We’ve been thinking a lot about the inherent problems with paper-based certificates lately: how much time and resource they divert from RTOs, as well as how vulnerable they are to fakes and forgery.

We chatted with experienced VET industry consultant John Price (AKA 'Pricey'!) to get his thoughts on the question of why there are so many issues with certification documentation. Over to you, Pricey!

First, let’s look back in time

What is it about a piece of paper that makes it so important?

How times have changed. Wherever I worked in the 70s and 80s it was always about being able to do the job and not about the pieces of paper you had. Yes, I earned paper certificates, but they didn’t carry anywhere near the importance then as they do now.

The importance of evidence

It’s no longer just about possessing skills, knowledge and experience; it’s about the evidence to prove it (and so it should be). Evidence enables risk to be managed, evidence is needed to meet the requirements of legislation and regulation, and evidence is there to assist in avoiding litigation.

Unfortunately along with paper comes fraudulent paper. The following example of a qualification that I identified at an internal audit a few years ago emphasises these fraudulent practices. A trainer assessor employed by an RTO presented a ‘piece of paper’ that had printed on it: “TAE40110 Certificate IV in Assessment and Workplace Training”.

Ask yourself:

• What’s wrong with this document?
• Why hadn’t the RTO verified whether this ‘piece of paper’ (that’s all you could call it) was genuine?

Why wouldn’t someone who was trying to duplicate it at least use the correct title? The issue is exacerbated when it unfortunately goes undetected and doesn’t ‘stand out like the proverbial’. Could you trust that the other ‘pieces of paper’ held by the trainer assessor weren’t also fake and live with the risk of this ‘unqualified' person delivering and assessing?

The internet has provided an effective means of trading in counterfeit academic testamurs. In the United Kingdom, Peter Leon Quinn conducted an illegal business via the internet for more than 20 years. Quinn's website listed 52 Australian tertiary institutions whose 'qualifications' were available for sale on the website. They contained forged signatures, watermarks and seals and could be delivered within a few days.

How should the industry mitigate this risk?

Very rarely when I conduct an internal audit for an RTO do I find certification documentation that hasn’t followed the templates in the ASQA ‘Fact sheet - Sample forms of AQF certification documentation’. The challenge is many RTOs are still finding it difficult to develop an approach to producing certification documentation that uses controls to prevent fraudulent use or duplication.

I see a range of options that focus on the ‘features’ of genuine certification: many of these options rely on printing on specific types of ‘tamper proof’ paper that indicates when unauthorised changes are attempted or when photocopying is carried out. Others incorporate embossing or the application of seals. Each of these options can be expensive if large ‘print’ numbers are involved and are not in and of themselves foolproof (just ask Peter Leon Quinn)!

The Solution

What if a solution was based on ‘benefits’ rather than just ‘features’? ‘Benefits’ that each stakeholder could gain from the certification and enabled the ‘features to be met at the same time. The solution is to start by determining who the stakeholders are and what benefits could be achieved for these stakeholders?

John threw some of these questions back to us here at Learning Vault: What benefits could the student, the industry/employer and the RTO all gain from a better solution? How can technology provide this solution in a user-friendly, cost-effective and most importantly, secure, manner?

At Learning Vault HQ, we've been working away on a solution to the problems paper-based certificates pose. Stay tuned as we'll be unveiling this to the industry in a few weeks' time (and we think it will be a game-changer)!