NFTs in the academy: Fighting fake credentials and unfair wages
The rise of fake credentials and teachers being undervalued and underpaid are some of the recurring problems that the education sector continues to face. Cointelegraph went on a mission to see if nonfungible tokens (NFT) can provide a solution to these headaches found in the education sector.
One of the pressing issues in education is fake credentials. On May 18, the Washington Post reported that there are about 2,800 people who purchased their credentials without attending the proper classes. They were able to pass the National Council Licensure Examination in the United States. Authorities are now trying to find these people.
About 2,800 people who bought credentials without attending classes from three unaccredited schools passed the National Council Licensure Examination and presumably have used that shortcut to find work or better jobs in the health-care industry. https://t.co/FYz4craHaW
This is not a one-off problem. In the United States, some estimate that around 100,000 fake degrees are purchased from illegitimate institutions or “diploma mills” every year. Some of these degrees can be bought for $1,000 without any of the work required for such academic achievements.
In 2021, Beau Brannan, a professor at Pepperdine University, argued the case for NFTs use in education. Back then, Brannan wrote that taking individual classes and putting them on an unalterable public ledger, with uniquely designed images, could make education more valued.
Fast forward a few years, Brannan still holds the same beliefs about NFTs. The professor told Cointelegraph that NFTs offer a “solid solution” to a massive international problem which is degree forgery.
According to Brannan, there’s no way to verify degrees from a school. “I have no
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