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NASH–Google Microcredentials Community of Practice

Advancing systemness, skills, and AI readiness across public higher education

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What is it?

NASH and Google are partnering through a multi-year grant to scale industry-recognized microcredentials and AI training across public higher education systems nationwide. Through this Microcredentials Community of Practice (CoP), NASH is working with systems and institutions to:

  • Modernize curricula by embedding Google Career Certificates, advanced certificates, and AI Essentials content into courses and co-curricular pathways
  • Expand access to workforce-aligned learning for at least 15,000+ learners and 250 faculty and staff by 2027
  • Build shared tools, policies, and evidence that help systems use AI and microcredentials responsibly, at scale

Why NASH?

The NASH–Google partnership helps us…

  • Increase degree completion and social mobility
  • Reduce student debt through more efficient, skills-aligned pathways

Use systemness to help public higher education systems respond proactively to AI, new workforce demands, and the growing importance of industry-recognized credentials

Read the Release

NASH is helping public higher education:

  1. Align academic programs with in-demand careers
  2. Equip students with practical, job-ready skills and AI fluency
  3. Build durable, replicable models that other systems can adopt and adapt

Participating Systems

The Community of Practice brings together these public higher education systems that are committed to “systemness”, leveraging the power of multi-campus systems to advance student success, workforce readiness, and economic mobility. The CoP has grown from 11 to 17 community college and university systems:

  • California State University System*
  • California Community Colleges
  • City University of New York*
  • Louisiana Board of Regents*
  • Maine Community Colleges*
  • Minnesota State System*
  • State University of New York*
  • Texas A&M University System*
  • Texas State University System*
  • University of Colorado System*
  • University of Hawaii System*
  • University System of Maryland*
  • City Colleges of Chicago
  • Montana University System
  • Southern Illinois University System
  • University of Massachusetts System
  • Utah System of Higher Education 

These systems collectively represent dozens of colleges and universities, hundreds of faculty and staff, and thousands of learners who are engaging with microcredentials and AI-aligned learning opportunities.

* denotes systems that were apart of the initial cohort

What the CoP Offers

  1. Technical assistance and professional development
    • Implementation planning support for integrating Google Career Certificates and AI Essentials content
    • Ongoing faculty and staff professional learning, including workshops, coaching, and office hours
  2. System-level stipends
    • A $15,000 stipend per system to support action-oriented outcomes such as faculty release time, student support, marketing, and internal coordination
  3. No-cost access to Google skilling content
    Through Coursera and related Google offerings, participating systems can provide learners and faculty with:

    • Google Career Certificates in fields such as cybersecurity, data analytics, IT support, UX design, digital marketing & e-commerce, and project management
    • Google Advanced Certificates in areas like advanced data analytics, business intelligence, and IT automation with Python
    • Google Essentials courses, including AI Essentials, Agile Essentials, and Prompting Essentials
  4. AI upskilling resources for faculty and staff
    • Up to six systems using Google’s AI Essentials courses to upskill 250+ faculty and staff 
  5. AI-assisted career advising platforms
    • Up to three systems piloting Google’s Career Dreamer tool 
  6. Networking and peer learning
    • Regular virtual convenings on microcredentials, AI, and the future of work
    • In-person events, including launch activities and a national learning summit
    • Shared resources, playbooks, case studies, and marketing collateral drawn from across systems
  7. Chance to participate in industry-focused research

 

Impact and Early Results

The CoP is already showing promising results:

  • Over 15,000 learners reached with workforce-aligned microcredential and AI training in the first year
  • 11 founding systems, now expanding to a larger cohort that includes 17+ systems over the life of the grant
  • 88+ institutions and 100+ faculty and leaders directly engaged in program design, delivery, and evaluation
  • Growing adoption of Google Career Certificates and AI Essentials as part of degree-applicable courses, co-curricular programs, and professional development pathways

Learn More & Get Involved

Prospective partners, systems, and institutions interested in joining future waves of this work can connect with NASH to learn how microcredentials and AI training can support their learners, faculty, and regional economies.

For more information and updates from our participating systems, visit the following pages: