Resources
Guides to issuing and verifying certificates
Practical, sourced guides for the schools that grant certificates, the people who check them, and the graduates who carry them.
A certificate is only worth what the person reading it can confirm. These guides cover both ends of that exchange: how a school, academy or training centre issues certificates that can be checked years later, and how an employer, an admissions office or a graduate checks one today.
Each guide cites the laws, standards and official services it relies on, so you can follow every claim back to its source.
Issuing certificates
For school directors, registrars and training coordinators: how to issue certificates people can check, what to print on them, and how long to keep the records behind them.
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How to issue verifiable digital certificates, step by step
A step-by-step guide for schools and training centres: define the award, design the template, sign, deliver, let anyone verify, and handle corrections.
Designing a professional certificate: an elements checklist
The elements every professional certificate needs, from issuer and achievement to signatures, a unique code and a QR link, plus layout tips for templates.
What cum laude, magna cum laude and summa cum laude mean
What cum laude, magna cum laude and summa cum laude mean, how universities award them, how they differ from UK degree classes, and how to print them.
Accessible digital certificates: a practical checklist
How to make certificates, PDFs and verification pages accessible: WCAG 2.2 contrast, alt text, tagged PDFs, and the EU and US rules that apply to schools.
How long should schools keep certificate records?
How long to keep certificate and academic records: AACRAO's permanent-retention guidance, what FERPA and the GDPR require, and a practical retention schedule.
Verification and fraud
For HR teams, admissions offices and anyone handed a diploma: how to confirm it is genuine, how fakes are made, and what a digital signature does and does not prove.
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How to verify that a diploma or certificate is real
A step-by-step guide for HR and admissions: check the institution, confirm with the issuer or a national register, use verification links and apostilles.
Certificate fraud: how fake diplomas happen and how to stop them
How fake diplomas and certificates are made, the warning signs regulators list, a real diploma-mill case, and what employers and issuing schools can do.
Digital signatures on certificates: what they prove and what makes them valid
What a digital signature on a certificate proves, how eIDAS, ESIGN and Latin American laws treat electronic signatures, and why Ed25519 is used to sign.
Digital credentials and where they go
For graduates and the people who help them: what a verifiable credential is, how it differs from a PDF, and how to put one where an employer will see it.
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PDF certificates vs verifiable credentials and Open Badges
PDF certificates, Open Badges 3.0 and W3C Verifiable Credentials compared: what each proves, who can check it, how revocation works and which to issue.
How to add a certificate to LinkedIn, and make it checkable
Add a certificate to your LinkedIn profile: the Licenses & certifications section, the Add to Profile button, Featured media limits, and why to include the link.