ENHANCING ACADEMIC TRUST AND ACCOUNTABILITY: A SCALABLE BLOCKCHAIN SYSTEM FOR CREDENTIAL VERIFICATION FOR EDUCATION

Abstract

This study explores the design and implementation of a blockchain-based system to enhance trust, transparency, and security in academic credentialing. Motivated by the growing distrust in centralized institutions and the inefficiencies of traditional credential verification processes, the research leverages the immutability, decentralization, and transparency of blockchain to develop a tamper-proof mechanism for academic record storage and validation. Using the Ethereum Sepolia test network and real-world student performance data from the Open University Learning Analytics Dataset (OULAD), the system securely issues, verifies, and revokes academic credentials through a custom smart contract developed in Solidity. Each credential is hashed using SHA-256 to ensure student privacy while enabling public, real-time verification. The implementation was conducted in a Google Colab environment using Web3.py and Infura, with batch processing mechanisms and a Web3 interface for seamless interaction. Empirical results reveal performance patterns across modules and highlight opportunities for academic intervention. The system not only demonstrates operational feasibility but also offers a scalable, interoperable, and ethical framework for higher education institutions to combat credential fraud and enhance institutional accountability. Future work will focus on privacy-enhancing cryptographic integrations and decentralized identity standards to further solidify blockchain’s role in education.