Digitalisation of Academic Credentials

We are working on an infrastructure for digital academic credentials that can support an education system of the future.

A wealth of learning materials is available to us at all times. We can easily connect with other learners or communicate with our professors. Increasingly, technology acts as a personal guide that can support our individual interests and paths. But the way we issue and manage academic credentials has not changed - and does not take advantage of the possibilities of digital technology.
What would an academic degree look like if it were designed today? Or a professional certificate? Or a certificate for an online course? As the question of trustworthy verification and authentication of learning and credentials arises with new urgency, we need to rethink the way we recognise and manage academic credentials.

Digital Credentials Consortium

In 2018, leading international universities joined forces to advance the digitisation of educational credentials. As a founding member, HPI is actively involved together with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA), Delft University of Technology (The Netherlands), Harvard University (USA) and 10 other members. https://digitalcredentials.mit.edu/

Building on the previous projects and research of the participating institutions, we are creating a technology infrastructure for academic credentials that can create new opportunities for participation in education and industry. Our technology working group is the link for exchange between the different consortium members.

Digitale Bildungsnachweise für Hochschulen

We are working together with the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) on a project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) for digital educational certificates for universities (DiBiHo).

The objective is to research a trustworthy, distributed and internationally usable infrastructure standard for issuing, storing, displaying and verifying academic certificates and educational credentials in a national and international context. Thus, the project serves to define goals in the area of digital educational credentials for German higher education institutions that are independent of specialised process manufacturers.

The DiBiHo project runs from 01.11.2020 to 31.12.2022 (approval period) and has a total funding volume of 1.94 million €. It is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) under the grant code: M534800.