Framework for Digitally Managing Academic Records Using Blockchain Technology

NoResearch studies report that there are a growing number of falsified educational certificates being produced by dishonest job seekers and higher education applicants across the world. Technological development in the image-processing domain makes editing the document so simple that any individual can perform this kind of forgery without having high-level skills in image editing. Most national governments have put in place stringent policies and procedures to verify and authenticate academic documents. However, due to the amount of human intervention in the process, the efficiency of such measures is debatable. Such systems leave open the possibility that unethical insiders may engage in forgery. In addition, the process of document verification and authentication consumes substantial amounts of time and money. Existing systems of document attestation do not provide a simple and instant way of verifying the authenticity of certificates from transcript level onward. In response to the above issues, this project proposes a prototype model for digitally managing and attesting the academic records using permissioned blockchain technology. By this method, the block-chaining of a student record begins from the time of admission to the Higher Education Institute (HEI) and continues to record the academic progress until graduation, having the graduation details stored as the last block in the chain. The whole blockchain of the student record will remain in the system with the participants enabling any indirect stakeholder to verify the details instantly based on the hash code or QR code. Additional privileges will be provided for direct stakeholders such as (here in Oman) the Ministry of Manpower and the Ministry of Higher Education to access further details of the certificate-holder. The system includes the student as a stakeholder and also as a participant to ensure transparency for her/his academic records