Piloting a digital European Student Card as a verifiable credential
A pilot feasibility test with higher education institutions reported positive experiences in scenarios where European Student Cards were issued as verifiable credentials. This step could further facilitate the secure digital verification of the student status across Europe.
A joint endeavour with the higher education community
Verifiable credentials (VCs) are digital versions of documents (e.g. ID cards, diplomas, or tickets) that can be:
- issued by a trusted party (e.g. a higher education institution or government)
- held by a person in their digital wallet
- shared with others to verify information (e.g. your age or qualifications), and
- verified for authenticity using cryptography
A verifiable credentials pilot for the European Student Card (ESC) was conducted between September and November 2025. This collaborative exercise built on input from different stakeholders on the importance of further facilitating the issuance of a digital version of the ESC as a verifiable credential.
A total of 13 card issuers participated in the pilot, including 12 higher education institutions and one national research and education network. They covered 9 European countries and ensured representation of different institutional and technical stakeholders.
Why it matters
Verifiable credentials represent a potential next step in the evolution of the ESC. It would enable higher education institutions to issue secure, portable digital attestations that students can easily store and present on their mobile device to instantly verify their student status when needed.
This approach is privacy-preserving, scalable and compatible with the European Digital Identity (EUDI) wallet. It aligns with broader digital identity developments that would enable students to securely store and present their student status alongside other digital credentials in a trusted EU-wide environment.
A digital ESC as a verifiable credential would contribute to increasing card interoperability across the European Higher Education Area, while remaining complementary to existing ESC formats (physical and virtual).
What was tested
To explore different implementation paths, participants tested two main scenarios:
- issuing the digital ESC as a verifiable credential via the ESC Router (using a dedicated test environment)
- issuing it in a decentralised manner through their own card management system
Out of the 13 card issuers participating in the pilot, five tested the issuance through the ESC Router, five tested the issuance in a decentralised manner, and three tested both scenarios.
Participants tested end-to-end flows in both scenarios focusing on two core use cases:
- issuance and storing the digital ESC as a verifiable credential
- verification and display of the digital ESC as a verifiable credential through a verifier solution developed specifically for the pilot
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Results and key takeaways
Out of the 13 organisations, six organisations were able to successfully complete the issuance through the ESC Router, and two organisations successfully completed the issuance in the decentralised manner.
Participants reported a positive experience with the setup, the guidance provided and the results. Their feedback confirmed the relevance of enabling the issuance of a digital version of the ESC as a verifiable credential.
The results also show that clear guidance is essential to support both issuance processes (via the ESC Router or in a decentralised way), tailored to the different levels of technical maturity and familiarity with verifiable credentials.
The participants highlighted areas where further technical work would be needed to build on the pilot outcomes, including, for example:
- adding an option for card revocation (and credential lifecycle management)
- updating the data model, and
- improving the verifier, including its design and usability
Overall, the results and the strong participation point to the potential for verifiable credentials in the longer-term ESC roadmap.
Participants assessed how useable the approach was, how clear the instructions were, and the practical experience of issuing, storing, and verifying the credential.
This comes as interest in digital student cards is growing, with more discussions being held with stakeholders on digital student cards, and a growing trend of institutions issuing them.
What’s next
The pilot represents a first exploratory step. Its findings will feed into future discussions on the digital ESC, including how it could evolve alongside existing ESC formats and processes.
Further updates will be shared as the work progresses and next steps are defined.
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