Two University of Sharjah researchers hope to use blockchain technology to tackle the growing problem of fake academic certificates, and to make it easier to authenticate valid degrees.
Mohamed Al Hemairy, who heads the university’s Technology Transfer Office, said the idea was to develop a way of validating the authenticity of credentials “as soon as they are issued.”
The project is supported under an agreement the University of Sharjah signed in December with the Bitcoin Association for BSV, based in Switzerland, to develop a framework based on blockchain technology for verifying credentials. The nonprofit association works with government bodies and nongovernmental organizations to advance large-scale implementations of blockchain technology.
Several scandals in recent years prompted Gulf countries to tighten their laws against the fraudulent use of academic degrees and professional certificates.
Al Hemairy and his fellow researcher, Manar Abu Talib, a professor at the university’s College of Computing and Informatics, sought a technological answer to the problem after they experienced difficulties in getting the doctoral degrees they earned in Britain and Canada approved.