A Generic Certificate Verification System for Nigerian Universities

The certificate issued by educational institutions is one of the most important documents for a graduate. It is a proof of the graduate's qualification and can be used anywhere. However, due to advances in printing and photocopying technologies, fake certificates can be created easily and the quality of a fake certificate can now be as good as the original. Certificates issued by many institutions have been forged and these forgeries are difficult to detect. Moreover, many factors have led to reduced operational efficiency in student services in many institutions. One of the most significant factors is the verification process for educational certificates and related documents. Certificate verification is necessary to ensure that the holder of the certificate is genuine and that the certificate itself comes from a real source. However, the verification of certificates is a challenge for the verifier (the prospective employer who wants to verify the certificate). To address this issue, a Certificate Verification System for Institutions (CVSI) using the Top-Down Design approach with iterative model is proposed. The system uses a NoSQL database (MongoDB) for certificate storage and Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) for the front-end design. The university, the graduate and the verifier are the three parties involved in the proposed solution to accomplish accurate certificate verification. Several benefits can be obtained by using the proposed model. These benefits include; improved work processes, ease of use and maintenance by the University for the Verification Process as well as longtime of operation due to the use of MongoDB (a NoSQL database) which supports even horizontal scaling.