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Blockchain and Higher Education Diplomas

Due to added mobility and the increase in international students worldwide, as well as the current problem regarding the counterfeiting of diplomas and the selling of fraudulent certificates, we propose a technological solution. Namely, to ally blockchain technology to higher education certificates...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Castro, Renato Q., Au-Yong-Oliveira, Manuel
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8314335/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34542456
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe11010013
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author Castro, Renato Q.
Au-Yong-Oliveira, Manuel
author_facet Castro, Renato Q.
Au-Yong-Oliveira, Manuel
author_sort Castro, Renato Q.
collection PubMed
description Due to added mobility and the increase in international students worldwide, as well as the current problem regarding the counterfeiting of diplomas and the selling of fraudulent certificates, we propose a technological solution. Namely, to ally blockchain technology to higher education certificates and diplomas, to make the process of checking for academic qualifications more facilitated and transparent. Employers of graduates, as well as higher education institutions which evaluate course applicants, would benefit. Perhaps equally as important, students applying for international degree programs would have their lives simplified. There is an increased pressure to ensure the legitimacy and authenticity of certifications and diplomas—and preferably without the current “hassle” of getting diplomas recognized by official entities. New technological advances, with the development of blockchain and smart contracts, with their characteristics of immutability, decentralization, security, traceability, and consensus, may be considered an excellent match to implement a robust and reliable anti-fraud solution to issue digital diplomas. Radical innovations, such as linking blockchain and higher education diplomas, involve significant change and novelty. Linking blockchain and higher education diplomas could potentially positively impact and benefit millions of people worldwide, especially the younger generations. This study involved a literature review and the searching of the Scopus database (refereed publications) for the following concepts: blockchain and diploma. Existing literature is recent, with most articles (25) published between 2019 and 2020, with 4 in 2018 and only 1 in 2017. This was aligned with our expectations since the development of blockchain utilization outside financial and crypto-assets industries is recent, and it is known as “Blockchain 3.0”. We can additionally affirm that the topic is attracting attention and efforts from researchers worldwide and that some higher education institutions have already implemented ad hoc solutions. As it is, the sector lacks a unified response to the problem of automatic and reliable higher education diploma certification.
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spelling pubmed-83143352021-09-15 Blockchain and Higher Education Diplomas Castro, Renato Q. Au-Yong-Oliveira, Manuel Eur J Investig Health Psychol Educ Review Due to added mobility and the increase in international students worldwide, as well as the current problem regarding the counterfeiting of diplomas and the selling of fraudulent certificates, we propose a technological solution. Namely, to ally blockchain technology to higher education certificates and diplomas, to make the process of checking for academic qualifications more facilitated and transparent. Employers of graduates, as well as higher education institutions which evaluate course applicants, would benefit. Perhaps equally as important, students applying for international degree programs would have their lives simplified. There is an increased pressure to ensure the legitimacy and authenticity of certifications and diplomas—and preferably without the current “hassle” of getting diplomas recognized by official entities. New technological advances, with the development of blockchain and smart contracts, with their characteristics of immutability, decentralization, security, traceability, and consensus, may be considered an excellent match to implement a robust and reliable anti-fraud solution to issue digital diplomas. Radical innovations, such as linking blockchain and higher education diplomas, involve significant change and novelty. Linking blockchain and higher education diplomas could potentially positively impact and benefit millions of people worldwide, especially the younger generations. This study involved a literature review and the searching of the Scopus database (refereed publications) for the following concepts: blockchain and diploma. Existing literature is recent, with most articles (25) published between 2019 and 2020, with 4 in 2018 and only 1 in 2017. This was aligned with our expectations since the development of blockchain utilization outside financial and crypto-assets industries is recent, and it is known as “Blockchain 3.0”. We can additionally affirm that the topic is attracting attention and efforts from researchers worldwide and that some higher education institutions have already implemented ad hoc solutions. As it is, the sector lacks a unified response to the problem of automatic and reliable higher education diploma certification. MDPI 2021-02-19 /pmc/articles/PMC8314335/ /pubmed/34542456 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe11010013 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) ).
spellingShingle Review
Castro, Renato Q.
Au-Yong-Oliveira, Manuel
Blockchain and Higher Education Diplomas
title Blockchain and Higher Education Diplomas
title_full Blockchain and Higher Education Diplomas
title_fullStr Blockchain and Higher Education Diplomas
title_full_unstemmed Blockchain and Higher Education Diplomas
title_short Blockchain and Higher Education Diplomas
title_sort blockchain and higher education diplomas
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8314335/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34542456
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe11010013
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