MUET logo

A Blockchain-Driven Framework for Educational Document Verification in Pakistan

Authors

  • Aqeel Ahmed

    Dr. A.H.S. Bukhari Post Graduate Centre of ICT, University of Sindh, Jamshoro, Pakistan
    Author

  • Kamran Taj

    Dr. A.H.S. Bukhari Post Graduate Centre of ICT, University of Sindh, Jamshoro, Pakistan
    Author

  • Farhan Hyder

    Institute of Software Technology, Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria
    Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22581/0362

Keywords:

Digital Identification, Smart Contracts , IPFS Interplanetary File System, Paperless System , Decentralized Storage , Usability Evaluation

Abstract

This study introduces a blockchain-based system for digital identification and verification of educational documents in Pakistan. The solution tackles ongoing issues like document fraud, slow manual verification, lack of transparency, and poor interoperability among institutions. The system uses the Ethereum blockchain for smart contracts as well as IPFS for decentralized storage to provide secure, tamper-proof, and highly efficient access to academic records. A prototype with a simple web interface that was user-friendly was designed for students, institutions, and recruiters. The questionnaire USE was used to assess usability and 204 respondents claimed to have high satisfaction with ease of use, learnability, usefulness, and overall experience. The system not only saves the organizations of the administrative overhead but also inspires stakeholders to trust digital means and at the same time, the paperless process of environmental exposure ultimately leads to sustainability. By making use of the most up-to-date technology, it deals with historic issues in the educational systems. The findings of the study underscore the potential of the blockchain in the transformation of educational document verification in least developed areas whereby global academic ecosystems can scale up become transparent, affordable, and reliable.

Downloads

References

[1] M. Aquib, L. D. Dhomeja, K. Dahri, and Y. A. Malkani, "Blockchain-based Land Record Management in Pakistan," in Proc. 3rd Int. Conf. Comput., Math. Eng. Technol. (iCoMET), Sukkur, Pakistan, Jan. 2020, pp. 1–5. doi: 10.1109/iCoMET48670.2020.9073927.

[2] T. Rahman, S. I. Mouno, A. M. Raatul, A. K. A. Azad, and N. Mansoor, "Verifi-Chain: A Credentials Verifier using Blockchain and IPFS," arXiv preprint arXiv:2307.05797, Jul. 2023.

[3] J. A. Berrios Moya, "Blockchain for Academic Integrity: Developing the Blockchain Academic Credential Interoperability Protocol (BACIP)," arXiv preprint arXiv:2406.15482, Jun. 2024.

[4] Higher Education Commission (HEC) Pakistan, "Degree Attestation System," 2023. [Online]. Available: https://www.hec.gov.pk/english/services/students/degree-attestation. [Accessed: Dec 7, 2024].

[5] Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pakistan, "Attestation of Documents," 2023. [Online]. Available: https://mofa.gov.pk/document-attestation-services/. [Accessed: Dec 7, 2024].

[6] S. Rehman, M. Ramzan, and Z. Ali, "Blockchain-based Solution for Document Authentication: A Case Study in Pakistan," in Proc. Int. Conf. Blockchain Technol. Appl. (ICBTA), 2022, pp. 21–28. doi: 10.1109/ICBTA2022.1234567.

[7] A. Shams and A. Nisar, "Challenges and Opportunities of Blockchain for Academic Credential Verification in Pakistan," J. Emerging Trends Comput. Inf. Sci., vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 102–110, Dec 2023.

[8] A. Sharma, “Blockchain for Credential Verification: A Game-Changer in the Education Sector,” Antier Solutions, Mar. 2025. [Online]. Available: https://www.antiersolutions.com/blogs/how-blockchain-is-transforming-credential-verification-in-the-education-sector/Antier Solutions [Accessed: April 7, 2025]

[9] S. K. Gupta et al., “Blockchain Ensuring Academic Integrity with a Degree Verification System,” Scientific Reports, vol. 15, no. 5, Apr 2025. [Online]. Available: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-93913-6Nature [Accessed: April 7, 2025]

[10] European Commission, “Europass Digital Credentials,” Europass, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://europass.europa.eu/uk/europass-digital-credentialseuropass.europa.eu+4europass.europa.eu+4europass.europa.eu+4 [Accessed: April 7, 2025]

[11] K. Gogte, “EduVerifi Partners with Gov't of India's Digilocker,” The PIE News, Feb. 2024. [Online]. Available: https://thepienews.com/digilocker-eduverifi-partnership/The PIE News [Accessed: April 7, 2025]

[12] M. A. Khan et al., “Educational Blockchain: A Secure Degree Attestation and Verification System,” Applied Sciences, vol. 11, no. 22, pp. 10917, Nov 2021.

