Central New Mexico Community College (CNM) in Albuquerque has announced plans to issue digital credentials owned by students using blockchain technology.
CNM announced that the system will debut on December 15, 2017. Using the blockchain technology, CNM will begin to provide selected students for higher education credentials easily verifiable that can be accessed easily and securely shared instantly with potential employers , other schools or any other person. Beyond the official qualifications and diplomas, the digital record can also include detailed descriptions of the skills learned.
The president of CNM, Katharine Winograd said:
"We are very excited to begin adopting this technology that will provide more value, independence and convenience to our students throughout their lives. Students make a great effort to obtain their higher education credentials and we will begin to empower more students with ownership of their own educational achievements. "
According to the official statement, the business arm of CNM, CNM Ingenuity, will be the first area of the university to start issuing the blockchain credentials. 21 students who will graduate on December 15 from the CNY Ingenuity Deep Dive Coding bootcamps will receive the first digital credentials, which will include their diplomas and transcripts of the coding languages they learned. CNM plans to continue expanding the digital credentials in phases in all university programs.
It is important to emphasize that the system based on blockchain would guarantee the authenticity of the academic credentials, even if the issuing authority ceases its operations. Employers or schools could verify the legitimacy of tamper-resistant credentials immediately through a link that accesses blockchain, without the need to contact the registrar's office of a university.
CNM said it is also working on a blockchain technology platform that will offer access to other K-12 colleges, universities and school systems in New Mexico that wish to begin issuing digital diplomas to their graduates.