Four Master’s programs will be certified in an alliance with Ibermática. This is a second phase of the project after validating graduate degrees in February.
It was reported that Universidad San Pablo CEU in Spain is expanding the certification of its university degrees, by applying authentication to its postgraduate diplomas in a blockchain. From the next course, the educational institution will begin to validate official degrees of four university master’s programs.
The project of the university is an alliance with the Spanish startup Ibermática, with which they have worked in the past to offer greater security for the issuance of its graduates’ certificates. The university confirmed the information disclosed by local media through its Twitter account, saying that it certifies official postgraduate degrees with blockchain technology.
The use of blockchains at the university is framed under the digital transformation program, which also covers the application of artificial intelligence and voice assistant technology. It is worth mentioning that a request for comments from Ibermática and Universidad San Pablo CEU has not yet been answered.
Last February, the universities San Pablo CEU (in Madrid), Abat Oliba CEU (in Barcelona) and Cardenal Herrera CEU (in Valencia) jointly announced that they would begin using blockchains, an original Bitcoin technology, as a digital system to certify their degrees. At that time, it was reported that they would use a platform called chainTalent, which would work with Hyperledger Fabric technology.
Both Ibermática and the institutions that belong to the Center for University Studies (CEU) are part of Alastria, a Spanish consortium focused on providing corporate services with blockchain technology.
Blockchain and University Sector
The field of university degree certification is another area with potential for the application of blockchain or distributed accounting technology (DLT), a protocol linked mostly to cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. The interest that the educational institutions have in validating their diplomas is to ensure that the information issued is traceable and verifiable and that the certificate is proven to be authentic. They intend to eliminate the risk of document forgery.
This trend among universities has been recorded since 2018 when the educational institutions observed the potential for the protection of students’ identity, records, and credentials. The pioneering universities in this field were the University of Nicosia, in Cyprus, and the Holberton School, in the United States.
Other Spanish universities such as the Carlos III University of Madrid (UC3M), the International University of La Rioja (UNIR) and the Higher Institute for Internet Development (ISDI) already issue certified degrees using blockchain-focused technology, which speaks of the momentum that it has experienced in the European country.
Regarding Latin America, the National University of Colombia announced last February that it would test the certification of its degrees in the Ethereum network, while the Monterrey Institute of Technology in Mexico announced that it would digitally certify its degrees in the IBM blockchain network.
It should be remembered that distributed accounting technology or blockchain is a protocol initially presented with Bitcoin that allows the completion of any transaction between two or more people but without the participation of third parties or central trusted entities.
By Willmen Blanco