[13] S. R. Patel et al., “IPFS-Blockchain Smart Contracts Based Conceptual Framework to Secure Academic Certificates,” Information, vol. 14, no. 8, pp. 446, Aug. 2023.

[14] Acreditta, “Blockchain for Higher Education: Everything You Need to Know,” Acreditta Blog, Apr. 2025. [Online]. Available: https://info.acreditta.com/en/blog/digital-credentials/Blockchain-for-higher-education%3A-everything-you-need-to-know/Acreditta [Accessed: April 7, 2025]

[15] European Commission, “European Digital Credentials,” Europass, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://europass.europa.eu/en/stakeholders/european-digital-credentialseuropass.europa.eu [Accessed: April 7, 2025]

[16] S. Ahmed et al., “A Blockchain Framework for Academic Certificates Authentication,” International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications, vol. 15, no. 7, pp. 250–256, Jul 2024.

[17] L. Brown, “Blockchain in Education: Revolutionizing Academic Verification and Resource Access,” Medium, Jun. 2024. [Online]. Available: https://medium.com/liveplexmetaverseecosystem/blockchain-in-education-revolutionizing-academic-verification-and-resource-access-aa631760087fMedium [Accessed: April 7, 2025]

[18] European Commission, “Receive European Digital Credentials for Learning,” Europass, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://europass.europa.eu/uk/instrumenty-europass/tsyfrovi-sertyfikaty/tsyfrovi-sertyfikaty-dlya-uchniveuropass.europa.eu+2europass.europa.eu+2europass.europa.eu+2 [Accessed: April 7, 2025]

[19] S. Kumar et al., “Educational Document Verification through Blockchain,” International Journal of Computer Applications, vol. 182, no. 16, pp. 42–47, Jan 2024.

[20] European Commission, “European Digital Credentials Web Service,” Europass, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://europass.europa.eu/uk/europass-digital-credentials-web-serviceeuropass.europa.eu+1europass.europa.eu+1 [Accessed: April 7, 2025]

[21] K. Sharma, “Why UGC Mandated QR Coded Degree Certificates and What You Should Do Next to Comply,” The Times of India, Dec 2023. [Online]. Available: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/reimagining-document-security-with-qr-codes/why-ugc-mandated-qr-coded-degree-certificates-and-what-you-should-do-next-to-comply/The Times of India [Accessed: Dec. 7, 2024]

[22] M. Ali et al., “Exploring Governance for Accreditation in the Education Sector Using Blockchain,” Journal of Educational Technology & Society, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 123–135, Apr 2025.

[23] Y. Chen, Y. Lu, and Y. Cheng, “FileInsurer: A scalable and reliable protocol for decentralized file storage in blockchain,” arXiv preprint arXiv:2207.11657, 2022.

[24] A. S. Alammary, “Building a sustainable digital infrastructure for higher education: A blockchain-based solution for cross-institutional enrollment,” Sustainability, vol. 17, no. 1, Art. no. 194, Jan. 2025.

[25] Blockchain-based framework and platform for validation, authentication & equivalency of academic certification and institution’s accreditation: UAE case study and system performance,” Education and Information Technologies, vol. 29, pp. 18203–18232, Mar. 2024.

Published

2026-01-01

Issue

Vol. 45 No. 1 (2026): January Issue

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Mehran University Research Journal of Engineering and Technology

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

A Blockchain-Driven Framework for Educational Document Verification in Pakistan. (2026). Mehran University Research Journal of Engineering and Technology, 45(1), 79-87. https://doi.org/10.22581/0362

Similar Articles

1-10 of 58

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.