Creating a Digital Credentials Service for the Spanish University System
Introduction
Students who attend higher education institutions obtain three types of outcomes at the end of a teaching stage
Knowledge, skills and abilities
Specialized content necessary to be able to carry out certain professions and jobs.
Certification
Legal basis that enables the student to probe the educational level acquired.
Universitary experience
Intangible elements such as the network of contacts established during studies or opinion formation.
In the university field, in recent years we have attended multiple digitization initiatives focused mainly on educational content needed for knowledge acquisition, skills and abilities. Multiple open educational resources and MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) platforms have been founded.
The digitization of certification is another area of great importance in the context of higher education. Here the complexity is another, not so much to cover a wide field, but to align technologies and regulations.
Benefits
Educational institutions
Authenticity
remove forgery risk
Cost
issue costs reduction
Students
Portability
ease of storage
Internationalization
useful for a global work environment
Empowerment
control over the certificates displayed
Employers
Efficacy
quick validation
Agility
at the time of putting in contact
Validity
for both the employee and the employer
Current Situation
Initiatives
Under development
EDCI (European Digital Credentials Iniciative)
EBSI (European Blockchain Services Infrastructure)
DCC (Digital Credentials Consortium)
IMS (Instructional Management System Consortium)
Commercial Initiatives
Inhibitors
for effective deployment in higher education
Legislation
Internal organization
Lack of standardization
Recognition
Privacy & Security
Absence of digital culture
Goals
Deployment of a digital certification service for the Spanish University System within the framework of the European Higher Education Area as an initiative of the UniDigital Plan of the Ministry of Universities
- Adaptation of the legislation
- Knowledge of technology (APIs, wallet, data format)
- Deployment of services (concerns several areas of the organization)
- Adaptation of the organization to this new set of technologies / paradigms
- Formalization and recognition of courses and programs with different duration
- Definition and evaluation of the level of support generated by this type of service and the necessary knowledge and skills in the organization
- Coordination with organizations at international and especially European levels
Leading Universities
Early Adopters
