Each year Czech universities issue thousands of degree certificates. Until now, however, there has been no simple way of verifying their authenticity. A proliferation of cases of falsification has led Masaryk University to launch the pravydiplom.cz online system, which verifies authentic certificates after their number has been entered in the system. This service is the work of developers at Masaryk University's Faculty of Informatics.
“The pravydiplom.cz system is an alternative to the personal verification of certificate authenticity, which till now has required a visit to the university," explains Ivana Černá, MU's Vice-Rector for Studies. “The new system speeds up the whole process and should discourage potential forgers, helping to maintain the prestige of degree certificates."
According to the Higher Education Act a university degree certificate is an authentic instrument. The falsification or modification of an authentic instrument is a criminal offence under the Criminal Code. Not only the fraudsters themselves but also those who supply the forgeries can be prosecuted.
In its pilot phase the system includes over 82,000 degree certificates issued by Masaryk University since 2000 and a further 30,000 certificates issued by associated institutions. Other private and public institutes of higher education will be added gradually.
“Masaryk University places great emphasis on the protection of personal data and technology to keep them secure," explains Michal Brandejs, who came up with the idea and leads the team of developers at the MU Faculty of Informatics. “Information is displayed only to someone who knows the number of a certificate, i.e. a graduate or a member of staff at the Office for Studies to whom the graduate has shown the number on the certificate." The extent of data displayed depends on the school.
The system is a further example of Masaryk University's long-term efforts to detect fraud in the obtaining of a higher education. In the past the university has launched systems for the detection of plagiarism in final dissertations, other student works and academic works. Over forty institutes of higher education, higher vocational and secondary schools and other institutions, including several abroad, have signed up for MU's inter-university schemes theses.cz, odevzdej.cz and repozitar.cz. Schools that joined these schemes early now have the opportunity to get involved in the current phase of pravydiplom.cz for free.