The QualiChain project aims to facilitate lifelong learning through the use of blockchain technology. It envisions a more decentralized education model where learners have more ownership over their learning experiences and qualifications. The project will develop and pilot blockchain-based solutions for storing, sharing, and verifying education and employment qualifications. It involves several pilots across universities and public sector organizations in Europe to optimize processes like curriculum design, credentials verification, and staff recruitment.

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This project has received funding from the European Union’s
Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under
Grant Agreement No 822404
Facilitating lifelong learning through
the use of blockchain technology
Dr Alexander Mikroyannidis, The Open University, UK

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Motivation
The centralised education model is no longer sustainable:
• Learning happens increasingly outside the brick-and-mortar lecture halls of
schools, colleges, and universities on online platforms, within communities of
like-minded individuals, or by contributing to projects and initiatives in the
real-world.
• Learning is far more international than it used to be: key education players
open campuses abroad, while students travel to different countries to
improve their employability prospects.
• In the networked, digitally empowered world of the 21st century, education
providers often do not have remit or the means and capacity to cover the
range of activities learners engage with, which attest their achievements,
knowledge, and skills.

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Vision
We envision an education model in
which the awarding and validation of
qualifications no longer occur
exclusively under the management of
an education institution or an
employer.
Individual students, teachers, and
peers take more ownership of the
learning experience and its outcomes
without compromising on safety,
security, and accessibility.

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What is a Blockchain?
• A cryptographically secure, shared, distributed ledger.
• Each block aggregates a timestamped batch of transactions and is
identified by a cryptographic signature.
• These blocks are all back-linked so that the chain can be traced all the
way back to the very first block created.
• As such, the blockchain contains an un-editable record of all
transactions.

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The QualiChain Project

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Project Objectives
• Creation, piloting and evaluation
of decentralised solutions for
storing, sharing and verifying
education and employment
qualifications.
• Assessment of the technical,
political, socioeconomic, legal
and cultural impact of
decentralised solutions on
education.

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Project Pilots

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University Process Optimisation
through Smart Curriculum Design
This pilot is conducted by the National Technical University of Athens
(NTUA) and aims to optimise the university operation and curriculum
design, as well as facilitate the validation and verification of skills and
qualifications of undergraduate and PhD students.
The main goals of this pilot are:
• Provision of analytics and recommendations for the redesign and update of
specific courses and by extension the entire curriculum of the school.
• Student accreditation and lecturer validation and recognition through a
trusted, immutable and secure Blockchain ledger.

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Staffing the Public Sector:
The Case of Greece
This pilot is conducted by the Supreme Council for Civil Personnel
Selection (ASEP) in collaboration with the Hellenic Parliament (HeP).
This pilot has the following objectives:
• Provide personalised candidate notifications for job vacancies by matching
individual profiles with available jobs in the civil service.
• Validate academic and professional qualifications of individual candidates.
• Improve the efficiency of the recruitment process in terms
of time and credibility.

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Staffing the Public Sector:
The Case of Portugal
This pilot is leveraging QualiChain to staff the Portuguese public sector.
For this purpose, the use case involves integrating
the FenixEdu system with QualiChain. FenixEdu is an academic
management platform that supports full program and course
management, including the issuing of diplomas.
This integration of FenixEdu with QualiChain allows diplomas issued
using FenixEdu to be automatically inserted in QualiChain’s blockchain,
allowing the Portuguese public administration to have access to all
diplomas issued by universities that use FenixEdu. Qualichain thus
ensures the authenticity and integrity of the diplomas.

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Provision of Recruitment &
Competency Management Services
This pilot is developing and offering a competency management
framework to Madeira’s Regional Health and Civil Protection Secretary
(SRS), which is the government entity responsible for health personnel
administration in this Portuguese region.
The main goals of this pilot are the following:
• Support the implementation and coordination of HR management policies in
the health sector.
• Speed-up the recruitment process by validation of CVs.
• Facilitate the selection and mobility process using semantic matching
methods to pair job opportunities with the best candidates.
• Perform identification of skills gaps and suggest training for skill
development.

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Supporting Lifelong Learning
This pilot is conducted by The Open University and is investigating how
blockchain technologies can support lifelong learners in their learning
journey and in advancing their career.
The objectives of this pilot are the following:
• Awarding lifelong learners with transparent and immutable educational
accreditation;
• Offering lifelong learners personalised recommendations;
• Supporting lifelong learners in reaching their personal or professional
learning goals.

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Lifelong learners: They pursue learning
throughout their lifetime, for either personal or
professional reasons.
Educational institutions: These are institutions
that provide education or training services, either
paid ones or free.
Stakeholders

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Smart Badges
• Immutable & instantly
verifiable accreditation.
• Offering personalised
recommendations about
jobs & courses.
Use Case

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Job Recommendations

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Course Recommendations

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Eliciting requirements from groups
of learners, educators,
researchers and practitioners in
the context of major educational
technology conferences.
Consultation Workshops

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ePortfolios should
aggregate formal and
informal qualifications
validated by employers
and educational
institutions.
Immutable Formal
& Informal
Qualifications
Learners should receive
guidance in building
lifelong learning
pathways and acquiring
micro-credentials in
order to achieve their
learning goals.
Lifelong Learning
Pathways &
Micro-credentials
Job seekers should be
provided with a
comprehensive
overview of the job
market and the latest
market trends.
Career
Counselling
Learners/job seekers
should own their digital
identity and their
ePortfolio data and
should be able to
control third-party
access to it.
Data Ownership
and Privacy
Findings

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Next Steps
• Launching the QualiChain platform, which
addresses the requirements and scenarios of
the project pilots.
• Piloting the QualiChain platform and engaging
stakeholders via dedicated workshops, as well
as via other opportunities and online channels,
such as open online courses and webinars.
• Collating and publishing lessons learned and
best practices.

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Special Issue
QualiChain is organising a special issue
on Blockchain-Based Decentralised Solutions
for Learner Empowerment, Education
Reengineering and Public Sector
Transformation to be published in the new
Elsevier journal Blockchain: Research and
Applications.
Important dates:
• Submission deadline: February 1, 2022
• Final decisions: May 1, 2022

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This project has received funding from the European Union’s
Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under
Grant Agreement No 822404
/QualiChain /QualiChain
@QualiChain
21
Thank you for your attention!
https://qualichain-project.eu