TOOLS OF THE TRADE

When graduates receive their paper diplo-mas, it’s a great accomplishment. But if they lose those documents, it can be an aggravation. “Our graduates tend to lose paper diplomas, but we never duplicate a diploma once it’s issued—we only offer a certifi ed document,” says Stéphanie Vil-lemagne, director of the MBA program for INSEAD, based in Fontainebleau, France. To address this problem, INSEAD and other schools now are offering students Smart Diplomas and Smart Certifi cates, online credentials developed by France-based CVTrust. These online documents are permanent and secure, and they cannot be misplaced, explains CVTrust founder David Goldenberg. “Students can access their diplo-mas securely through their smartphones, iPads, or computers, and they can promote them on LinkedIn and Facebook,” he says.

When posted on social networks, Smart Diplomas and Smart Certifi cates appear in miniature; when recruiters click on the images, they are taken to a secure site, under the originating school’s domain, that verifi es its authenticity. Stu-dents also can send an email through the CVTrust system that includes a link to the verifi ed document.

INSEAD has provided all of its degreed graduates with Smart Diploma accounts, in addition to paper diplomas, since December 2011. The school sends an email to all graduating students that explains the system and includes a link to the site where they must activate their accounts. If students do not do so within six months, their accounts are deleted.

About 60 percent activate their accounts within the fi rst two days, says Villemagne. Some choose not to use the service. If any of these students change their minds after six months, they can ask the school to set up new accounts.

To increase participation, INSEAD is working to make students more aware of the online document’s permanence,

portability, and accessibility. The service is not yet main-stream, so the school also sometimes receives calls from recruiters and employers who have questions about the links they’ve received from potential hires. “We explain that it’s not a PDF, but a secure link to the diploma itself,” says Vil-lemagne. She expects the number of queries to decrease as recruiters become more familiar with the service.

IMD in Switzerland and Mannheim Business School in Germany also issue Smart Diplomas. The MIT Sloan School of Management in the United States issues Smart Certifi cates to participants who complete its executive education programs.

Because graduates must maintain their current email addresses to access their diplomas, the system also helps schools maintain up-to-date contact information for their alumni. Schools can administer post-graduation surveys and even fi nd lost alumni by querying registered users. Says Goldenberg, “It creates a lifetime bond between the school and the student.”

The annual cost of the service to schools depends on the number of students a school graduates. Alumni and recruit-ers access the service for free. For more information, visit www.CVTrust.com.

Smart Diploma Provides Online Credentials

What users see after clicking on a link to a Smart Diploma

Reprint from AACSB’s BizEd Magazine -The Leading Voice of Business Education

From the November/December 2013 issue

Reprinted with permission from BizEd, published by AACSB International - The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business