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The aphorism 'No good deed goes unpunished' has a little known corollary in Australian tertiary education: 'No bad policy goes undoubled down'. And so it is with the Australian Government pushing microcredentials onto higher education under the cover of responding to the [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 crisis. Microcredentials are the most recent attempt to improve the match between education and work by changing education, while leaving work unchanged. So far employers have not shown widespread interest in developing expertise in evaluating new types of credentials and matching them to their internal needs. Thus far they have preferred to rely on readily recognised qualifications. We therefore argue that all tertiary students should be supported to attain a qualification that is: (1) valued in society and in the labour market; (2) prepares them for a career and for citizenship; and (3) is based on deep, meaningful and sustained engagement with theoretical knowledge to participate in debates in society and in their field of practice.

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