Credential Engine Technical Site

Credential Engine invites you to a public webinar on November 17th at 11 AM ET to review and provide input on proposed enhancements to the Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL) for describing academic catalogs. The proposal aims to make academic catalog information more transparent, connected, and reusable as structured, linked open data.

About This Work

Academic catalogs are important publications that describe an institution's educational offerings, including courses, programs, credentials, assessments, requirements, policies, and related information. They typically apply to a particular academic year or other time period and may be published as documents or online catalogs. Catalogs can also be retained and archived as distinct publications.

While CTDL already includes many terms for describing information found in academic catalogs, additional terms and relationships are needed to represent catalogs themselves, their contents, coverage, and connections to supporting information.

Credential Engine convened an Academic Catalog Focus Group of subject matter experts in catalog production, academic records and policy, institutional and system data, and postsecondary data governance. Through interactive meetings in September and October 2026, participants reviewed a proposed model, shared examples and use cases, and provided input on CTDL enhancements.

The resulting proposal builds on existing CTDL terms to support:

• Academic catalogs as distinct publications: Identify catalogs and connect them to the courses, programs, credentials, assessments, and other offerings they describe.
• Catalog coverage and history: Describe academic years and terms, catalog editions, and historical information.
• Policies and supporting information: Connect catalogs and their offerings to requirements, policies, processes, and support services.
• Changes over time: Represent changes to offerings while maintaining meaningful connections to historical catalog information.

Topics Covered & How to Participate

During this webinar, we will:

• Share findings and recommendations from the Academic Catalog Focus Group.
• Present the proposed CTDL terms and domain model.
• Walk through examples illustrating how academic catalogs and their contents can be described and connected.
• Invite public feedback to refine the proposal before finalization.

We welcome your input to help ensure the proposed CTDL enhancements reflect how academic catalogs are produced, maintained, and used.

Webinar Details

Date: Tuesday, November 17th, 2026
Time: 11:00 AM Eastern Time (see the World Clock for your local time)
Location: Virtual via Zoom
Register Here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_QqQ-hC-9QE2sojlkvzxpGQ
Public Comment Period: Through December 4, 2026

Who Should Attend

We welcome participation from anyone involved in creating, managing, publishing, governing, or using academic catalog information, including:

• Academic catalog administrators and publishers
• Registrar, curriculum, academic records, and policy professionals
• Academic advisors and credit transfer professionals
• Institutional research and data governance professionals
• State and national postsecondary education and workforce agencies
• Academic catalog software providers and technology developers
• Data standards, interoperability, and digital credential communities

Prior knowledge of CTDL is appreciated but not required.

All webinar materials and recordings will be made publicly available. CTDL updates are openly licensed and freely available.

Help shape how academic catalogs and their contents are described, connected, and reused to support learners, institutions, and education and workforce systems.

Unable to attend? You can still participate by reviewing the materials and CTDL terms proposal and submitting comments and recommendations during the public comment period. Once available, the materials and proposal will be shared. To ensure you receive this information, please subscribe to our website https://credentialengine.org/subscribe/.

For questions, please contact us at info@credentialengine.org

Credential Engine invites you to a public webinar on October 15th to review and provide input on a proposed expansion to the Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL). This proposal supports more use cases for prior learning recognition (PL/CPL) by describing the agreements, policies, conditions, and support services that determine whether and how any form of prior learning, whether formal, non-formal or informal, is accepted, evaluated, and applied. Transparent data are essential to reduce barriers, improve interoperability, and strengthen learner mobility across institutions, systems, and borders.

About This Work

Global recognition matters. Around the world, institutions and systems rely on policies, agreements, and rules to recognize prior learning—yet these details are often buried in documents, making them hard to discover or compare. CTDL already supports credit transfer (e.g., Transfer Value Profiles); this proposal extends CTDL to represent the governing rules and conditions that precede and shape transfer decisions.

This webinar builds on the outcomes of Credential Engine’s 2025 Global Task Group on Prior Learning Agreements and Policies, which delivered real-world use cases, examples, and a proposed domain model and terms.

Topics Covered & How to Participate

During this webinar, we will:

• Present the task group outcomes, including a visual domain model, illustrative examples, and a proposed set of CTDL terms for prior learning recognition.
• Walk through how the proposal represents agreements, policies, requirements, conditions, and support services, complementing existing transfer value descriptions.
• Review examples that show how granular policy elements enable discovery, comparability, and system interoperability.
• Open a two-week public comment period to gather feedback that will refine and finalize the proposal.

