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Education and Skills Passport

Pattern type: Reference architecture Maturity: Stable primitives Boundary: Not a turnkey product or compliance certification

Quick Facts
Industry Education / Workforce / Professional Development
Complexity Medium
Key Packages SdJwt.Net.Vc, SdJwt.Net.Oid4Vci, SdJwt.Net.Oid4Vp, SdJwt.Net.PresentationExchange, SdJwt.Net.StatusList

30-second pitch

Prove the qualification, not the whole transcript. Learners hold verifiable credentials for degrees, micro-credentials, training certificates, and professional accreditations. Verifiers ask for the minimum claims they need. The holder decides what to share.

Problem

Education and skills verification is slow, expensive, and over-shares personal information:

  • Transcript requests: Verifying a degree often means requesting a full academic transcript, exposing grades, courses, and personal details irrelevant to the verification.
  • Manual checks: Employers, licensing boards, and institutions call or email to confirm credentials. Round-trip time: days to weeks.
  • Credential fragmentation: A professional's qualifications span universities, training providers, industry bodies, and employers. No single system holds everything.
  • Micro-credential explosion: Short courses, bootcamps, and professional development produce credentials that have no standardized verification path.
  • Fraud: Diploma mills and resume fabrication are persistent problems. Manual verification cannot scale to catch every case.

Common failure modes

Current approach Risk
Transcript request by mail Slow; over-shares; no real-time status
Employer phone verification Manual; inconsistent; no audit trail
LinkedIn / self-reported No issuer verification; fraud exposure
PDF certificates Easily forged; no revocation or status checking
Proprietary verification APIs Lock-in; fragmented across providers; no interoperability

Reference pattern

Education providers issue verifiable credentials using OpenID4VCI. Learners store credentials in a wallet. When a verifier (employer, licensing board, institution) needs proof, they request specific claims via a presentation exchange. The learner selectively discloses only what is needed.

Credential types

Credential type Issuer Key claims (selectively disclosable)
Degree University Degree type, field, year awarded, institution, honours
Micro-credential Training provider Skill name, level, completion date, provider
Training certificate Employer / training body Course name, competency, validity period
Professional accreditation Professional body Accreditation type, status, expiry, CPD hours
Employment history Employer Role title, period, department

Flow

sequenceDiagram
    autonumber
    participant Issuer as Education Provider
    participant Wallet as Learner Wallet
    participant Verifier as Employer / Licensing Board
    participant PEX as Presentation Exchange
    participant Status as Status List

    Issuer->>Wallet: Issue credential (OID4VCI)
    Note over Wallet: Learner holds multiple credentials

    Verifier->>Wallet: Request proof (OID4VP + PEX)
    Note over PEX: "Prove you hold a degree in engineering awarded after 2018"

    Wallet->>Wallet: Select matching credential
    Wallet->>Wallet: Selectively disclose: degree type, field, year (hide grades, student ID)
    Wallet-->>Verifier: SD-JWT VP with minimum claims

    Verifier->>Verifier: Verify signature, issuer trust
    Verifier->>Status: Check credential status
    Status-->>Verifier: Active / Revoked
    Verifier-->>Verifier: Policy evaluation

How SD-JWT .NET fits

Package Role
SdJwt.Net.Vc Verifiable credential format for education credentials
SdJwt.Net.Oid4Vci Issuance protocol for education providers
SdJwt.Net.Oid4Vp Presentation protocol for credential verification
SdJwt.Net.PresentationExchange Structured queries for specific qualifications and claims
SdJwt.Net.StatusList Revocation for expired or withdrawn credentials

What remains your responsibility

  • Wallet application for learners
  • Education provider issuance infrastructure
  • Verifier application and policy rules
  • Credential schema design (what claims each credential type carries)
  • Issuer trust framework (which institutions are accepted)
  • Legal and regulatory compliance (data protection, recognition of qualifications)
  • User experience for credential selection and consent
  • Integration with existing student information systems and HR platforms

Target outcomes to validate

  • Reduced verification time (cryptographic proof vs. manual confirmation)
  • Minimized personal data exposure per verification request
  • Real-time credential status for revoked or expired qualifications
  • Portable credentials across employers and jurisdictions
  • Lower operational cost for education providers responding to verification requests

Try it