Soon, academic degrees and certificates issued by Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit will be available digitally for verification.
The varsity has kick-started efforts to provide academic degrees, certificates, and awards issued by it under the Centre’s National Academic Depository (NAD).
Speaking to The Hindu on Saturday, Registrar T.P. Raveendran said official discussions on uploading documents in digital format under NAD were on. “Our officials had attended workshops on the modalities to be worked out as part of providing degrees and certificates in digital format,” he added.
Under the plan, academic institutions have to upload and authenticate all documents in digital form. NAD will provide digital or printed copies of academic awards with security features to students or other authorised users.
It will verify awards online on the same day of request initiated by any authorised user.
The Union government had said that requests for access to academic awards, for instance, from potential employers and institutions would be taken up only after getting the student’s consent.
The aim is to check the spread of fake degrees as the government will permit only recognised institutions to upload the degrees. The database will also enable recruiters to ensure that the degrees of a candidate are genuine.
The practice of attested copies may be a thing of the past, as the database will be an authentic source of secure information on a person’s academic claims. Degree holders will benefit as the data will be secure in the depository.
