DC4EU

SURF participates together with several Dutch higher education institutions and DUO in the Digital Credentials for Europe (DC4EU) consortium. In this partnership, 24 countries are working on the development of the European Digital Identity Wallet; a system for exchanging official documents such as digital diplomas and microcredentials, but also, for example, your driving licence. This will make it easier for Dutch students to register for educational experiences in other European countries.

Current challenges in diploma exchange

The exchange of diplomas and other certificates, such as microcredentials, has so far often been labour-intensive. On both sides of the exchange, it is an extensive administrative process characterised by a lot of manual work. Moreover, it is susceptible to fraud and learners lack control over their own data.

Public values

An ecosystem is therefore being developed within DC4EU that enables digital exchange of diplomas and microcredentials, through the European Digital Identity Wallet. This system uses Self-sovereign identity (SSI) technology, allowing users to be in control of their data and decide with whom to share which data. For example, for age verification, it is no longer necessary to share your passport photo and date of birth, but proof that you are above a certain age will suffice. This fits in perfectly with the public values of the spearhead common digital sovereignty that SURF is pursuing with its members to make concrete work of public values.

Reliable data

Besides providing control over its own data, the system also guarantees a high degree of data integrity. This ensures more reliable data quality. For institutions, this offers benefits as processes can run more efficiently.

Impact eIDAS 2.0

In March 2024, the Council of the European Union adopted a new regulation - eIDAS 2.0 - expanding the application possibilities of the electronic identity card. eIDAS stands for electronic Identification, Authentication and Trust Services. The regulation sets out a new legal framework for a secure and reliable 'European digital wallet'. Thus, all European citizens will have all their 'identification cards' available digitally, which will also work in all European countries.

Research via pilots

Through large-scale pilot projects (so-called 'Large Scale Pilots'), various use cases are now being investigated. DC4EU is one such pilot. Indeed, with the introduction of eIDAS 2.0, new European requirements apply to the management and exchange of personal data such as a diploma or driving licence. The eIDAS regulation is also likely to have an impact on various services that SURF offers to its members, such as eduID and Edubadges. By participating in DC4EU, we ensure that we are prepared in good time. Naturally, we do this together with DUO and Géant, the alliance of European Research and Education Networks (NRENs).

Goals: experience, testing, contacts

The aim of our participation in the project is to gain experience with the technology, test it with our members and build a network with relevant parties working on European digital wallet applications. In addition, we are trying to unravel this complex issue and, in partial aspects, help the DC4EU consortium move forward with sound advice and open source source source code.

Follow-up steps

We are now a year on the road and have already achieved a lot in that time. In summer 2024, we delivered a converter that can translate Edubadges (and other badges based on OpenBadges) into the European Learning Model (ELM). From January 2025, we hope to actually experience with students how they can unlock diplomas and Edubadges from the European digital wallet.

Digital transformation in Europe

DC4EU stems from the Digital Europe programme (DIGITAL), a European Commission initiative aimed at boosting digital transformation in Europe.