Global Effort to Prevent University Diploma Fraud

03.06.2019

Quest to Transform Paper-Based Diploma System to Digital One

Nine universities from around the world are working together to create a highly secure, shared, infrastructure to provide graduates with a digital version of their degrees.

It is hoped that the collaboration, called Digital Credentials, will also prevent diploma fraud and manipulation by providing a shared infrastructure standard for the issuing, storing, displaying and verifying of academic credentials, the Delft University of Technology, reported on its site. TU Delft is one of the collaborators.

While technology has transformed education in a myriad of ways, the issuing of degrees still largely remains a paper-based system. In other words, graduates who need proof of their credentials often have to go back to their institution - either in person or by mail - to obtain a paper certificate. This can prove difficult in some instances, like in the case of refugees, for example.

The other collaborators are Harvard University (USA), the Hasso Plattner Institute (University of Potsdam, Germany), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA), Tecnologico de Monterrey (Mexico), TU Munich (Germany), UC Berkeley (USA), UC Irvine (USA), and the University of Toronto (Canada).