From Paper to Proof: How Verifiable Credentials Are Reshaping Global Education
Dev Srivastava
May 30, 2024
The Problem with Paper Documents
Paper credentials have long been the cornerstone of education systems — the certificate handed out at convocation, the stamped transcript for foreign universities, the notarized copy for a visa. They look official, they feel important. But in a world of digital systems and global mobility, they fall short:
They can be lost, stolen, or damaged
They’re easy to forge with today’s editing tools
They’re invisible to machines, meaning each one must be manually reviewed and verified
They create trust bottlenecks in admissions, hiring, and immigration
More than 3 in 5 (64.2%) people surveyed said they had lied on their resume at least once. Almost 3 in 10 (29.6%) have lied about their college degree on their resume
Fake college degree certificates and transcripts can be bought online and cost an average of $197.83
The Problem with Paper Documents
Paper credentials have long been the cornerstone of education systems — the certificate handed out at convocation, the stamped transcript for foreign universities, the notarized copy for a visa. They look official, they feel important. But in a world of digital systems and global mobility, they fall short:
They can be lost, stolen, or damaged
They’re easy to forge with today’s editing tools
They’re invisible to machines, meaning each one must be manually reviewed and verified
They create trust bottlenecks in admissions, hiring, and immigration
More than 3 in 5 (64.2%) people surveyed said they had lied on their resume at least once. Almost 3 in 10 (29.6%) have lied about their college degree on their resume
Fake college degree certificates and transcripts can be bought online and cost an average of $197.83
What Makes Verifiable Credentials Different?
Verifiable credentials (VCs) are digitally signed, tamper-evident records issued by trusted institutions and held by students in their own digital wallets. Unlike PDFs or scans, they’re built for machine-verification and global interoperability.
Here’s how VCs leap beyond paper:
Paper Credential | Verifiable Credential |
Physically issued and manually verified | Digitally issued, instantly verifiable |
|---|---|
Requires trust in physical stamps/signatures | Trust is cryptographically encoded |
Prone to loss, damage, and forgery | Tamper-evident, revocable, portable |
Student is a passive holder | Student is an active controller and sharer |
VCs work across borders, systems, and use cases — from academic admissions to licensing to employment. A university in India can issue a credential that a recruiter in the U.S. or Germany can verify in seconds, without sending emails or scanning stamps.
What Makes Verifiable Credentials Different?
Verifiable credentials (VCs) are digitally signed, tamper-evident records issued by trusted institutions and held by students in their own digital wallets. Unlike PDFs or scans, they’re built for machine-verification and global interoperability.
Here’s how VCs leap beyond paper:
Paper Credential | Verifiable Credential |
Physically issued and manually verified | Digitally issued, instantly verifiable |
|---|---|
Requires trust in physical stamps/signatures | Trust is cryptographically encoded |
Prone to loss, damage, and forgery | Tamper-evident, revocable, portable |
Student is a passive holder | Student is an active controller and sharer |
VCs work across borders, systems, and use cases — from academic admissions to licensing to employment. A university in India can issue a credential that a recruiter in the U.S. or Germany can verify in seconds, without sending emails or scanning stamps.
The Student-Centered Shift
At the core of this transformation is student ownership. With VCs, students:
Don’t need to request duplicate transcripts or notarized certificates
Can selectively disclose what they want to share (e.g., only their GPA, or just the degree title)
Carry their credentials with them — securely, on any device
It’s not just more efficient. It’s more empowering. Students become the stewards of their own academic identity.
The Student-Centered Shift
At the core of this transformation is student ownership. With VCs, students:
Don’t need to request duplicate transcripts or notarized certificates
Can selectively disclose what they want to share (e.g., only their GPA, or just the degree title)
Carry their credentials with them — securely, on any device
It’s not just more efficient. It’s more empowering. Students become the stewards of their own academic identity.
The New Skills Economy: Universities vs. Agile Learning Platforms
The race to define the future of skills credentials is heating up — and it's no longer just universities setting the pace. Skills-first learning providers — bootcamps, MOOC platforms, and workforce training programs (IBM, Saleforce, Microsoft) — are rapidly adopting W3C Verifiable Credentials and digital badges to offer learners portable, verifiable proofs of achievement. Their nimbleness in issuing job-relevant, instantly verifiable credentials is challenging the traditional credentialing authority of universities. Meanwhile, credential evaluation agencies are seeing a rising volume of non-degree credentials that come with built-in verification and machine-readability. For recruiters, the appeal is clear: faster, trusted validation of real-world skills. As the ecosystem moves toward interoperable digital trust, institutions that adapt — by issuing, recognizing, or verifying verifiable credentials — will be best placed to remain relevant in this emerging skills economy.
The New Skills Economy: Universities vs. Agile Learning Platforms
The race to define the future of skills credentials is heating up — and it's no longer just universities setting the pace. Skills-first learning providers — bootcamps, MOOC platforms, and workforce training programs (IBM, Saleforce, Microsoft) — are rapidly adopting W3C Verifiable Credentials and digital badges to offer learners portable, verifiable proofs of achievement. Their nimbleness in issuing job-relevant, instantly verifiable credentials is challenging the traditional credentialing authority of universities. Meanwhile, credential evaluation agencies are seeing a rising volume of non-degree credentials that come with built-in verification and machine-readability. For recruiters, the appeal is clear: faster, trusted validation of real-world skills. As the ecosystem moves toward interoperable digital trust, institutions that adapt — by issuing, recognizing, or verifying verifiable credentials — will be best placed to remain relevant in this emerging skills economy.
Building Infrastructure, Not Just Issuing PDFs
For institutions, the move to verifiable credentials is more than digitization — it’s a shift toward becoming part of a global trust network. Issuers gain:
Control: Credentials can be revoked or updated post-issuance
Interoperability: Work with verifiers globally using open standards like W3C VCs
At Trential, we’ve helped institutions issue and verify hundreds of thousands of credentials — replacing paper and PDF with a system that builds real, verifiable trust.
Building Infrastructure, Not Just Issuing PDFs
For institutions, the move to verifiable credentials is more than digitization — it’s a shift toward becoming part of a global trust network. Issuers gain:
Control: Credentials can be revoked or updated post-issuance
Interoperability: Work with verifiers globally using open standards like W3C VCs
At Trential, we’ve helped institutions issue and verify hundreds of thousands of credentials — replacing paper and PDF with a system that builds real, verifiable trust.
What’s Next?
Verifiable credentials are not just the future — they are the present in many parts of the world. Universities, recruiters, and credential evaluators are already transitioning away from paper to infrastructure that is secure, interoperable, and student controlled.
Gartner has forecasted that by 2026, at least 500 million smartphone users will be regularly using a digital identity wallet (DIW) to make verifiable claims
If you're still relying on PDFs and stamps, the time to rethink is now. Paper got us this far — but trust at scale needs something better.
What’s Next?
Verifiable credentials are not just the future — they are the present in many parts of the world. Universities, recruiters, and credential evaluators are already transitioning away from paper to infrastructure that is secure, interoperable, and student controlled.
Gartner has forecasted that by 2026, at least 500 million smartphone users will be regularly using a digital identity wallet (DIW) to make verifiable claims
If you're still relying on PDFs and stamps, the time to rethink is now. Paper got us this far — but trust at scale needs something better.