UAE's Higher Colleges of technology utilize blockchain for e-credentials

Students, new graduates and alumni of the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) can get rapid access to their official HCT documentation, after the UAE’s largest higher education institution collaborated with Smartworld to publish HCT graduates’ e-credentials on its Blockchain platform. Employers, or any entity, looking to verify HCT graduates’ credentials will be able to do so via the official HCT website.

HCT has now published 155,000 graduates’ e-credentials on the Blockchain platform. These relate to 89,500 academic qualifications at the Certificate, Diploma, Higher Diploma and Bachelor levels, which were awarded to approximately 66,000 HCT male and female graduates from 1992 to the present.

Dr. Abdullatif AlShamsi, HCT President & CEO, said he was pleased with the transformative Smartworld collaboration, which has resulted in graduation e-credentials for HCT graduates on Blockchain, in line with the UAE’s directives for greater digital transactions via Blockchain in support of leveraging state-of-the-art technology for completion of transactions. “This will ensure speed, accuracy, and digital security and privacy, reduce paperwork and enhance sustainability,” Dr. AlShamsi said.

The e-service is active and available to all HCT graduates across the 16 HCT campuses, as well as employers, which will facilitate and enhance graduates’ employability and work placement opportunities. As part of the online service students will be notified of each verification action by external organizations and their academic history will be stored in individualized student logs, providing complete transparency.

Students and graduates can quickly and easily access their e-credentials via the “MyHCT” link on the HCT student portal, using their HCT username, ID, and password. Employers can access the e-credential verification from www.hct.ac.ae/en/e-credentials-verification/Login/signup .

Dr. AlShamsi said this innovative, digital transformation serves the best interests of the HCT, its students and graduates, and also employers. “The students will own their life-long academic histories, thus eliminating the need to go back to HCT to access any credentials. This digital transformation will pave the way for further technological advancement at the Higher Colleges of Technology in the future,” Dr. AlShamsi said.

Dr. Saaed AlDhaheri, Chairman of the Smartworld Board of Directors, said that the publishing of HCT e-credentials on the secured Blockchain platform is one of the pioneering projects, nationally and globally. He congratulated HCT for this milestone achievement, commending the collaboration with Smartworld.

He applauded HCT for publishing 155,000 graduates’ e-credentials on the Blockchain platform in full integration with the HCT admissions system, which will give graduates easy access to their credentials, as well as the capability to easily share certificate images with employers via their smart phones. Employers will be able to immediately review the credibility of documents and ensure instant verification of the e-documents, Dr. AlDhaheri added.

The Blockchain platform being utilized is called " Shahada" and is built on Hyperledger Fabric. It is a joint solution by both Smart World and Grape technology. The solution was launched last year at Gitex.