01 / The Capability Economy
The data standard powering the Capability Economy.
MortarCAPS stewards the world's first sector-owned data standard for higher and vocational education. CAUDIT HERM-aligned. Built by the sector, for the sector — to make institutions, vendors, governments, and learners interoperable in the AI era.
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160+
Institutions engaged
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700+
Community members
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3
Countries — AU · NZ · CA
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V2.1.1
Standard live, Recognition of Credit
02 What is MCDS
This is not another data standard. It is the infrastructure higher learning now depends on.
MCDS is built on the CAUDIT Higher Education Reference Model (HERM). It standardises the entities, semantics, exchange formats, and reference data that universities, TAFEs, colleges, vendors, and regulators need to work as a sector — not as 200 disconnected silos.
Standardised entities
One model. Every system.
Open, JSON-API native
Built to integrate.
Sector-owned
No vendor controls the standard.
Live in production
Working at scale today.
From a credential economy of static artefacts — to a Capability Economy of living, consent-driven human intelligence.
Layer 01
MCDS
Layer 02
Capability Cloud / ANZ CrMS
Layer 03
Human Capability Record
03 Recent highlights
What's happened recently.
A live look at sector partnerships, standard releases, and community announcements.
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July 2026
HCR Discovery commences — capability record enters build with CBA, KPMG, ACS, VTAC, USyd, UTS, WSU
A coalition of Australia's largest employers, universities and professional bodies commences the discovery phase of the Human Capability Record — the portable, learner-owned record of human capability being built under MCDS as productivity infrastructure for an AI-era labour market. -
June 2026
MCDS V2.1.1 released — 24 domains, 5,400+ entities, Recognition of Credit standard
Released at the June townhall. The current standard spans 24 domains and more than 5,400 entities, drawn from reference data across four jurisdictions. V2.1.1 adds the new Recognition of Credit standard. -
December 2025
Workato joins MortarCAPS to accelerate digital transformation
A standardised API layer and common data model — built on MCDS — to help universities address the integration tax. -
November 2025
AAF joins as a Sector Partner
The Australian Access Federation strengthens trust and access across higher education through MCDS-aligned identity foundations.
04 Founding partners
Backed by the institutions and companies building the future.
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Lead architect of the Data Standard. Decades of enterprise architecture and systems integration experience.
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Leading Australian enterprise software provider. Integrated SaaS platform for higher education.
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Global higher-education software leader. Banner, Colleague, and the broader Ellucian platform serve more than 2,900 institutions worldwide.
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Global leader in cloud infrastructure. Scalable cloud capabilities and analytics for institutions.
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Education Cloud, analytics, and AI for learner engagement.
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Enterprise orchestration platform connecting data, processes, and applications via AI workflows.
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Cloud, AI, data, security, and education solutions for higher learning.
05 / Get involved
Adopt the standard. Join the working group. Become a partner.
Whether you lead an institution, build software for higher learning, or shape government policy — there's a way in.