Academic Credentials

The Problem

A university student graduates after four years of hard work. They receive their diploma, a PDF or a physical document. When they apply for a job abroad, the employer has no reliable way to verify it is genuine without calling the university directly, waiting days for a response, and hoping the records are still accessible.

Credential fraud is widespread. And even legitimate credentials are hard to verify quickly, especially across borders or long after graduation.

How UVerify Solves It

The university computes a SHA-256 hash of the diploma document and records it on the Cardano blockchain, along with structured metadata (recipient name, degree, date, issuing institution). The resulting certificate lives at a permanent URL, verifiable by anyone, instantly, forever.

The certificate page uses the diploma template, which formats the data as a human-readable diploma rather than a raw hash viewer. No one needs to call the university. No infrastructure needs to be maintained by the university after issuance.

Implementation

Step 1: Prepare metadata

When notarizing the diploma, include structured metadata in the transaction:

{
  "uverify_template_id": "diploma",
  "issuer": "University of Example",
  "name": "Jane Doe",
  "title": "Master of Science in Computer Science",
  "description": "Awarded with distinction, June 2024"
}

The diploma template reads these fields and renders them in a formatted layout. The issuer field is used as the institution name, name as the graduate’s name, and title as the degree.

Step 2: Notarize via API or web app

Via the web app (app.uverify.io): upload the diploma PDF, fill in the metadata fields, and sign with the institution’s Cardano wallet.

Via the API: POST the hash and metadata programmatically to batch-notarize an entire graduating class in a single workflow.

Step 3: Distribute the certificate URL

Each certificate lives at:

https://app.uverify.io/verify/<sha256-hash>

Include this URL (or a QR code pointing to it) in the physical diploma, the email to the graduate, or the registrar’s portal. The graduate shares this link with employers or other institutions.

Step 4: Verification (no account needed)

Anyone who receives the link opens it in a browser. The certificate page shows:

Whether the hash is verified on-chain
The metadata (name, degree, institution)
The Cardano transaction ID and block explorer link
When it was first notarized

No login, no API key, no phone call to the university.

White-Labelling

If the university wants the certificate page to carry its own branding and domain, set up a custom Bootstrap Datum and deploy a white-labelled UVerify frontend. Graduates then see verify.university.edu/<hash> instead of app.uverify.io. See UVerify as a Platform and Self-Hosting.

Batch Issuance

A graduating class of 500 students does not require 500 separate transactions. The Bootstrap Datum’s batch_size field controls how many certificates are packed into a single transaction, significantly reducing per-certificate fees.

See Pricing for fee calculations.

Use Cases Product Passports