Education Credentials

This page describes an integration pattern for carrying academic credentials, skill attestations, and learning records across educational and employment systems using Universal Manifest.

Boundary: normative vs non-normative

Normative contract: Specification and Conformance
Non-normative guidance: this page

All education-specific claims, pointer names, and consent keys on this page are explicitly non-normative.

What you implement

Inputs

A valid Universal Manifest (um:Manifest) with a student/graduate subject identifier
Resolver or direct retrieval path to fetch current credential manifests
Verification system capable of processing degree and certification claims

Outputs

Consent-gated display of academic credentials and skill attestations
Deterministic handling for expired or consent-denied manifests
Credential validity assessment based on claims and TTL

Minimum behaviors

Enforce TTL and reject expired manifests (credential status can change)
Check consent keys before reading credential data (default deny)
Ignore unknown fields safely
Validate claim values for credential status before relying on them

Use cases

Job application: A candidate shares their UMID with a prospective employer. The employer verifies the degree and relevant certifications without contacting the university.
University transfer: A student shares their UMID with a new institution. The receiving university reads learning records and course completions for transfer credit evaluation.
Professional licensing: A certification authority issues skill attestations that travel with the professional. Licensing boards read the manifest to verify current certifications.

Suggested shards

Shard Name	Purpose	Key Entity Fields
`academicCredential`	Degree and diploma information	institution, degree, fieldOfStudy, dateConferred, honors
`skillAttestation`	Professional certifications and skill verifications	skill, certifyingBody, dateIssued, expirationDate, level
`learningRecord`	Course completions, micro-credentials, learning summaries	course, provider, completionDate, grade, creditHours

Suggested pointer names

edu.transcript — official academic transcript (university portal or verifiable credential URL)
edu.certificationAuthority — certifying body’s verification endpoint
edu.portfolio — professional or academic portfolio

edu.shareTranscript — gates sharing of transcript references and academic details
edu.shareSkills — gates sharing of skill attestations and certifications
edu.verifyDegree — gates degree verification by third parties

Consumers should default to deny for any education data use not explicitly consented to.

Suggested claim keys

edu.degreeStatus — conferred, in-progress, or withdrawn
edu.enrollmentStatus — active, graduated, or inactive
edu.certificationValid — valid, expired, or revoked

Example fixture (excerpt)

{
  "@context": "https://universalmanifest.net/ns/universal-manifest/v0.1/schema.jsonld",
  "@id": "urn:uuid:e4f5a6b7-c890-1234-efab-567890cdef12",
  "@type": "um:Manifest",
  "manifestVersion": "0.1",
  "subject": "did:key:z6MkpEducationGraduateExampleDid",
  "issuedAt": "2026-02-26T10:00:00Z",
  "expiresAt": "2026-03-26T10:00:00Z",
  "shards": [
    {
      "@type": "um:Shard",
      "name": "academicCredential",
      "entity": {
        "@id": "urn:uuid:f5a6b7c8-9012-3456-fabc-67890def1234",
        "@type": ["um:Entity"],
        "name": "Bachelor of Science in Computer Science",
        "institution": "Northfield University",
        "degree": "Bachelor of Science",
        "fieldOfStudy": "Computer Science",
        "dateConferred": "2025-05-15",
        "honors": "magna cum laude"
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "um:Shard",
      "name": "skillAttestation",
      "entity": {
        "@id": "urn:uuid:a6b7c8d9-0123-4567-abcd-ef890123abcd",
        "@type": ["um:Entity"],
        "name": "AWS Solutions Architect - Associate",
        "skill": "Cloud Architecture (AWS)",
        "certifyingBody": "Amazon Web Services",
        "dateIssued": "2025-09-01",
        "expirationDate": "2028-09-01",
        "level": "associate"
      }
    }
  ],
  "claims": [
    { "@type": "um:Claim", "name": "edu.degreeStatus", "value": "conferred", "issuer": "did:key:z6MkpNorthfieldUniversityRegistrar" },
    { "@type": "um:Claim", "name": "edu.certificationValid", "value": "valid", "issuer": "did:key:z6MkpAWSCertificationAuthority" }
  ],
  "consents": [
    { "@type": "um:Consent", "name": "edu.verifyDegree", "value": "allowed" },
    { "@type": "um:Consent", "name": "edu.shareSkills", "value": "allowed" },
    { "@type": "um:Consent", "name": "edu.shareTranscript", "value": "denied" }
  ],
  "pointers": [
    { "name": "edu.transcript", "url": "https://registrar.northfield-university.edu/transcripts/z6MkpEducationGraduateExampleDid" },
    { "name": "edu.certificationAuthority", "url": "https://aws.amazon.com/certification/verify/ABC123XYZ" }
  ]
}

See the full fixture and implementation details in the integration source.