Towards Trustless Academic Records in Higher Education: Integrating Blockchain and IPFS for Verifiable Student Credentials

Yan Watequlis Syaifudin¹, Abiyasa Putra Prasetya¹, Raihan Hidayatullah Djunaedi¹, Pramana Yoga Saputra¹, Hein Htet², Asep Sunandar³, Salies Apriliyanto⁴, Vipkas Al Hadid Firdaus¹, Maskur¹

1. ¹ Politeknik Negeri Malang
2. ² Institutes of Innovation for Future Society, Nagoya University; Nagoya University
3. ³ State University of Malang
4. ⁴ PT. Andal Rancang Multi Solusi,Dept. of Information Technology,Jakarta,Indonesia

International Conference on Innovation and Intelligence for Informatics, Computing, and Technologies (3ICT), 2025

The management of academic credentials in higher education faces persistent challenges related to fraud, administrative inefficiency, and lack of interoperability, particularly as institutions increasingly recognize non-curricular and micro-credentials that lack standardized validation mechanisms. This paper presents a decentralized system for issuing, storing, and verifying student credentials using Hyperledger Besu and the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS). By leveraging a permissioned blockchain, the system ensures tamper-proof recording of credential metadata, while IPFS provides secure, decentralized storage of certificate files through content-based addressing. Smart contracts automate key processes with rolebased access control and introduce automatic tracking of non-curricular achievement credits. The frontend, built with ReactJS and integrated via Thirdweb SDK, enables intuitive user interaction. Functional testing confirms system correctness, while security and performance evaluations demonstrate robustness, transparency, and scalability. The proposed solution empowers students with lifelong ownership of their academic records and enables trustless, instant verification by employers and institutions, paving the way for a more secure, efficient, and learner-centric credentialing ecosystem in higher education.

DOI10.1109/3ict68299.2025.11442139Copy