AUTHOR: Tatiana McKenna, Senior Credential Evaluator, Academic Evaluation Services, Inc.
Republished with permission from TAICEP (https://www.taicep.org/taiceporgwp/)
Despite the fact that Ukraine has been navigating through severe tumultuous times in its history over the last 33 years, it was always striving for technological advancements in education to optimize educational processes and outcomes. One of the most remarkable chapters of Ukrainian education deals with the online verification of educational documents which spans several decades.
Ukraine started providing online verification services of educational credentials since mid- 90s within the Information and Production System (IPS) “Osvita” which transitioned and integrated with the Unified State Electronic Database in Education (EDEBO) almost ten years ago. Since 2022 a new technological era in Ukrainian education initiated resulting in the development of unprecedented electronic services on educational documents launched full-scale on March 22, 2024, with the electronic application Diia.
The Ukrainian portal Diia is the online e-governance platform designed to provide state government services of various levels to Ukrainian citizens and businesses digitally via either the Diia website portal or a smartphone application. The word “Diia” is an acronym standing for “the state and me”, and it is also translated as “action” from Ukrainian.
The portal was designed and officially launched by the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine on April 2, 2020, as the flagship initiative of the “State in a Smartphone” vision. The service was developed by the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and the State Enterprise “Inforesurs” with the support of the European Union within the project of EU4DigitalUA implemented by the Estonian Academy of Electronic Governance and the Program EGAP, financed by the Swiss Agency in Development and Partnership enacted by the East Europe Fund, with the support of USAID/US aid “Transparency and Accountability in Public Administration and Services/TAPAS”.
As of 2024, the mobile application Diia allows Ukrainian citizens to access 30 services and 15 digital documents (ID card, birth certificate, foreign biometric passport, student card, driver’s license, tax number, etc.) with over 20 million users actively applying this service in their daily lives.
Digital credentials generated by Diia have the same legal power as their paper or plastic counterparts. The Ukrainian legislation, Decree “On Implementation of the Experimental Project on Development and Application of the eDocument on Education” adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on November 4, 2022, determines the legitimacy of educational credentials in Diia.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion, Diia was used as a critical online platform supporting displaced Ukrainians and providing digital services to the citizens affected by the war. Diia connects over 19 million Ukrainians with more than 120 government services and has been used to support displaced Ukrainians and others impacted by the war. Through Diia, the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine has created new services to support Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), provide social and financial assistance, and report damaged property.
Diia and Education
On March 22, 2024, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine announced the implementation of the electronic application Diia designed for Ukrainian degree holders registered in the application Diia to access educational credentials of various levels in the section of “Documents“.
The complete list of documents in Ukrainian downloaded in the service, ranging from the certificate of basic education to the diploma of Doctor of Art, includes the following credentials provided in Table 1.
Table 1. List of credentials in Ukrainian with their English translation
It should be noted that the credentials stored in EDEBO (the Unified State Electronic Database in Education) are uploaded in the application automatically. Eventually it is expected that the diploma supplements will also be available in the digital format. The designated Ukraine team is currently working on digitalization of the Diploma Supplement which encompasses two stages of implementation, such as:
Stage1. Diploma Supplement to be issued as part of new educational qualifications starting 2025
Stage 2: Digitalization of already existing Diploma Supplements for previously awarded educational qualifications (under discussion).
The Unified State Electronic Database on Education (EDEBO) has compiled a list of specific questions and responses as to how to obtain the electronic digital document on education (єДокумент про освіту).
Currently Diia does not provide the verification of the following credentials:
❌ documents on scientific doctoral degrees and titles
❌ information on military institution graduates
❌ information on diplomas of retraining issued before 01.01.2016
Credentials available in Diia (aka credentials already stored in the Registry of EDEBO/Inforesurs) include the following:
Diplomas:
✅ since 2000: qualified worker, junior specialist, bachelor, specialist, master
✅ since 2021: professional junior bachelor, junior bachelor
✅ since 2022: Doctor of Philosophy/Doctor of Art
✅ Certificate of complete general secondary education (2000-2019)
Certificates:
✅ since 2000: on basic secondary education
✅ since 2019: on complete general secondary education
✅ since 2000: on awarding (upgrading) of working qualification
In addition to the list of credentials not available in Diia compiled by EDEBO, the EDEBO database may not contain information on credentials issued in the temporarily occupied territories.
Some of the innovative features of the application include the possibility for Diia users to access and share their digital documents stored in the state registers with the third parties in the electronic mode. Academic Evaluation Services, Inc. received its first digital e-document Certificate on Complete Secondary Education shared with the client after the application was launched in March 2024.
Table 2: Sample of digital e-document – Certificate of Complete General Secondary Education
More samples of Diia-issued electronic documents are available in the recent 2024 presentation “Digital credentials in Diia: the case of Ukraine” which can also be used as a reference for understanding how the electronic service was developed, implemented, and launched.
How to access Diia for registered Diia users:
- Log in to Diia
- Select “Add document”
- Confirm search for documents available using 3 identifiers – full name, date of birth, and tax number – that are automatically pre-filled for you
- Documents found with the above identifiers are downloaded to the Diia’s folder “Documents”
- Information on educational documents can be retrieved from Diia within 2 months, after which it can still be requested unlimited number of times, if needed.
Table 3: Screenshot of Diia portal
Summary:
Diia is a groundbreaking revolutionary mobile application instrumental in assisting Ukrainian citizens with an easy access to their digital documents irrespective of the geopolitical situation or their physical location. The digital framework supporting recognition of Ukrainian qualifications encompasses the E-documents on education in Diia mobile application and Diia government services portal, all-in-one e-document on education, the option of sharing educational credentials (including to other countries), with the possibility of accessing digital diploma supplements in the future.
Resources:
- Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine: https://mon.gov.ua/news/u-zastosunok-diya-dodano-dokumenti-pro-osvitu
- Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine: https://thedigital.gov.ua/
- Diia Portal: https://diia.gov.ua/
- Unified Electronic Database on Education (EDEBO): https://info.edbo.gov.ua/news/09-04-2024-osnovni-zapytannia-vidpovidi-shchodo-iedokumenta-pro-osvitu/
- Piskun, A. & Suprun, K. (2024) Diia: digital educational credentials in Ukraine [Webinar]. DCC Community Call, January 11, 2024. Recording
- Suprun, K. (2024) Diia: digital educational credentials in Ukraine: https://static.daad.de/media/daad_de/der-daad/was-wir-tun/digitalisierung/presentation_regulars_suprun.pdf
- How Ukrainian citizens use digital documents in their smartphones: https://thedigital.gov.ua/
- A Diploma Supplement network kick-off seminar: https://www.oph.fi/en/news/2024/diploma-supplement-network-kick-seminar
- IPS “Osvita”: https://osvita.net/ua/