Key Updates in the Proposal

The CTDL terms proposal is designed to improve discovery and interoperability of public information. Systems managing PII can apply the CTDL model and terms alongside learner data. The proposal supports structured descriptions of:

• Transfer agreements and equivalencies: Agreement content, requirements and conditions for equivalencies, and credit equivalencies.
• Prior learning recognition policies and supports: Policy information and related services, including categories such as:
• Types of learning recognition (formal and informal)
• Evidence of prior learning accepted
• Methods of prior learning evaluation
• Prior learning evaluation outcomes
• Granular scenarios: Many use cases required more detailed data elements, which are now supported.

Who Should Attend

We welcome participation from interested persons:

• Practitioners and policy leaders in credit transfer, prior learning assessment, or learner mobility
• Institutional and system representatives from schools, colleges, universities, and public agencies
• Advising and intermediary organizations that support learner recognition and navigation
• Developers, technologists, and system designers working on articulation, data infrastructure, or interoperability
• Policymakers, employers, quality assurance, and regulatory bodies
• Anyone interested in advancing global credential transparency

Prior knowledge of CTDL is appreciated but not required.

Webinar Details

Date: Wednesday, October 15th, 2025
Time: 8:00 AM PT / 11:00 AM ET (see the World Clock for your local time)
Location: Virtual via Zoom
Register Here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_08qhUeu3RgWTP8fAW__Bjw

All webinar materials, slides, and recordings will be shared afterward as public resources. All CTDL updates are openly licensed and freely available.

Join us to help shape the next phase of credential transparency. Your voice matters in ensuring CTDL continues to support global comparability and alignment.

For questions, please contact us at info@credentialengine.org

Everyone needs trustworthy digital, verifiable credentials for their achievements but digital credentials are only as trustworthy as the organizations that issue them. Standards for issuing credentials provide tamper-evident, verifiable records of achievement, but true reliability also depends on knowing that the issuer of the credential is verified.

This is when an Issuer Identity Registry (IIR) can be the solution. An IIR is a machine-readable directory of credential issuers, and integrating the IIR with Credential Engine’s Credential Registry publishing system and applying trust-centered governance, we ensure every credential can be traced to a trusted source. Credential Engine’s Issuer Identity Registry and Credential Registry combined become the backbone of reliable ecosystems.

But we need public collaboration

Background: Credential Engine and the Digital Credentials Consortium completed a year-long research and proof-of-concept project. We built an IIR and published an IIR Research Report and Governance Framework. Now, we’re putting those learnings into action—integrating the IIR with the Credential Registry and defining its governance.

As an Advisory Group member, you will:

• Advise on Governance: Use our Governance Framework, organized around Ability, Integrity, and Benevolence, to shape IIR participation and accountability policies and practices.
• Steer Integration: Guide how the IIR connects with the existing Credential Registry publishing workflows.
• Help Credential Engine Implement: Engage with the IIR directly and recommend or support early integration partners.
• Grow Participation: Propose outreach ideas to onboard issuers, verifiers, and platform providers, ensuring broad ecosystem support.

Who Should Join:Any organization or individual who wants to support trusted global ecosystems.

Experience with IIRs is not necessary, although this will touch on technical concepts. This group is intended for a broad group of stakeholders:

• Issuing or verifying digital credentials;
• Planning to issue or verify digital credentials in the near future;
• Building credential-issuing or verifying platforms (digital wallets, LMS, HR/recruiting systems);
• Advocating for people to receive valuable digital credentials;
• Wanting to learn more and contribute, you are welcome!

Advisory Group Schedule & Format: We anticipate approximately six one-hour virtual meetings between September 2025 and February 2026 (exact dates forthcoming). Meetings will be held via Zoom in an interactive format, with input during and between sessions. To scope and guide our collaboration, the group will operate under a plan and charter.

Join the Advisory Group: Click here to join:https://forms.gle/mshr2EEbMKwYZRFw6. Once we have received your interest in joining, you will receive the schedule, Zoom links, agendas, and materials.

Outcomes: Once the group has completed its work, the expected outcomes are:

• IIR is integrated with the Credential Registry publishing system, directly supporting credential issuers with publishing information about credentials offered.
• Implemented governance as public information to ensure a trust in participation with the IIR that elevates trust in Ecosystems.
• Ongoing participation opportunity with clear guidance to participate as credential issuers, verifiers, recipients of LERS and advocates.

References:

• Short Explainer Graphic: Building Trust in a Digital World: Scalable Solutions for Verifiable Credential Ecosystems
• Research Report & Governance Framework: https://credentialengine.org/resources/issuer-identity-registry-research-report-governance-framework/
• Slide Deck (June 18 2025): Copy of C3 Webinar: Building Trust in a Digital World: Scalable Solutions for Verifiable Credential Ecosystems 2025-June-18

Contact: For questions, email info@credentialengine.org

Participation in the process of updating the Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL) is vital to ensuring its global utility. Thanks to the input and collaboration of the community, the new CTDL Credential Types terms have now been implemented and are fully documented in the updated CTDL Handbook.

