Innovative Print Solutions Enhance Security and Efficiency for the University of Lincoln
About The University of Lincoln
The University of Lincoln, located in the historic English city of Lincoln, is a modern and dynamic institution recognised for its high-quality teaching, research and student experience.
Established in 1996, it has quickly built a strong reputation and is consistently ranked among the top UK universities for student satisfaction and employability.
The university has received several prestigious awards, including Gold in the National Teaching Excellence Framework, a five-star rating in the QS Stars system of global universities, and the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for its contributions to the agri-food sector.
Looking ahead, they have an ambitious strategic plan, which was created in collaboration with staff and students to establish itself as a top 40 UK university.
- Enhance the efficiency of degree awarding processes
- Streamline printing processes of certificates
- Deliver a positive student experience amid growing enrolment numbers
- Improve document turnaround times to alleviate pressure on the student administration department
- Blockchain Paper® – Secure paper technology with unrivalled document security and technology innovation for advanced authentication of printed degrees
- Digital Certificates® – Digital Certificates® is a holistic secure certification platform that provides an excellent digital experience, securely connecting and supporting education institutes, students, employers and other 3rd parties
- Secure Print Bureau Service—Our print fulfilment service minimises key challenges surrounding the secure print and distribution of award documents. With our secure Print Service, universities, awarding organisations, and professional bodies can achieve cost savings, operational efficiency, enhanced security and scalability.
- Improved efficiency of printing and collation processes, significantly reducing staff workload pressures
- Enhanced security of printed documents and processes protecting the integrity of degrees and the reputation of the University of Lincoln
- Streamlined printing and verification processes delivering an excellent stakeholder experience
The challenges faced by inefficient printing processes
After facing challenges with limited resources and an inefficient printing process, The University of Lincoln’s student administration department wanted to streamline its processes for awarding and printing degree certificates.
Previous processes would include running candidate marks through the student management system and creating the various degree certificates and transcripts which would have to be reviewed before printing. Each student would receive three documents: a covering letter and transcript, both printed on headed parchment paper and a degree certificate. With only two dedicated machines set up to print and 15 users, meeting tight deadlines for the various awards distributed throughout the year was a challenge.
“The resource element for us was significant. The different parts of the student journey often overlap, so we don’t have the luxury of printing all our documents in a designated space or time. Printing certificates became one of our biggest pressure points, we knew there would be financial and reputational implications if we couldn’t keep up. Our student numbers kept growing, we had to do something to ensure the overall student experience remained positive.”
– Stephen Gilliatt, Head of Student Administration
Implementing Advanced Secure’s Print Solutions
The student administration department had to share a large amount of data with Advanced Secure to prepare, collate, print, and return student documentation and certificates to the university. This required a lot of initial work, as the data was stored in different files and formats. The university was also working to tight deadlines, which made the implementation process more challenging.
“We were working to some very tight deadlines, and Advanced Secure supported that completely. I found the conversations with Advanced Secure colleagues clear – we knew exactly what we had to do. Once we got our data file in a draft format and sent that across, they quickly set up meetings to see what tweaks were needed. They always gave us clear instructions. Once we sent the data to Advanced Secure the timeframe of them printing and delivering the certificates was very quick. Overall, it was a really good service – very impressive.”
– Stephen Gilliatt
Benefits of using the Secure Print Service
“Despite being in the early stages, the University of Lincoln has already experienced the advantages of having Advanced Secure handle the collation and printing of its degree certificates. The overall package offered did everything we needed it to. The turnaround of documents is significantly quicker than we could ever achieve”
“Going forward, I think we will see great benefits from the process. We are still printing a few documents ourselves, but the long-term aim is for everything to go through Advanced Secure.”
The university acknowledges the enhanced security features offered by Blockchain Paper®. Utilising a multi-layer security approach, Blockchain Paper® ensures the university’s reputation is protected from fraud and the verification process of printed degrees is simplified. By scanning each document’s unique blockchain verification code any stakeholder can verify the paper is genuine and authenticate that it was in fact issued by the University of Lincoln.
“Fraud is always a concern for us. We often have employers contacting us to ask if a certificate is genuine. Until now we’ve had to do a manual check on the system, so having a QR code on each paper document that can be scanned is a significant advantage for us.”
Working with Advanced Secure Technologies and our Print Solutions
“I would absolutely recommend Advanced Secure Technologies to other universities and colleges. They were very flexible in working with us to meet our business needs during the implementation. We were constantly arranging meetings on the fly, and there was never a problem with getting people on a call to flesh things out.”
The upfront and open nature of the Advanced Secure team was a particular highlight of the relationship. “There was a lot of honesty from them in what could be delivered in the time frames and what could not. They were very clear, there was never any ambiguity, nor any false promises made.”
– Caroline Cornell
About Us and Our Stop Fraud Mission
Since 2004, Advanced Secure Technologies has worked to STOP FRAUD® for its customers worldwide. As pioneers in document security, we have established a global standard for secure certification technologies that is trusted by the world’s leading educational institutes, such as the University of Oxford, Imperial College London and Cardiff University.
Our innovative technologies deliver multiple layers of security throughout the certification process, ensuring our customers and their stakeholders avoid potential fraud risks. This approach protects the reputation of our customers and secures the integrity of valued documents issued (certificates, transcripts, status letters, etc.).
Why work with us?
- The Best & Most Secure – our customers & people are at the heart of what we do and why we do it
- 20 Years of protecting millions of secure degrees & qualifications
- 200+ higher & further education customers worldwide
Some of Our University Customers
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