Digitizing diplomas and certificates: A breakthrough in management.

GD&TĐ - The regulations on digitizing diplomas and certificates bring many practical benefits to students and schools. However, to implement them effectively, it is necessary to ensure technical synchronization, security, and a clear implementation roadmap.

Facilitating multiple parties

The Ministry of Education and Training has just issued Circular No. 10/2026/TT-BGDĐT (Circular 10), promulgating the Regulations on diplomas and certificates of the national education system, effective from April 15th. Notably, this document has institutionalized the policy of comprehensive digital transformation in education and training, especially in the management of diplomas and certificates.

Specifically, the new regulations add the concept of digital diplomas and certificates; and stipulate the issuance, storage, and processing; issuance of copies, correction, revocation, and cancellation of digital diplomas and certificates. According to the regulations, paper diplomas and certificates and digital diplomas and certificates have the same legal validity.

According to Circular 10, the Ministry of Education and Training will build a nationwide shared database of diplomas and certificates to serve the issuance of digital diplomas and certificates, store issued data, and publicly disclose information about the issuance of diplomas and certificates. Furthermore, Clause 3, Article 21 of the Regulations issued with Circular 10 stipulates that information retrieved from the database of diplomas and certificates or displayed on the VNeID application can be used to verify diplomas and certificates, replacing the need for the original register management agency to verify them in writing.

Procedures related to diplomas are regulated with a focus on reducing paperwork, enhancing the exploitation and sharing of data from relevant databases; prioritizing electronic processing; and not requiring citizens to re-provide information already available in state agency data systems.

For students, digital diplomas will be issued within 5 days of the graduation recognition decision. Expressing support for this policy, Truong Nguyen Thanh Tuyen (a student at Ho Chi Minh City University of Law) said that with the faster issuance of digital diplomas, students can submit online applications to search for jobs with all their diplomas and certificates. "This helps me increase my job opportunities after graduation, without worrying about lacking documents," Tuyen shared.

According to education experts, digital diplomas offer many advantages for both students and employers. For students, this format allows for secure storage, preventing loss or damage like paper copies, and facilitates easy sharing when submitting applications online to employers. Furthermore, diploma information is transparently verified through the school's system, saving time and costs as there is no need for notarization or sending hard copies.

For employers, digital diplomas allow for quick verification of the authenticity of qualifications through online systems, thereby enhancing credibility, reducing the risk of hiring individuals with fake diplomas, and supporting the digitalization of the recruitment process.

Students of Dong An High-Tech College at their graduation ceremony. Photo: DAP

It needs to be done according to a roadmap.

From the school's perspective, Ms. Than Thanh Thanh, Deputy Principal of Dong An High-Tech College (Ho Chi Minh City), assessed Circular 10 as an important step in the digital transformation process of the education sector, especially in the management of diplomas and certificates.

According to Ms. Thanh, the school processes a large number of diplomas each year, so managing digital diplomas will help shorten the issuance time, reduce administrative pressure, and enhance transparency as units can verify online. Currently, Dong An High-Tech College has implemented digitization in some areas such as grade management and student records. However, the digitization of diplomas and certificates is still in the preparatory stage of conversion and has not yet formed a complete digital system.

Therefore, school leaders believe that, in order to implement the digitization of diplomas and certificates, a crucial factor is ensuring uniformity, consistency, and widespread recognition nationwide. According to Ms. Than Thanh Thanh, digital diplomas need to be recognized as having equivalent legal value nationwide, in all fields such as recruitment, further education, and civil service examinations. If digital diplomas are only implemented technically without unified recognition among ministries, departments, localities, and businesses, the effectiveness will not be high.

She argued that educational management agencies and related units need monitoring and enforcement mechanisms to prevent a situation where each place applies a different approach, leading to students still having to revert to using paper-based materials. “We fully support this policy, but to achieve real effectiveness, the key factor is not just technology, but also synchronization in implementation and a change in management habits across the entire system,” Ms. Thanh said.

Technically, according to Ms. Than Thanh Thanh, when implementing digital diplomas, schools need support in building or integrating a common digital diploma management system to avoid the situation where each school develops its own system, leading to increased costs and a lack of uniformity. Regarding data standards, there needs to be unified regulations on data structure, diploma identification codes, digital signature standards, etc., to ensure that data is not corrupted when connected to the Ministry of Education and Training's system.

Regarding personnel, Ms. Thanh believes that the administrative and training staff at the school currently lack in-depth training in technology. Therefore, intensive training programs are urgently needed, and even a technical support department is necessary in the initial implementation phase, from the steps of creating, digitally signing, issuing, editing, and revoking digital diplomas to avoid legal errors.

“A digital diploma management system needs a multi-layered security mechanism and clear authorization between departments to prevent leaks or unauthorized exploitation. We believe there should be a phased implementation roadmap from pilot – expansion – nationwide synchronization to give schools time to adapt,” said Ms. Thanh.

Mr. Nguyen Manh Cuong, Head of Training Department at Ho Chi Minh City University of Management and Technology, believes that digital diplomas and certificates are a new concept and require time and a roadmap for universities to implement. Furthermore, to ensure the effective use of digital diplomas and certificates, Mr. Cuong suggests that the Ministry of Education and Training needs to conduct extensive and long-term communication campaigns to raise public awareness and acceptance of this format, similar to traditional paper diplomas.

Circular 10 abolishes the regulation requiring the Ministry of Education and Training to print diploma and certificate templates, decentralizing this authority to provincial Departments of Education and Training or competent agencies for issuing paper diplomas and certificates. It does not specify the mẫu (template) for university and vocational education diplomas and certificates (only the main content to be recorded on the diplomas and certificates is stipulated), except for the high school graduation diploma template, to ensure nationwide uniformity. These changes aim to enhance the autonomy and accountability of educational institutions, coupled with effective inspection and supervision, in accordance with Resolution 71-NQ/TW of the Politburo on breakthroughs in education and training development.

Source: https://giaoducthoidai.vn/so-hoa-van-bang-chung-chi-dot-pha-trong-quan-ly-post772936.html