Where is my Degree?
"It should be in this box... mmmhhh, maybe in this folder? Wait, the last time I copied it, it was here... "
Edu, short for Eduardo, is desperate. After his latest house move, his flat is a mess. He needs to send his academic transcript plus his diploma with both sides to the Admissions Team by today to be still able to meet that last-round deadline for his Master's application. Edu already requested his university to send an official transcript and graduation certificate to the other university. Still, it will take about 2 weeks (and cost him 50 USD for the express mail service). Why do universities not evolve?
Certainly, more than one can resonate with this situation. Edu is not the only one misplacing his academic credentials. Recovering them can take hours (in the end you find them somewhere at home) or requires requesting copies from the university. For readers who went through that process, it's time-consuming and expensive.
Even if you have your originals available, other universities don't trust you. Digital documents can be forged and are inauthentic when security standards are not applied. For further studies, you always need to send authentic copies from your previous university.
With the rise of blockchains, there is an increased number of digital credential providers that offer solutions for higher education institutions. To name a few:
- Credly
- Accredible
- Badgr
- Degreed
- Blockcerts
- Digitalme
- Conferize
- OpenSesame
- Sertifier
Agility
Without entering into technicalities, issuing digital credentials becomes a breeze and they are ready to distribute within seconds. It even lowers the carbon footprint as there is no more printer involved and the time-consuming mailing from the university to the student and from the student to the interested party disappears.
The Registrar's Office doesn't need to attend anymore any requests for re-issuance of degrees. Students have access to the digital credential platform and share their blockchain-verified certificates with whomever they want.
Control
The university, as the issuer of the certificate, still it can revoke the credential should irregularities arise. However, the lifelong record of learning should shift into the hands of the learner. They should be able to manage and distribute these records. The dependence of verification from the university should vanish.
Trust
Universities issue digital credentials in a blockchain-secured format that is shareable and instantly verifiable anywhere in the world. It builds immediate trust for any person who needs to verify those credentials. Paper-based documents are easy to fake even with stamps and doubts always remain.
From the perspective of the Admissions Officer who handles the application from Eduardo, digital credentials would come as a blessing: the process could be much faster without this verification process as Eduardo produces his degree as a link in the online application. No management of copies that at a later stage still need to be compared with the originals or verified otherwise.
Implementing digital credentials enhance clearly the student/graduate experience. It optimizes any internal management of the Registrar's Office. Nonetheless, the adoption of digital credentials in Higher Education is very slow. Many training organizations like Coursera, EDx have fully embraced this trend. Why can universities not do the same?
