Leveraging Hyperledger Iroha for the Issuance and Verification of Higher-Education Certificates
Higher Education is resisting the pull of technology, especially as this concerns the issuance and verification of degrees and certificates. It is widely known that education certificates are largely produced in paper form making them vulnerable to damage while holders of such certificates are dependent on the universities and other issuing organisations. QualiChain is an EU Horizon 2020 (H2020) research project aiming to transform and revolutionise the domain of public education and its ties with the job market by leveraging blockchain, analytics and decision support to develop a platform for the verification and sharing of education certificates. Blockchain plays an integral part in the QualiChain solution in providing a trustworthy environment to store, share and manage such accreditations. Under the context of this paper, three prominent blockchain platforms (Ethereum, Hyperledger Fabric, Hyperledger Iroha) were considered as a means of experimentation for creating a system with the basic functionalities that will be needed for trustworthy degree verification. The methodology and respective system developed and presented in this paper used Hyperledger Iroha and proved that this specific platform can be used to easily develop decentralize applications. Future papers will attempt to further experiment with other blockchain platforms and assess which has the best potential.
[1] Lizcano, D., Lara, J.A., White, B. et al. Blockchain-based approach to create a model of trust in open and ubiquitous higher education. J Comput High Educ, 2020, 32, pp. 109–134.
[2] Bartolomé, A. R., Bellver, C., Castañeda, L., & Adell, J. Blockchain in education: Introduction and review of the state of the art. EDUTEC, Revista Electrónica de Tecnología Educativa (Electronic Journal of Educational Technology), 2017, 61, pp. 1–14.
[3] Gräther, Wolfgang, et al. "Blockchain for education: lifelong learning passport." Proceedings of 1st ERCIM Blockchain Workshop 2018. European Society for Socially Embedded Technologies (EUSSET), 2018.
[4] G. Chen, B. Xu, M. Lu, and N.-S. Chen, ‘‘Exploring blockchain technology and its potential applications for education,’’ Smart Learn. Environ., 2018, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 1.
[5] M. Turkanović, M. Hölbl, K. Košič, M. Heričko and A. Kamišalić, "EduCTX: A Blockchain-Based Higher Education Credit Platform," in IEEE Access, 2018, vol. 6, pp. 5112-5127.
[6] MIT, blockcerts, (Online). Available at: https://www.blockcerts.org/. Accessed in April 2020.
[7] Learningisearning, learningisearning2026 (Online). Available at: http://www.learningisearning2026.org/. Accessed in April 2020.
[8] EdgeCoin Project (Online). Available at: http://www.edgecoin.io/. Accessed in April 2020.
[9] Rooksby, John, and Kristiyan Dimitrov. "Trustless education? A blockchain system for university grades." New Value Transactions: Understanding and Designing for Distributed Autonomous Organisations, Workshop at DIS. 2017.
[10] Openblockchain. Researching the potential of blockchains. Knowledge Media Institute, The Open University, UK, 2018. Retrieved from http://blockchain.open.ac.uk. Accessed in April 2020.
[11] Grech, A., & Camilleri, A. Blockchain in education. Joint Research Centre Science for Policy Report, European Commission, Brussels, 2017. Retrieved from http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/bitstream/JRC108255/jrc108255_blockchain_in_education%281%29.pdf#page=66. Accessed in April 2020.
[12] EC. (2018a). European Commission launches the EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum. European Commission, Brussels. Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/european-commission-launches-eu-blockchain-observatory-and-forum. Accessed in April 2020.
[13] EC. (2018b). European countries join blockchain Partnership. European Commission, Brussels. Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/european-countries-join-blockchain-partnership. Accessed in April 2020.
[14] EC. (2016). Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016. European Commission, Brussels. Retrieved from https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/679/oj. Accessed in April 2020.
[15] TechGDPR: GDPR’s Right to be Forgotten in Blockchain: it’s not black and white. Retrieved from https://techgdpr.com/blog/gdpr-right-to-be-forgotten-blockchain/. Accessed in February 2020.
[16] Truong, Nguyen Binh, et al. "GDPR-compliant personal data management: A blockchain-based solution." arXiv preprint arXiv:1904.03038, 2019.
[17] Mahindrakar, Abhishek, and Karuna Pande Joshi. "Automating GDPR Compliance using Policy Integrated Blockchain." 6th IEEE International Conference on Big Data Security on Cloud (BigDataSecurity 2020), 2020.
[18] Onik, Md Mehedi Hassan, et al. "Privacy-aware blockchain for personal data sharing and tracking." Open Computer Science, 2019, Vol. 9.1, pp. 80-91.
