Did we tell you about preventing forged University Transcripts

Did we tell you about preventing forged University Transcripts? .

We wrote about the fake degrees and University scams a few times in the past.Recently we had an opportunity to build a case study with Ashoka University.

Ashoka University is a pioneer in its focus on providing a multi-disciplinary liberal education at par with the best in the world. Located near New Delhil, with students drawn from over 18 countries and 98 cities, Ashoka is called “Ivy League, Indian Style” by Financial Times. Ashoka aspires to develop critical thinking, well-rounded individuals who can approach issues from multiple perspectives, communicate effectively and become leaders with a commitment to public service. In a short period, Ashoka has become one of the most sought after and well known universities in India attracting faculty from elite universities from all over the world.

Universities are plagued with problems with no Easy answers

Normally for verification of educational credentials, traditionally one or more of the following approaches are used

1. Clearing house : Universities tie up with clearing houses which provide verifiers with access to the information for a fee.

2. Third party verification service providers : Background verification companies/employment screening intermediaries approach the educational institution through their established channels and get the details for the specific student(s) verified for a specific client.

3. Direct approach : The verifier may directly contact the University through channels such as e-mail or online account to get details which are provided after ascertaining the need for giving the information.

4. Physical Security Features : Holograms, RFID tags etc are sometimes used but these fall short on many fronts:

a) ease of verification: not easy to verify and may require special hardware b) Can by their nature only work for originals and not for copies or electronic versions c) Short shelf-life: A particularly university has to keep changing these physical features over time and it is difficulty for third parties to keep track that this institution used a particular hologram from 2010 to 2012 and then another one from 2013 onwards.

All these methods have their challenges and some common issues are time taken for verification, cost, the possibility of manipulation of low scrutiny databases, connivance of staff to give wrong information and exposes sensitive student information to these “intermediate handlers”.

Key Decision Factors

When Ashoka University wanted to address this problem, they did an exhaustive and comprehensive study of the issues and available solutions.

There are many different types of solutions – holograms, embossments, digital, RFID and smart chips, QR code – that are available. After considerable evaluation of the pros and cons of each, the key areas they evaluated on were -

• Seamless Security
• Digital and Physical Certificates
• Tamper Proof
• Easy Generation
• Affordable Integration
• Ease of Verification

Technology Choice

After a thorough evaluation, Ashoka University selected Qryptal – world leaders in document security solutions and the main reasons were -

• Military grade security for both digital and physical printed certificate formats
• Easy API integration with Ashoka’s Student Information System (SIS)
• Integrated support for both secure code and document generation based on Ashoka’s template layouts
• Multi-user and audit trails
• Responsive support

You can download the entire case study - Education Case Study - Download - Ashoka University

Additional Links -

Fake Degrees Being Sold All Over The World - Cause of Increased Incompetence ?

The Fake University Degree Scourge