The Micros & Partnerships team sits within the Division of Learning and Teaching (DLT). By design, DLT brings together the core capabilities required to ensure Charles Sturt’s educational offerings are high quality, credible, relevant and continuously improved, with appropriate academic and quality assurance oversight.
Over recent years, Charles Sturt has prototyped and tested different micro-credential and short course models. These experiences provided a clear growth pathway.
Through earlier experimentation, we learned that while stackable and credit-aligned micro-credentials are valuable, they are also complex and costly to design, maintain and govern. Moving too quickly into this space, without an established market presence or a sustainable revenue base, introduced unnecessary risk.
Key Insight: Before expanding into complex, credit-aligned micro-credentials, the University needed a stable, scalable commercial base. That base sits in non-accredited, workforce-focused professional education commissioned by organisations, not individuals.
Following the 2025 change proposal, the Micros & Partnerships team made a deliberate and decisive shift toward Business-to-Business (B2B) and Business-to-Government (B2G) market segments for professional education. This shift reflects a focus on who commissions learning, rather than changing the type of learning delivered.
Across the sector, much of the existing B2B and executive education activity is concentrated within large, metropolitan, research-intensive universities, particularly within the Group of Eight. These offerings are typically designed for executive cohorts, metropolitan contexts, and longer-form delivery models.
This concentration creates a gap in the market for applied, workforce-scale professional education designed for regional and distributed workforces. Charles Sturt is well positioned to serve this gap. Its regional footprint, applied academic capability, and long-standing relationships with regional public and community-sector employers align directly with these needs. In these contexts, practical outcomes, credibility, and relevance matter more than prestige or brand.
Across health, education, justice, government, and community services, workforce learning demand is increasingly driven by regulation, reform, and service delivery requirements. In these contexts, training is commissioned to meet standards, manage risk, and support workforce capability, often at scale and within defined timeframes. Demand is organisational rather than individual, and purchasing decisions are typically made centrally.
Business-to-Business (B2B) and Business-to-Government (B2G) refer to market segments, specifically who commissions and pays for learning, not the type of course being delivered. In these segments, learning is purchased by organisations to meet workforce, regulatory, and reform requirements, rather than by individuals for personal development.
There are clear, evidence-based reasons for focusing on these market segments as the primary growth pathway for micro-credentials and short courses. Compared to individual (B2C) markets, B2B and B2G segments provide stronger demand signals, higher delivery efficiency, and more consistent revenue potential.
For a more detailed look at our current approach to micros and short courses please read:
About Micros and Partnerships Commercial Products Brief Draft
Email the team: microcredentials@csu.edu.au