MYSORE: Just when the universities across the world are worried about the scourge of fake degree certificates that have flooded the job market, a Mysore-based information technology firm has come up with a software solution that offers web-verification and validation of degree certificates.

The fool-proof Document Encryption Printing and Authentication (DEPA) 1.0, brought out by Signifera Software Solutions, Mysore, after two years of research and 8,000 man-hours of development, is expected to break new ground in the efforts to curb the menace of fake degree certificates.

Certificates printed by using DEPA 1.0 can be verified and validated by the official website of the respective university through a web-based interface.

"If verification of a degree certificate printed and issued by a particular university is required, the document should be scanned and uploaded on the respective university's website. Within 20 seconds, a response on the authenticity or otherwise of the degree certificate will be received," the Managing Director of the firm, Mariam F. Tareen, told The Hindu .

Sher-E-Kashmir University of Agriculture Sciences and Technologists, Jammu and Kashmir, has incorporated the software for issue of its degree certificates. The students passing out of the university can have their degree certificates verified anytime, anywhere in the world through the Internet.

Elaborating on the "invention" which has been patented, Ms. Tareen said the DEPA 1.0 application enables complete in-house printing of degree certificates and documents.

Once the textual data is in place, the degree certificate can be generated with an encrypted barcode. The degree certificate with an encrypted barcode can be web-verified after it is scanned and uploaded on the university's website, she added.

The software company has also offered to customise the application for universities depending on the latter's preferences. "They can have the candidate's name, registration number or year of passing encrypted," she said. The company is planning to include provision for encrypting photo images in the software. "Those features will be incorporated in future versions of the software," Ms. Tareen said.

Most of the embassies and consulates of different countries in India do not take degree certificates on face value as they have found an estimated 40 per cent of the documents in circulation to be fake. An elaborate and long drawn process is undertaken to establish the authenticity of the degree certificate by the concerned university.

The certificates submitted by job aspirants in the Gulf too are not taken on face value. The companies offering them jobs insist on validation of their degree certificates by the university concerned. The aspirants are forced to secure the validation of their degree certificates by either coming down personally or handing it over their friends or relatives for necessary action.

Ms. Tareen has informed the Chairman of the University Grants Commission, Arun Nigavekar, about the software product's availability in a bid to curb fake degree certificates.

"Fake degree certificates are freely available on the Internet. It has become possible for people to even fake degree certificates of premier institutions in India such as IIMs, IITs and AIIMS," she said. The software can even be used for validating other documents such as passports, bank drafts or other instruments of transaction, Ms. Tareen added.

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