The Brazilian Ministry of Education (MEC) has proposed a blockchain-based platform for the digital issuance of diplomas, in a bid to combat the falsification of university qualifications. Reports suggest that Abraham Weintraub, Brazil's Minister of Education is championing the proposal.
Brazilian media reports that the proposed blockchain platform will be funded by the private universities who are expected to use the platform.
At the time of writing, at least 14 private universities have expressed interest in the MEC's proposal to implement such technology.
Speaking to a Brazilian Newspaper Valor Economico, Gilberto Garcia, former president of the National Education Council, said that the proposal:
implies the dissemination of all the historical data of educational institutions, which would be part of the transparency that the blockchain mechanism can offer.
While the proposal only covers Brazil's non-state universities, the MEC has also recently implemented requirements for all tertiary institutions to issue diplomas in digital form, so there is clear scope for the proposal to cover public universities in future.
The MEC's proposal follows the example set by the National University of Colombia, which has been offering digital diplomas through a blockchain platform since 2019.