Rapid evolution of the workforce – combined with a changing student population – is forcing universities to rethink how they can continue to grow enrollment. According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, undergraduate certificate enrollment increased 10.2% in spring 2026 compared with the previous year, while enrollment in bachelor’s programs grew just 1.0%. Certificate programs added approximately 86,000 students—slightly more than bachelor’s programs, despite representing a much smaller share of total undergraduate enrollment.
While these trends do not suggest that the bachelor’s degree is losing relevance, they indicate that to reach new student populations, universities must consider additional pathways for students to partake in higher education. For research universities, this often presents a quandary: How can institutions grow enrollment and revenue while preserving the academic identity and reputation that distinguish them? The answer lies in determining where career-focused credentials fit alongside degree programs, executive education, continuing education, and other offerings that serve distinct audiences and purposes.
Prestigious Universities Are Already Expanding Beyond Traditional Degrees
Many highly respected universities already operate across multiple educational models without compromising their academic missions.
Harvard Business School provides one example. According to its FY2025 financial report, Executive Education and HBS Online generated approximately $316 million in revenue, compared with $147 million from MBA tuition and fees. Even one of the world’s most recognized academic brands serves students through educational models beyond its traditional degree.
The University of Texas System takes another approach. Through Texas Credentials for the Future, students can earn industry credentials from companies such as Google, IBM, Microsoft, and Salesforce alongside their university education. Duke University similarly offers professional and skills-focused learning opportunities distinct from its formal academic credentials.
These institutions are not making degrees and workforce credentials interchangeable. They are defining different roles for each within a broader educational portfolio.
Universities Already Operate Multiple Educational Models
Different forms of learning are not new to higher education. Most large universities already serve multiple audiences through distinct educational models.
Degree Programs
Undergraduate and graduate degree programs remain the academic core of the institution. They are faculty-governed, accredited, research-informed, and designed to provide comprehensive educational experiences. For research universities in particular, degrees remain central to academic distinction and institutional identity.
Executive and Professional Education
Executive and professional education serves a different audience and purpose. These programs enable working professionals to build specialized knowledge and leadership skills without pursuing another degree. Institutions such as Harvard demonstrate that non-degree executive education can operate at a significant scale while reinforcing institutional expertise and reputation.
Continuing Education
Continuing education occupies another distinct layer of the portfolio, serving working adults, career changers, and students seeking targeted professional development.
For many universities, continuing education already functions as both a workforce-development engine and a strategic growth area. Workforce-aligned credentials fit naturally within this environment because they can respond quickly to employer demand, focus on career outcomes,
Corporate
Corporate education creates another pathway for universities to serve their regional economies. By partnering with local employers, institutions can help upskill current employees, prepare new talent for in-demand roles, and develop training aligned with evolving workforce needs. These partnerships can strengthen the local talent pipeline while positioning the university as a workforce-development partner for the business community.
Together, these models demonstrate that universities already operate tiered educational portfolios. Workforce credentials build on that established structure, occupying a distinct place alongside—rather than replacing traditional degree programs.
Institutions with strong academic reputations, attention to quality to uphold the brand is critical. But the most important distinction is not simply whether a program was developed internally or with a partner. It is how the institution defines and governs the program’s role within its portfolio.
Brand Protection Comes from Clear Boundaries
Universities can establish clear distinctions between credit and noncredit offerings, faculty-governed academic programs, professional development experiences, and workforce-focused credentials. These boundaries help students understand what each offering represents while preserving the integrity of traditional academic programs.
What Effective Governance Looks Like
Effective governance includes defining the purpose of each credential, establishing quality standards, setting expectations for student outcomes, and determining appropriate oversight. Viewed through this lens, the question becomes less about who built a course and more about whether it meets the institution’s standards, mission, and intended purpose.
ed2go supports this approach through rigorous learning design standards that guide course development, review, and ongoing quality assurance, helping institutions confidently expand workforce-aligned offerings while maintaining appropriate standards for their portfolios.
Where Strategic Partnerships Fit
A partnership model does not need to replace institution-developed curriculum. Instead, it can help universities grow enrollment by adding workforce-aligned programs they might not otherwise have the capacity to build internally. This allows institutions to expand their portfolios without adding additional faculty or staffing, development costs, or speed-to-market requirements associated with building every program in-house.
Over 25 years, ed2go has served more than 5.4 million students and worked with more than 1,500 colleges and universities, workforce boards, nonprofits, and corporations. Through that experience, ed2go has seen institutions use this approach to expand career-focused learning while maintaining clear distinctions between workforce and academic offerings.
Student outcomes across Cengage Work’s portfolio demonstrate the potential of workforce-focused programs. According to the Cengage Work Outcomes Report 2026, Cengage Work programs achieved completion rates exceeding 90% across more than one million students served, with workforce certification programs reaching completion rates as high as 94%.
Through its white-label model, ed2go enables institutions to determine which programs belong in their continuing education portfolios while maintaining their student-facing brands. Institutions retain control over program selection and positioning while gaining access to established curriculum and operational support.
The result is a practical approach to portfolio growth: investing institutional resources where faculty expertise creates distinctive academic value, and partnering where doing so expands reach, responsiveness, and capacity.
A Broader Portfolio Can Grow Your
Workforce credentials are becoming an established part of the higher education landscape. Leading universities are not replacing degrees with career-focused credentials. They are building portfolios that serve students at different stages of their educational and professional journeys.
With clear governance and clear distinctions between offerings, workforce-aligned credentials can expand access, respond to regional workforce needs, and create new opportunities for student engagement without diminishing the value of the degree itself.
The degree remains the protected academic core. The opportunity is to build around it.
Learn more about how ed2go helps turn courses into careers.
Sources
- National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Spring 2026 Enrollment Trends: Undergraduate Growth Continues as Graduate Enrollment Levels Off. https://www.studentclearinghouse.org/nscblog/spring-2026-enrollment-trends-undergraduate-growth-continues-as-graduate-enrollment-levels-off/
- National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Undergraduate Degree Earners. https://nscresearchcenter.org/undergraduate-degree-earners/
- Harvard Business School. Annual Report 2025: Supplemental Financial Information. https://www.hbs.edu/about/annualreport/2025/financials/supplemental-financial-information
- The University of Texas System. Texas Credentials for the Future. https://www.utsystem.edu/sites/texas-microcredentials
- Duke University. Duke University on Coursera. https://www.coursera.org/duke
- UCLA Extension. Certificate Programs. https://www.uclaextension.edu
- University of California, Irvine Division of Continuing Education. Certificate and Specialized Studies Programs. https://ce.uci.edu
- 2024 Staffing & Structure Survey Results. https://upcea.edu/new-report-from-upcea-2024-staffing-structure-survey-results/
- Partner Overview. https://0-partner-ed2go-com.www.livermore.lib.ca.us/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/ed2go-Partner-Overview-Flyer.pdf
- Cengage Work. Cengage Work Outcomes Report 2026. https://www.cengagework.com/learner-outcomes/