Andorra innovates academic degrees through blockchain certification
One of the main new features, apart from guaranteeing the reliability of the documents issued, is that it opens the possibility that in the future the apostille will no longer be required to recognise qualifications internationally. In addition, the degree and the European Diploma Supplement will be easily accessible and verifiable digital documents for educational institutions and potential employers, providing full guarantees of both data reliability and access.
The project is being developed within the framework of the Blockchain Lab that Actua has promoted with the collaboration of the Government of Andorra, Andorra Telecom and FEDA, in order to explore the potential use of this technology in practical applications in the country. In this first pilot project, the working group has incorporated the Andorran company BTC Assessors, responsible for co-designing and executing the project's technical solution.
The Minister of Education and Higher Learning, Eric Jover, explained that this pilot
consists of digitalising and registering national higher education qualifications such as the Advanced Professional Diploma (DPA), Bachelor's, Master's and Doctorate degrees as well as the European Diploma Supplement (EDS) through blockchain.
Jover also explained that once the pilot is over, if the results are as expected, the aim is to extend the issuance of degrees with this technology to lower levels and start negotiations with foreign higher education institutions where our students further their studies in order to establish agreements for the acceptance of the digital degree and not have to present the paper degree with its corresponding apostille.
The director of Actua Innovació, Marc Pons, emphasised that “blockchain technology allows for the creation of an unchangeable register, where once the validation information regarding academic degrees has been registered, it cannot be modified or deleted. It creates a decentralised public register, where you can securely store information regarding academic degrees. It also succeeds in validating the authenticity of the document through the use of cryptographic technologies such as digital signature and public key infrastructures (PKI)”.
Pons recalled that thus far, the process of issuing and validating academic degrees is a completely analogue process, requiring the signatures of a representative of the issuing institution and a representative of the State. Since the format is analogical and the signatures are handwritten, validating the degree requires administrative work and expense.
In this regard, the managing director of Andorra Telecom, Jordi Nadal, has reported that two of the company's technicians are working on it, one of them as project manager. "It is a technology with which we have already conducted some internal concept stage tests and we are convinced that it will have many applications". Nadal added that Andorra Telecom has launched a digital transformation program that aims to encourage innovation and provides for the use of technologies such as blockchain or predictive models. "For us it is also an additional incentive to participate in a nationwide project that positions us internationally".
It is expected that the first degrees issued with this technology will be those of higher education graduates from the 2018-2019 academic year, who will also receive the degree on paper. For the first time, the degrees will be issued in both media, which will not mean any increase in the cost of the degree.
