on the appearance of a certificate.

  4. Skill taxonomy alignment

    Skills representation

    Relevant learning outcomes were reviewed to establish skills representation and appropriate taxonomy mappings. This added context to programme names and completion dates, describing the capabilities represented by learning in a vocabulary that could connect across programmes.

  5. Comprehensive learner record

    Continuing record foundation

    A connected record could bring together credentials and mapped skills as professionals return for further learning. Instead of treating each programme as a separate event, the model could preserve a continuing history of university-recognised achievements.

  6. Workforce intelligence & Job Engine

    Further capability

    Structured skills provide a basis for connecting the learner’s record with job-market context. The Job Engine could relate those skills to occupations, jobs, employers and locations, helping professionals and university teams explore where programme-related capabilities may be relevant.

One achievement, increasing context

LearningAchievementCredentialVerificationSkillsProfessional record

The credential and skills layer establishes the foundation; connected records and workforce context extend the journey over time.

03 Delivery

A four-month implementation within the existing environment

Executive education and technology teams worked through programme structures, completion events and the information needed to issue credentials. The initial rollout focused on selected programmes, with skills and learner-record components designed to evolve beyond that starting scope.

  1. 01

    Month 1 Discovery

    Define the achievement journey

    The teams mapped learning workflows and selected initial programmes and cohorts. They defined credential requirements, the learner experience, data requirements and integration points, using the six-layer model to frame the intended journey.

  2. 02

    Month 2 Integration & configuration

    Connect recognition to programme completion

    Selected learning workflows were connected to CertifyMe. Credential structures, university branding, achievement information and verification requirements were configured. Learning outcomes were reviewed for skills representation and taxonomy mapping.

  3. 03

    Month 3 Iteration & validation

    Review working versions end-to-end

    Testing covered programme completion, credential generation, learner receipt and access, verification and skills representation. University stakeholders reviewed working versions throughout implementation and refined the experience before production.

  4. 04

    Month 4 Production rollout

    Introduce the workflow into live programmes

    The selected executive education programmes moved into production. Credential issuance became part of the operational learning process, establishing a foundation for additional programmes and progressive development of the skills and learner-record model.

04 Outcomes

Recognition that remains useful after the programme

The implementation has supported more than 36,000 digital credentials and reached approximately 24,000 professionals, with more than three years of ongoing engagement across global executive education programmes.

The structural change was a richer representation of achievement. The university could retain programme information, verification access and associated skills in a record that participants could continue using after completion.

Starting model

Programme → Completion → Standalone certificate

Implemented foundation

Learning → Achievement → Digital credential → Verification & skills context

For executive education leaders, this gave programme recognition a richer description of learning. For the technology team, the credential layer worked alongside the existing learning environment rather than replacing it. For the university, it provided a foundation for a continuing relationship with professionals across successive programmes.

05 Workforce connection

Connecting the professional record with the world of work

Once programme achievements carry structured skills, a connected professional record can become more than a history of completions. CertifyMe’s Job Engine provides job-market context relating skills to occupations, jobs, employers and locations. Applied to that record, it could help a professional explore where the capabilities represented by their learning may be relevant.

That context could also flow back to the university. Executive education teams could consider emerging workforce needs alongside academic judgement when reviewing their learning portfolio. The same skills vocabulary would connect the achievements recognised today with areas professionals may need to develop next.

A continuing learning relationship

Workforce demandSkills contextExecutive learningCredentialProfessional recordJob EngineFurther learning needs

Workforce intelligence supplies context for opportunity research and programme development alongside the university’s learning evidence.

The initial implementation extended the life of executive-learning achievements and established a foundation for professional records that can grow with continued learning.