Micro-credentials Framework Design for Ready-to-Use Industrial Engineering Internship Students and Fresh Graduates

The gaps between skills trained to Industrial Engineering (IE) internship level students and fresh graduates in a university with needs in industry were found. Certain basic skills need to be trained by the users in their entry period as interns or fresh graduates. Therefore, this study aimed to design a framework of micro-credential training for IE students based on the needs of their prospective users. The framework was designed by following the usability engineering lifecycle involving ten stakeholders, including students/alumni users (human resources and other department staff and managers), students who pass internship programs, fresh graduates, and IE curriculum experts. This study results in a framework of micro-credentials for IE students with three main scopes of skills comprising IE body of knowledge skills, communication and critical thinking skills, and attitude-related skills. The findings may help both the IE department and the industry to maintain harmony between the outcome of learning and the needs of the industry. This study is a case study in an IE department in a university; in the future, the framework needs to be tested in IE departments across some universities to improve the current framework prototype.