By educational and occupational credentials I mean diplomas, academic degrees, certifications, qualifications, badges, etc., that a person can obtain by passing some test or examination of their abilities. See also the Connecting Credentials project's glossary of credentialing terms.

These are already alluded to in some pending schema.org properties, for example an Occupation or JobPosting's qualification or a Course's educationalCredentialAwarded. These illustrate how educational and occupational credentials are useful for linking career aspirations with discovery of educational opportunities. There is also related work about verifiable claims (issue #1654) that a person posses credentials (a broader class than educational and occupational credentials), which would link individuals to occupational requirements.

Examples of websites which show these educational and occupations credentials include:

• Board of Certified Safety Professionals
• SQA (Scottish qualifications authority)
• City and Guilds qualifications
• Microsoft Certification
• Connecting Credentials
• Degree Qualifications Framework
• EU Qualification frameworks
  (And many others, e.g. just about every University, College and examination board)

A lot of work on describing credentials has been carried out by the Credential Engine, and they are interested in linking this to schema.org.

Given that this is a fairly complex area, it would probably best be addressed by discussion elsewhere, using this issue as a tracking issue and for coordination with the wider schema.org community. To that end, if there is sufficient support, I'll set up W3C community group.