[19] Ethereum Homestead. Ethereum Homestead Documentation. Retrieved from https://ethereum-homestead.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html. Accessed in February 2020.
[20] Hyperledger Fabric. A blockchain platform for the enterprise. Retrieved from https://hyperledger-fabric.readthedocs.io/en/release-2.0/index.html. Accessed in February 2020.
[21] Elli Androulaki, Artem Barger, Vita Bortnikov, Christian Cachin, Konstantinos Christidis, Angelo De Caro, David Enyeart, Christopher Ferris, Gennady Laventman, Yacov Manevich et al., Hyperledger fabric: A distributed operating system for permissioned blockchains., 2018.pp. 1-15
[22] Hyperledger Iroha. Hyperledger Iroha Documentation. Retrieved from https://iroha.readthedocs.io/en/master/index.html. Accessed in April 2020.
[23] Dahal, Ram Krishna, Jagdish Bhatta, and Tanka Nath Dhamala. "Performance Analysis of SHA-2 and SHA-3 finalists." International Journal on Cryptography and Information Security (IJCIS), 2013, 3.3, pp. 720-730.
[24] W. Diffie and M. E. Hellman. New Directions in Cryptography. IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, November 1976, IT–22(6), pp. 644–654.
[25] C. Dwork and M. Naor, “Pricing via processing or combatting junk mail,” in Advances in Cryptology - CRYPTO ’92, 12th Annual International Cryptology Conference, Santa Barbara, California, USA, Proceedings, 1992, pp. 139–147.
[26] S. Nakamoto, “Bitcoin: A peer-to-peer electronic cash system,” 2008. Retrieved from: https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf. Accessed in February 2020.
[27] Muratov, Fedor, et al. "YAC: BFT consensus algorithm for blockchain." arXiv preprint arXiv:1809.00554, 2018.
[28] Hyperledger Iroha. Hyperledger iroha Github Repository. Retrieved from https://github.com/hyperledger/iroha. Accessed in April 2020.
[1] Lizcano, D., Lara, J.A., White, B. et al. Blockchain-based approach to create a model of trust in open and ubiquitous higher education. J Comput High Educ, 2020, 32, pp. 109–134.
[2] Bartolomé, A. R., Bellver, C., Castañeda, L., & Adell, J. Blockchain in education: Introduction and review of the state of the art. EDUTEC, Revista Electrónica de Tecnología Educativa (Electronic Journal of Educational Technology), 2017, 61, pp. 1–14.
[3] Gräther, Wolfgang, et al. "Blockchain for education: lifelong learning passport." Proceedings of 1st ERCIM Blockchain Workshop 2018. European Society for Socially Embedded Technologies (EUSSET), 2018.
[4] G. Chen, B. Xu, M. Lu, and N.-S. Chen, ‘‘Exploring blockchain technology and its potential applications for education,’’ Smart Learn. Environ., 2018, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 1.
[5] M. Turkanović, M. Hölbl, K. Košič, M. Heričko and A. Kamišalić, "EduCTX: A Blockchain-Based Higher Education Credit Platform," in IEEE Access, 2018, vol. 6, pp. 5112-5127.
[6] MIT, blockcerts, (Online). Available at: https://www.blockcerts.org/. Accessed in April 2020.
[7] Learningisearning, learningisearning2026 (Online). Available at: http://www.learningisearning2026.org/. Accessed in April 2020.
[8] EdgeCoin Project (Online). Available at: http://www.edgecoin.io/. Accessed in April 2020.
[9] Rooksby, John, and Kristiyan Dimitrov. "Trustless education? A blockchain system for university grades." New Value Transactions: Understanding and Designing for Distributed Autonomous Organisations, Workshop at DIS. 2017.
[10] Openblockchain. Researching the potential of blockchains. Knowledge Media Institute, The Open University, UK, 2018. Retrieved from http://blockchain.open.ac.uk. Accessed in April 2020.
[11] Grech, A., & Camilleri, A. Blockchain in education. Joint Research Centre Science for Policy Report, European Commission, Brussels, 2017. Retrieved from http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/bitstream/JRC108255/jrc108255_blockchain_in_education%281%29.pdf#page=66. Accessed in April 2020.
[12] EC. (2018a). European Commission launches the EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum. European Commission, Brussels. Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/european-commission-launches-eu-blockchain-observatory-and-forum. Accessed in April 2020.
