Faux-cademia
Using the Blockchain to Abolish Fake Degrees
The utility of blockchain technology is slowly beginning to percolate through the many layers of modern society, presenting itself as a multifaceted tool that continues to prove effective in mitigating the prevalence of many different types of fraudulence.
One of the most compelling use cases that blockchain offers is the secure validation of information that we rely on everyday. The immutability of data, which is a native property of public proof-of-work (PoW) ledgers like Bitcoin SV, lends itself well to application as a registry for high-value, sensitive data like Univeristy degrees, qualifications and educational diplomas.
As such some educational institutions, including the Swiss University of St. Gallen, plan to take advantage of the technology, by attempting to provide unrivalled security and irrefutable evidencing of the degrees they award. In doing so, these institutions seek to thwart the efforts of those who fruitfully benefit from the exploitation of the existing system, which has seen countless examples of people, in all stations of office, looking to misrepresent their academic history.
The headache caused by the prevalence of fake or fraudulent degrees, although not a new phenomenon, is becoming increasingly ubiquitous in the academic arena. Back in 2001, the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP-UNESCO) launched its ETICO programme with the aim of fighting corruption in education recognising the importance of global transparency and accountability in the education sector. Despite these efforts, the trade in fake degrees continues to thrive with UNESCO estimates putting the number of fake degrees being used in the US today in the region of 200,000.
One of the most prominent vendors of these fraudulent degrees lies in Pakistan and operates under the name ‘Axact’. In 2018, the BBC reported that in 2015 alone, Axact sold more than 215,000 fake qualifications worldwide, accumulating £37.5m in the process of doing so. Worryingly, this figure includes a number of fraudulent medical degrees, used by NHS clinical staff, presenting unqualified individuals with the possibility to practice medicine with the potential for serious if not fatal consequences.
In a recent interview with CNN Money, the University of St. Gallen’s CIO, Harald Rotter, suggests that the digital age has accommodated the rise in fraudulent diplomas, with digitisation, via PDF format, permitting the exploitation of academic attainment that was, and indeed remains, a far more difficult task to complete in its traditional paper format. However, this isn’t to say that the digitised system is fundamentally flawed, rather, it demonstrates the need for supportive technology to bolster its security, which, for The University of St. Gallen at least, is to be found in the form of blockchain technology:
‘I saw that it could be easier to validate our diplomas based on a digital process on blockchain’
— Harald Rotter, 19th June 2019
In this interview, Mr Rotter draws our attention to two key areas where blockchain technology can prove useful; firstly, as aforementioned, the capacity to tackle fake degrees and secondly the potential to dramatically reduce the time taken in the process of validation, saving the university both time and money.
This move to a blockchain based system will see the University of St. Gallen work with Swiss company BlockFactory using the Ethereum blockchain to create hash codes. These hash codes can then be accessed by anyone using BlockFactory to verify, upon request, the validity of the associated degrees. Clearly, by making this information easier to verify, the blockchain can save both the university and potential employers time and money; Mr Rotter claims that this new system will reduce the time taken for verification from hours to seconds.
It is worth noting that, while the intention to use a blockchain solution to tackle this issue is a clear step in the right direction, it is likely that such projects will, over time and usage, run into the myriad scaling issues that the Ethereum blockchain faces.
Scalability is a big bottleneck because the Ethereum blockchain is almost full.
— Vitalik Buterin, 19th August 2019
For a use case as data-intensive as securing University degrees and qualifications, clearly the scaling bottleneck on such a blockchain is a sticking point. It is fortunate then, that the scaling roadmap for Bitcoin SV is already able to support an upper limit of 2GB blocks on its network, with a view to removing the cap altogether in the future. We are sure that many applications currently building on Ethereum will eventually choose to port their solutions to a scalable blockchain in the future, as evidenced by recent projects in the space such as sCrypt.
Indeed, it isn’t just Switzerland opening up to the benefits of blockchain technology. Malaysia are already in on the act after the Ministry of Education launched its e-Scroll system back in 2018. This system, much like that of BlockFactory, allows participating universities to store their degree data on the blockchain, in this case, that of NEM. This system offers verification by allowing universities and employers to scan a QR code printed on the degree certificate.
Developed by LuxTag, the e-Scroll system serves to show a viable and sustainable solution to real world problems with a versatile system that is already beginning to propagate globally; LuxTag now operates in the US as well as Europe in a multitude of sectors including art and fashion.
LuxTag’s CEO, Rene Bernard, claims that this technology has already made a real difference in an ecosystem that allows for businesses to operate confidently:
‘We’re proud to have proven to the world that we deliver! We put real blockchain-powered business solutions into production’
The system of verification that the blockchain offers is beginning to weed out the fraudulent activities of those intent on cheating the system whilst guiding us towards a safer world. The decision by the University of St. Gallen to use the blockchain to both improve the security and authenticate the degrees they offer does more than just offer a glimpse into the future of education, in fact, it shows us that the blockchain is capable of being applied more universally, facilitating transparency and security across all sectors of society.
