Cleaning Up: Interplay Between European Standards and Verifiable Credentials for Higher Education Institutions

Student mobility is an essential topic to strengthen a fruitful discussion in engineering education. However, required administrative exchange documents such as transcripts of records, bachelor’s degrees, diplomas, and certificates are analog and there is no fraud-protection. Thus, verifiable credentials enable sharing for higher education institutions (HEI) because they are fully automated and fraud-proof. To explain and create a common base, we are examining the current work and standards. We apply a four-step approach: (1) code the descriptions of the standards, (2) identify the standards in different layers, (3) identify interplays, and (4) develop a coupling concept. We extend the knowledge base with a coupling concept illustrating the interplay of global, European, and German standards in HEI. Practitioners can apply the concept to develop an interoperable ecosystem to exchange verifiable credentials. This also builds a fundamental basis to enable the exchange of more detailed credentials such as micro-credentials on a global level.