Press Release
Online DegreeVerify Service To Offer Real-Time 'Web Services' Access To Degree Data
HERNDON, VA, MARCH 13, 2002 - The National Student Clearinghouse, a national non-profit student record reporting organization, today announced a new, optional Web services feature to its DegreeVerify service. Available via the Clearinghouse Web site at www.studentclearinghouse.org, this feature will enable colleges and universities to provide recruiters, employers, and background search firms with instantaneous, real-time degree verifications 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week, directly from the data residing in the college or university's student information systems. The option will be launched in April 2002.
The DegreeVerify 'Web services' feature utilizes industry standard protocols, such as HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) and data formats, such as XML (eXtensible Markup Language). Similar in concept to the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) process, Web services are designed to offer a secure, real-time mechanism for linking applications over the Internet without the complexity and rigidity sometimes associated with EDI. The use of standard protocols and data formats in Web services also eliminates reliance on proprietary vendor solutions and allows organizations and institutions to choose the platform, language and software that works best for them. By harnessing the power of this new, standards-based technology, the Clearinghouse will be able to provide a useful tool for employers wishing to view current credentials information in order to expedite a job offer to a potential candidate.
To ensure the widest possible support for the DegreeVerify Web services specification, the Clearinghouse recently joined the Post-secondary Electronic Standards Council (PESC) and the XML Forum for Education, where many complementary initiatives are under development. In addition, the DegreeVerify Web services specifications have been submitted to the XML Forum for review and input.
According to Lysbeth Bainbridge, executive director of PESC, "We welcome the Clearinghouse to the education community's efforts to identify and use standards that will enable schools to send and receive data electronically that are platform- and vendor-independent. Standards bring efficiencies to the trading partners which we anticipate will benefit students."
"Web services is poised to unlock the true potential of the Internet," said Daniel Boehmer, president of the National Student Clearinghouse. "By implementing a Web services option into the DegreeVerify program, the Clearinghouse can help ensure that verification requestors, post-secondary educational institutions, and recent college graduates have multiple degree verification options at their disposal and that they benefit from the speed and accuracy of the latest technological advances."
About DegreeVerify
Implemented a little over one year ago, DegreeVerify is an on-line verification reporting service modeled after the Clearinghouse's original student loan reporting service, today used by post-secondary institutions with 90% of the nation's enrolled students. With DegreeVerify, schools appoint the Clearinghouse to act as their agent in the dissemination of degree information and then refer degree verification requests to the Clearinghouse. Using the degree data provided by the college or university, employers and agencies can obtain degree confirmations 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week from the Clearinghouse website.
About The National Student Clearinghouse
The National Student Clearinghouse, a non-profit organization founded by the higher education community, streamlines the student record verification process for colleges and universities, students and alumni, lending institutions, employers, and other organizations. The Clearinghouse maintains a comprehensive electronic registry of student records that provides a single, highly automated point-of-contact for organizations and individuals requiring timely, accurate verification of student enrollment, degree, and loan data.
Today, over 2,700 colleges, representing 91% of the nation's enrollment, participate in the Clearinghouse by providing regular student record updates on all of their currently enrolled students. Student loan providers, employers, student credit card issuers, student health insurance providers, the federal government and others access the Clearinghouse's registry over 100 million times annually to conduct electronic student record verifications.
For more information, visit www.studentclearinghouse.org.
Press Inquiries:
Kathleen Dugan
Marketing Director
703-742-4208
dugan@studentclearinghouse.org
