A New Era of Education: Rethinking Accreditation in the Modern World

Since we started InceptionU in 2018, many learners have asked the same questions - “Will I get a certificate? How will I prove my skills? What if a potential employer asks to see proof?”

They’re all great questions, and we answered them the same way: Certificates prove nothing; you must show potential employers what you can do!

During the 6-month AI-Enabled Full Stack Developer program, learners build software projects, participate in team collaboration and stand-up meetings and added their lines of code to their GITHub (a website where developers store their code). They get hired after sharing that digital portfolio with potential employers (what they can do, not where they learned how to do it).

With every cohort, we still get the question, albeit, much less frequently. We’re always very upfront with our learners that InceptionU is an unaccredited institution, by choice. 

Why is InceptionU unaccredited?

Accredited learning refers to educational programs or institutions that have undergone a rigorous evaluation process conducted by accrediting agencies, like the provincial government. Upon meeting predetermined standards, the institution or program is granted accreditation. This is the standard approach to institutionalized education and there is a lot of it available. InceptionU was conceived to offer an alternative path to this traditional path - one that is just as rigorous and committed to strong principles of effectiveness - but works in a more interdependent and responsive way with a constantly changing future.

As we know, technology is evolving at a rapid pace and staying on top of technical skills like programming languages, the evolution of AI and machine learning, digital trade, e-commerce, fin tech, cyber security and blockchain means that the best program curriculums must stay flexible and adaptable. And technology is just one segment of broader challenges we face in a world that has grown increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. It requires a different approach.

A lengthy accreditation process would limit our ability to keep our curriculum current and reflective of what’s being used in industry. Making changes to the program wouldn't be possible without jumping through
bureaucratic hoops. By the time the changes got approved, they may very well be out of date. And the people managing the changes would be doing that instead of making sure that learning stays responsive to the requirement and needs of the learner and industry.

Other benefits of unaccredited programs like ours include greater affordability and access, more flexibility in terms of course offerings, schedule, and learning formats, which can be beneficial for working professionals or non-traditional learners.

We are not seeking accreditation because it has a high potential of interfering with the ability to keep our programs responsive and agile, while ultimately not representing any significant value to our learners or the companies who will hire them.

Does a certificate represent understanding?

Seth Godin in his blog, says university has become a credentialing business, exchanging money for a piece of paper.  It begs the question: Do we value learning, or do we value the credential instead?

There is a belief that accredited degrees often carry more weight with employers as they signal the graduate has undergone a recognized educational program. But does it mean they understand or are competent in what they’ve studied?

Traditional learning environments are built around test scores and exams. It is often more focused on sorting learners by grades instead of making sure we build understanding.
You remember what that felt like - a professor at the front of the room dumping out information that you scribbled down on a piece of paper, and then regurgitated when it came time for the test or exam. How much of that do we really remember? What does this prove? What value does it provide?

At InceptionU, we don’t test or grade our learners because we don’t see it as an effective way to demonstrate understanding. Our learning approach is different: Project-based learning is a “learn by doing” type of endeavour. It’s not linear, it’s often messy, and it definitely is challenging, but we know that it works. It's an ideal learning design for software development, marketing, sales and design careers, among many others. At the end of their program, learners have a digital portfolio of their work and most often, that’s the only thing employers ask to see.

We asked learners who recently found employment,
what their experience was when job hunting. Here’s what some of our learners had to say:

“I didn't receive any pushback about not having a certification, I believe that my portfolio/github was sufficient enough to get interviews. Then my knowledge was backed up by their tech assessments - I was never asked for any certification as proof.” - Abbie 

“I wasn’t ever asked for a certificate in any of the interviews I've had, even by those who offered me jobs.” - Danielle

Credentials are important in certain industries

Let’s face it - credentials can indeed serve a purpose.

If I’m having surgery, I want to know that a certified medical doctor is performing the procedure. Or, that a professional civil engineer has designed the bridge I'm driving across. I think most of us can agree that credentials are extremely important in a number of professions like healthcare, law, civil engineering, etc. Even here though, it's worth noting, the credential is one of competence through a board certification process that exists external to the academic institutions. 

Ultimately, credentials are a shortcut for presumed competence. That's why we like them, it reduces the energy required to actually determine competence.

But in many other industries, a degree and certification are not necessary. Too often it seems more like an expensive transactional relationship (pay tuition --> get diploma/degree) which ultimately may not help you find the career you want.

Technology companies have learned that the people with fancy credentials can't necessarily do the work. So they are forced to follow a more difficult path of evaluating talent.

Forget credentials, and focus on mindset

You can have all the credentials you can get your hands on, but it doesn't mean you’re going to find the career you want. Employers in our network tell us that, first and foremost, they are looking for competence and mindset. 

Our program responds to both of those skillsets building competence through project work and evolving mindset through a focus on MetaSkills. 

It’s at the core of everything we do. Whether it’s our AI-Enabled Full Stack Developer program, our Transformation Design program, or any of our other learning opportunities, we ensure a meaningful learning experience that is enhanced through purpose-driven team collaboration and fuelled by the power of MetaSkills: critical thinking, systems thinking, creative thinking, computational thinking, scientific thinking, discovery and design, and collaboration. 

The World Economic Forum’s 2025 Future of Jobs Report ranks the skills needed for the future of work, surveying over 1,000 leading global employers. Here are the Top 5:  

1. Analytical thinking
2. Resilience, flexibility and agility
3. Leadership and social influence
4. Creative thinking
5. Motivation and self-awareness

Take a look at these top 5 skills above, and consider if you associate them with the education provided at traditional post-secondary academic institutions. Considering these are taken from the WEF's Future of Jobs Report, this should set off some alarm bells in your head.

These (meta)skills are so valuable because they allow companies to respond to change and are resistant to automation. This is actually what employers are (and should!) be looking for.

There is no framed certificate that proves you are future-fit. However, InceptionU gives life-long learners a frame to put their future in.

*Note: On occasion our learners do require proof of completion if applying for awards, completing taxes, etc. We are happy to provide that on a case-by-case basis.