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Digital diplomas to be issued during online commencement

The MIT Registrar’s Office will issue digital diplomas on an opt-in basis during online commencement May 29. All graduating students will still receive a physical diploma.

The digital diplomas webpage writes that students will receive an email from the Registrar’s Office prior to graduation inviting them to download and make a free account on the Blockcerts Wallet app. Students will then need to click on the link from the email invitation and add MIT as an issuer.

Students will receive an emailed attachment from MIT with a “coded digital diploma file” once the diploma is issued, the website writes. Students may also add the diploma directly to their Blockcerts Wallet app.

“After the initial issuance, diplomas are issued on the first day of the month” after students’ completion of these steps, the website writes.

Graduating students’ MIT Kerberos accounts will be deactivated January, after which digital diplomas can no longer be issued, according to the website.

Due to COVID-19, digital diplomas “are the most immediate way for students to share their achievement with… potential employers, institutions of higher learning, and family and friends,” Alison Trachy, communications coordinator for the Registrar’s Office, wrote in an email to The Tech.

Trachy wrote that Blockcerts “uses the bitcoin blockchain to protect and verify” diplomas. Blockcerts was developed by MIT Media Lab Director of Learning Innovation Philipp Schmidt G in partnership with Learning Machine.

The Registrar’s Office “will be in touch about the distribution of physical diplomas when additional information is available,” Trachy wrote.

The Institute piloted the digital diploma program in 2017. All graduating students have been eligible to receive a digital diploma since 2018.