Electronic Blockchain-Based Academic Record Management System (EBARMS): An Ethereum Implementation for Secure Credential Verification

Abstract

The increasing rate of academic credential forgery around the world, Nigeria is not left out which has become a major challenge. Manual verification of students’ results in tertiary institutions and organizations presents greater challenges and threatens the authenticity of credentials. Our research aims to design and implement an Electronic Blockchain-Based Academic Record Management System (EBARMS) for Federal Polytechnic Bauchi (FPTB), Nigeria. The proposed system architecture is a Hybrid that includes a relational database for managing students’ academic information and an Ethereum blockchain to secure the system against unauthorized access. The system anchors cryptographic representations of academic records using the Keccak 256 hash function, and the original transcripts are stored in the system for verification, review, and confirmation. The Ethereum network used a smart contract to register and verify transcript hashes, thereby enabling trust, transparency, and tamper-resistant authentication of academic records. The system also incorporates a predetermined Grade Point Average (GPA) computation model and can determine graduation status or recognize fake credentials. Results and evaluations confirmed the correctness of the GPA computation when compared with physical information. Blockchain transactions confirmed the system's security and its ability to display verification results with very low latency, i.e., the average confirmation time is 2 seconds, and the maximum latency is 8 seconds. Other institutions can verify student information from FPTB through the provided portal by logging in with their identification numbers and passwords. EBARMS results demonstrate that blockchain technology can provide a transparent and trustworthy modern academic record management system that allows credential verification in our tertiary institution.