Fake certificate menace: TSCHE to embed smart chips into certificates

Smart chips feature in the certificates will be in addition to the existing features that include unique code number for each certificate.

Hyderabad: Intensifying measures to curb fake certificate menace, the Telangana State Council of Higher Education (TSCHE) and State universities are planning to embed smart chips into the certificates, particularly the marks memos, which will be tough to tamper with.

This high-end security feature in the certificates will be in addition to the existing features that include unique code number for each certificate, logo, and watermark and paper thickness. Despite the present security features, unscrupulous elements were found to be tampering and creating fake certificates for the purpose of admission and jobs.

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The new smart chip feature will come embedded with the academic credentials of the graduated students and will be implemented for all undergraduate, postgraduate, diploma and certificate programmes offered by the State universities. To take forward the initiative, officials have decided to seek support of the Telangana Information Technology, Electronics and Communication department.

Given the fake certificates that were being created, there is a need to come up with new security features in the certificates issued by the universities, pointed out a senior official.

Further, the TSCHE which recently launched the Student Academic Verification Service (SAVS) portal has decided to make the system more robust and dynamic. Steps are being initiated to automatically sync the base of the universities with portal to ensure information is readily available in the portal as and when the universities issue certificates to students.

The SAVS, a request based service launched to curb fake menace, facilitates recruiters, corporate companies, and educational institutions, including foreign universities, to verify academic credentials of students who passed from the State universities. The information can be verified in two formats- instant and full verification. Upon feeding basic details like university, course, year and hall ticket number in the portal, academic credentials of a student including name, father name, university and aggregate marks scored can be instantly verified free of cost.

In the case of full verification, soft copies of certificates submitted by recruiting agencies or higher educational institutions online are physically verified against the university records. The verified details will be provided to the client online. A fee of Rs.1,500 will be charged for full certificate verification. Presently, the portal has information pertaining to 25 lakh students who graduated from 15 universities in the State between 2010 and 2021.