Session
✅ Included for all participants
While an intense debate is going on in higher education around the job market's increasing demand for new skills, pioneers have already proven that microcredentials can boost international cooperation while responding to societal training needs. This session will guide participants through an effective methodology for designing microcredentials, showing practical examples of innovative formats compliant with quality assurance standards and users' needs.
Cleo leads higher education projects at the Asia-Europe Foundation—an intergovernmental organisation based in Singapore. She manages ASEF’s flagship higher education programmes: the ASEF Regional Conference on Higher Education (ARC) and the ASEF Higher Education Innovation Laboratory (ASEFInnoLab). These bring together policymakers, university leaders, academics, student leaders, and other stakeholders from across Asia and Europe. Since joining ASEF in 2023, she has delivered dozens of activities in both virtual and in-person formats and helped build diverse cross-regional dialogue and collaboration on a wide range of emerging and strategic issues in higher education. Prior to this, she served at the Commission on Higher Education of the Philippines as its Desk Officer for ASEAN and SEAMEO Affairs for a decade.
Henrique O'Neill is Associated Professor of Information Systems and Operations Management at ISCTE - University Institute of Lisbon, Portugal. His research interests are broadly focused on the adoption of ICT to foster business performance, including business, operations and IS/IT strategy, modelling methods and approaches, organizational analysis and processes design, and the quality of information systems in industry sectors.
Lara Sorrentino is Senior Manager for Higher Education and currently Head of Post-graduate and Continuing Education Department, Teaching and Learning Services Division, at the University of Florence, Italy.
She holds a PhD in Modern Philology and a MBA for University Management from the Politecnico di Milano University. She is experienced in the design and implementation of HE innovative educational programmes, including micro-credentials and joint degrees.
Her recent professional experience includes the participation in several international conferences as lecturer or facilitator on the topics of innovation in higher education, methodologies and procedure for international programme design and implementation, lifelong learning and professional training, including 2023, 2024, 2025 EAIE Conferences in Rotterdam, Toulouse and Gothenburg, and 2026 APAIE Conference in Hong Kong. She has been expert facilitator for the Micro-credentials track in the 6th Asian-Europe Foundation Innolab (2025).
