Qualification authentication system to combat fake degrees

Libya has joined the Unified Arab System for Blockchain-based Certificate Authentication, which helps higher education institutions and university students verify the authenticity of their official documents.

This was announced by Jamal Al-Fardag, the academic adviser to Libya’s Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, according to a media statement posted on the ministry’s official Facebook page in February.

Libya became the fourth country after Algeria, Egypt and Tunisia to join a pilot project of the Unified Arab System for Blockchain-based Certificate Authentication launched by the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) in Tunisia.

The ALECSO initiative to combat the forging of university certificates was approved at the 18th Conference of Ministers of Higher Education and Scientific Research in the Arab World, that took place in Algeria in 2021 under the theme, ‘Higher Education and Scientific Research in the Arab World by 2030: Vision and directions’.

Higher education expert Ahmed Atia, a head of department in the faculty of medical technology at the University of Tripoli in Libya, told University World News: “The new blockchain system is a vital step for verifying degree results and academic qualifications awarded by faculties and higher education institutions, [an initiative] that will have a positive impact on protecting universities, employers and graduates from degree fraud along with facilitating the issuing of certificates during emergencies, including during war, political instability as well as environmental and health crises.”

Virtual university degree verification system

Mohamed Yeslem Elbagher, a former Mauritanian researcher at the University of Nouakchott, also welcomed the new development.

“The University of Islamic Sciences in Laayoune (UISL) in Mauritania was the first to implement such an e-initiative by launching a virtual degree verification system on its official website to enable everyone who wishes to ensure the authenticity of the certificates granted by the university to do so in an easy and fast way,” Elbagher told University World News.

According to him, the internet-based degree verification system requires the certificate number to provide all the information related to the owner of the certificate, and provides the ability to print the certificate when necessary.

He added that the verification system is available throughout Mauritania and abroad and shortens the correspondence time between foreign embassies, ministries of foreign affairs and higher education. It also helps institutions to ensure the credibility of certificates.

Degree verification in Africa

Samir Khalaf Abd-El-Aal, a science expert at the National Research Center, Egypt, told University World News that African universities must learn from the Mauritanian electronic system which is an easy and low-cost approach to combat fake certificates and facilitate obtaining a copy of graduate documents.

“This e-system will strengthen hiring practices by preventing undocumented people from using fraudulent university certificates to gain employment and create vulnerabilities in today’s marketplace,” Abd-El-Aal said.

According to him, the verification of qualifications is an important part of employers’ headhunting processes and for higher education providers’ recruitment of first-degree graduates into postgraduate programmes.

Abd-El-Aal echoed Attia’s observation that obtaining a verified digital qualification from the issuing university provides an answer to the need in Africa to be able provide these records during troubled periods which might put significant physical barriers between students and higher education institutions.

Blockchain-protected certificates

“African universities must also learn from the ALECSO blockchain system and start to issue digital certificates through the use of blockchain technology … that tracks educational diplomas, certificates, badges, and accreditations across institutions, workshops, online classes and other learning scenarios,” suggested Abd-El-Aal.

“This could be done by engaging all African universities associations to eventually make the system cover the whole African continent, along with cooperating with similar regional and international organisations, including the South Africa-based Blockchain Academy and the Rwanda-based Africa Blockchain Institute as well as the Higher Education Degree Datacheck (HEDD) – the United Kingdom’s higher education sector’s official service for candidate verification and university authentication,” said Abd-El-Aal.