Enabling Global Credential Transparency

Across countries and regions, credential and qualification types are defined, regulated, and recognized in distinct ways. These distinctions often carry legal, policy, and quality assurance significance, determining who is authorized to offer a credential, what is required to earn it, how it is validated, and how it is recognized within and across education, employment, and qualification systems.

Within CTDL, credentials awarded to individuals are represented through two key constructs:

• Credential Classes describe broad categories of credentials, such as Degrees, Diplomas, Certificates, and Badges, that are awarded by many different types of organizations around the world.
• Credential Types provide more specific descriptions of credentials as formally defined by public authorities within national or regional qualification systems. Credential Types reflect how credentials are regulated and recognized in specific contexts and capture distinctions important for transparency, quality assurance, and recognition across systems and borders.

How CTDL was Expanded

This enhancement builds on the work of the Qualifications Frameworks as Data Global Task Group and was further refined through an international Credential Types Focus Group and a public webinar in May 2025. These collaborative efforts ensured that the new terms address real-world needs, reflect global use cases, and support interoperability across diverse education and workforce systems.

What Has Been Implemented

CTDL now includes a new Credential Type class, supporting properties, and updated guidance in the CTDL Handbook. These additions make it possible to represent credential and qualification types as defined in national and regional systems—advancing global transparency, comparability, and mobility.

Current Status and What’s Next

• The CredentialType class and supporting terms are now live in CTDL.
• The CTDL Handbook has been updated with new definitions and examples.
• The Credential Registry publishing system is being updated to enable publishing of Credential Types.
• Once publishing is enabled, Credential Type data will also be accessible for consumption through the Registry.
• Additional outreach and guidance will follow to support adoption and alignment with global partners.

Resources

• CTDL Handbook: Credential Section
• CredentialType in CTDL Terms
• Summary of the Credential Types Focus Group and Public Webinar
• Credential Type Focus Group Archive
• CTDL Handbook: Qualifications Frameworks Section
• Qualifications Frameworks as Data Global Task Group Archive

Contact Credential Engine: If you have questions or would like to discuss implementation support, please contact us at info@credentialengine.org

On May 6, Credential Engine hosted a public webinar to present and gather feedback on a proposed expansion to the Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL). The proposal introduces new terms to describe credential and qualification types formally defined by government authorities within national and regional qualification systems.

All webinar materials are open and available for review:

• Meeting Deck
• Meeting Recording, Audio, and Transcript
• Credential Types Proposal

Webinar Overview

Credential types—such as Bachelor’s Degree, Honours Degree, or National Certificate—must be described consistently across jurisdictions. Representing these distinctions as linked open data is essential to support transparency, comparability, alignment, and learner mobility on a global scale.

While CTDL already defines many credential classes issued by providers, it does not yet support full descriptions of formally defined credential types embedded in qualification systems. This proposal aims to close that gap.

Next Steps and How to Provide Input

We invite all interested individuals and organizations to review the proposal and share feedback by May 23, 2025. Your input will help ensure the CTDL Credential Type terms are useful, accurate, and globally relevant.

• Review the Credential Types Proposal: New terms are highlighted in yellow, and modifications to existing terms in blue. Please focus your comments on the definition, comment, and usage note fields for those terms. Detailed instructions are included in the document.
• Send Feedback by Email: if preferred, email your comments or questions to Phil Barker (phil.barker@pjjk.co.uk) and Jeanne Kitchens (jkitchens@credentialengine.org).

What Was Shared

• CTDL Overview: A recap of CTDL’s purpose and structure as a global, linked open data schema.
• Foundation: How this work builds upon the 2024 Qualifications Frameworks as Data Global Task Group, existing CTDL credential classes, and a recently completed Credential Types Focus Group.
• Examples and Use Cases: Credential types from Australia, South Africa, and Scotland were used to illustrate the complexity of government-defined types and how they differ from provider-issued credentials. Use cases included accreditation, learner guidance, quality assurance, system-level mapping, and international recognition.
• Proposal Overview: The proposal adds a small number of defined CTDL terms and leverages many existing properties:
• Introduces 1 new class: Credential Type
• Adds 2 new properties for the new class
• Modifies 1 existing property
• Introduces new terms for use with Qualifications Framework and Progression Level classes

Contact Credential Engine: Let us know if you have any questions info@credentialengine.org