[13] EC. (2018b). European countries join blockchain Partnership. European Commission, Brussels. Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/european-countries-join-blockchain-partnership. Accessed in April 2020.
[14] EC. (2016). Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016. European Commission, Brussels. Retrieved from https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/679/oj. Accessed in April 2020.
[15] TechGDPR: GDPR’s Right to be Forgotten in Blockchain: it’s not black and white. Retrieved from https://techgdpr.com/blog/gdpr-right-to-be-forgotten-blockchain/. Accessed in February 2020.
[16] Truong, Nguyen Binh, et al. "GDPR-compliant personal data management: A blockchain-based solution." arXiv preprint arXiv:1904.03038, 2019.
[17] Mahindrakar, Abhishek, and Karuna Pande Joshi. "Automating GDPR Compliance using Policy Integrated Blockchain." 6th IEEE International Conference on Big Data Security on Cloud (BigDataSecurity 2020), 2020.
[18] Onik, Md Mehedi Hassan, et al. "Privacy-aware blockchain for personal data sharing and tracking." Open Computer Science, 2019, Vol. 9.1, pp. 80-91.
[19] Ethereum Homestead. Ethereum Homestead Documentation. Retrieved from https://ethereum-homestead.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html. Accessed in February 2020.
[20] Hyperledger Fabric. A blockchain platform for the enterprise. Retrieved from https://hyperledger-fabric.readthedocs.io/en/release-2.0/index.html. Accessed in February 2020.
[21] Elli Androulaki, Artem Barger, Vita Bortnikov, Christian Cachin, Konstantinos Christidis, Angelo De Caro, David Enyeart, Christopher Ferris, Gennady Laventman, Yacov Manevich et al., Hyperledger fabric: A distributed operating system for permissioned blockchains., 2018.pp. 1-15
[22] Hyperledger Iroha. Hyperledger Iroha Documentation. Retrieved from https://iroha.readthedocs.io/en/master/index.html. Accessed in April 2020.
[23] Dahal, Ram Krishna, Jagdish Bhatta, and Tanka Nath Dhamala. "Performance Analysis of SHA-2 and SHA-3 finalists." International Journal on Cryptography and Information Security (IJCIS), 2013, 3.3, pp. 720-730.
[24] W. Diffie and M. E. Hellman. New Directions in Cryptography. IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, November 1976, IT–22(6), pp. 644–654.
[25] C. Dwork and M. Naor, “Pricing via processing or combatting junk mail,” in Advances in Cryptology - CRYPTO ’92, 12th Annual International Cryptology Conference, Santa Barbara, California, USA, Proceedings, 1992, pp. 139–147.
[26] S. Nakamoto, “Bitcoin: A peer-to-peer electronic cash system,” 2008. Retrieved from: https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf. Accessed in February 2020.
[27] Muratov, Fedor, et al. "YAC: BFT consensus algorithm for blockchain." arXiv preprint arXiv:1809.00554, 2018.
[28] Hyperledger Iroha. Hyperledger iroha Github Repository. Retrieved from https://github.com/hyperledger/iroha. Accessed in April 2020.
@article{"International Journal of Business, Human and Social Sciences:79837", author = "Vasiliki Vlachou and Christos Kontzinos and Ourania Markaki and Panagiotis Kokkinakos and Vagelis Karakolis and John Psarras", title = "Leveraging Hyperledger Iroha for the Issuance and Verification of Higher-Education Certificates", abstract = "Higher Education is resisting the pull of technology, especially as this concerns the issuance and verification of degrees and certificates. It is widely known that education certificates are largely produced in paper form making them vulnerable to damage while holders of such certificates are dependent on the universities and other issuing organisations. QualiChain is an EU Horizon 2020 (H2020) research project aiming to transform and revolutionise the domain of public education and its ties with the job market by leveraging blockchain, analytics and decision support to develop a platform for the verification and sharing of education certificates. Blockchain plays an integral part in the QualiChain solution in providing a trustworthy environment to store, share and manage such accreditations. Under the context of this paper, three prominent blockchain platforms (Ethereum, Hyperledger Fabric, Hyperledger Iroha) were considered as a means of experimentation for creating a system with the basic functionalities that will be needed for trustworthy degree verification. The methodology and respective system developed and presented in this paper used Hyperledger Iroha and proved that this specific platform can be used to easily develop decentralize applications. Future papers will attempt to further experiment with other blockchain platforms and assess which has the best potential.
", keywords = "Blockchain, degree verification, higher education certificates, Hyperledger Iroha.", volume = "14", number = "9", pages = "813-9", }
