Ensuring equal inclusion

Keynote

Martin Hall Emeritus Professor, Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town; Non-Executive Director, Advanced Secure Technologies

Martin Hall underscores the critical importance of providing fair and inclusive educational opportunities in today’s competitive knowledge economy. He highlights pervasive examples of exclusion, from petrol pump attendants in South Africa to refugees from conflict zones like Syria and Gaza, and regional disparities in higher education participation. Hall advocates for flexible curriculum structures, next-generation credit accumulation and transfer systems, and secure methods for verifying achievements to build personalized learning pathways. He emphasizes that micro-credentialing can transform education by focusing on demonstrated competencies rather than traditional status rankings, offering a significant step towards equitable access to competency-based qualifications for all.

Keynote

Anna Derinova-Hartmann Private Sector Engagement and Partnerships Lead, IOM – UN Migration

In her presentation “Empowering Migrants: Equity and Inclusion through Digital Solutions,” Anna Derinova-Hartmann explores how digital solutions can play a pivotal role in supporting equitable labour migration pathways: enhancing migrants’ integration into the labour market, improving access to employment opportunities, and facilitating smoother transitions through complex bureaucratic processes. By focusing on digital strategies that support language training, professional development, and community engagement, she highlights how these solutions contribute to a more inclusive environment for migrants, ensuring their skills and qualifications are effectively recognized and utilized.

The presentation also emphasizes the crucial role of private sector partnerships in advancing these initiatives, creating opportunities for employment, skill recognition, and socio-economic integration, reinforcing IOM’s commitment to a more inclusive and equitable future for migrants.

Input 1: Building a consensus for non-accredited learning: bringing stakeholders to the table at a national level to discuss the future of digital badging for the UK

Patrina Law Lifelong Learning Lead, The RSA

Patrina discusses the importance of building a movement towards greater acceptance and implementation of digital badges, emphasizing their role in recognizing and rewarding lifelong learning. She addresses the challenges and opportunities in ensuring the quality and interoperability of these credentials at a national scale, and makes a compelling case for a lifelong digital record of learning — problems being addressed by the UK Digital Badging Commission.

The presentation also examines the feasibility of applying quality assurance frameworks to digital badges, enabling them to support flexible learning pathways in line with lifelong learning entitlements, and how digital badges can help bridge existing inequalities in work and skills.

Input 2: Quality Label for Badge Recognition

Nerijus Kriauciunas Partnership Development, AWERO

Nerijus presents the Quality Label for Badge Recognition, a pioneering initiative addressing the need for non-formal recognition organizations to self-define and achieve greater recognition of digital Open Badging programs. Developed by the Cities of Learning Network, it promotes open, accessible, and inclusive learning and recognition opportunities across more than 50 locations. With over a decade of experience in non-formal learning and Open Badges, the label aims to achieve greater external recognition for learning outcomes, particularly for young people with fewer opportunities and adults struggling to keep up with life demands. It will be offered to organizations promoting community volunteering, digital inclusion, and youth employment.

Input 1: Empowering migrants: MigrateMate’s AI-powered solution for seamless integration

Jude Temianka Strategy Director, Accenture

MigrateMate is an advanced large language model (LLM) designed to address critical information gaps in immigration journeys. It provides real-time, multilingual advice on diverse migration topics, proactively identifying and mitigating barriers to migration and integration.

In addition to supporting smoother transitions for migrants, MigrateMate helps address global workforce challenges by identifying and connecting skilled workers across industries and countries, enhancing employment opportunities and alleviating worker shortages.

Input 2: interID – an interoperable verifiable credential verifier

Hakan Yildiz Tech Innovation Strategy Manager, Accenture

Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) is in its early stages of development. The most advanced implementations, such as the Bhutan eID project and state-level Canadian eID projects, are currently executed on a relatively small scale. In Europe, initiatives like the EU Digital Wallet and the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI) are transitioning from proof of concept to operational readiness.

This presentation introduces interID — an adaptable platform designed to verify Verifiable Credentials across various SSI technology stacks, delivering reliable validation results to service providers, even those unfamiliar with SSI, as an extension to their existing identity and access management systems.

Workshop

Andreas Hörfurter Managing Director, common sense eLearning & training consultants

The workshop aims to collaboratively discuss and finalize a visual badge framework based on the qualified submissions received from ICoBC’s and eAA’s Call for a Visual Taxonomy for Badge Design — with a focus on inclusion and equity. It includes an overview of visual badge taxonomies, showcasing previous work from GIZ atingi, TUI Care Foundation, and ITCILO, and explains various badge types. Participants give feedback on an initial prototype and design badges in groups based on given scenarios. The workshop concludes with workflow, timelines, deliverables, and next steps.