ESB is taking its qualifications’ certificates for its ESOL International centres and their learners to the next level by moving to an innovative Electronic Certificate service.

The Digital Certificates Web is a holistic secure document system, creating a self-service secure web portal for learners and centres to access their awarding documents.

Placing learners at the forefront of its assessments, the service allows centres and their learners to view their e-certificates online, and on any online device, 24/7/365 days a year.

Celebrating the introduction of its newly launched “e-certificate first” service, ESB’s Chief Executive Tina Renshaw, says: “This is a fantastic opportunity for us to provide an even better service for our centres and learners! Our e-certificates are fully secure and can be viewed and downloaded through our secure portal.

“Preparing today’s learner for tomorrow’s world is something we are passionate about here at ESB. Learners receive a fully recognised certificate highlighting their achievement, but we never think of it as simply a ‘certificate’, it’s more like a golden ticket to help them progress on every step of their journey!”

Why e-certs first?

The benefits and security features of digital certificates ensure verification of authenticity and maintain the highest levels of protection against fraudulent attack, including:

• QR Code Scanning Technology / Smart Verify (2D Barcode). Easily access, scan and verify e-certificates on a smartphone or any other online device. Each electronic certificate contains a Smart Verify Code; a QR code which, when scanned using a device such as a mobile phone camera, redirects you to the Smart Verify Portal. This then displays the electronic certificate and provides crucial information about whether the document is valid, has expired or has been cancelled.
  
• Environmentally-friendly and reduce our carbon footprint.

ESB’s e-certificates are available for both paper-based and online assessments and e-certificate portals are available for the following groups:

Learners’ Portal: A hub where ESB learners can directly access their e-certificates, order one free printed copy, and ‘connect’ and share their e-certificates with Employers and Education Providers. 

Centres’ Portal: A hub for the staff of ESB centres to view their learners’ e-certificates. It also comes with the added bonus of enabling centres to print and download e-certificates for presentation events or for auditing purposes.

Third-Party Portal: A hub for Employers and Education Providers to connect with learners and view their e-certificates. 

Learners can still receive printed certificates, if they wish. The Learner Portal also permits learners to order one free printed certificate, in addition to their e-certificate. Printed copies are also extremely secure, containing their own security features such as a bespoke hologram overprinted with corporate colours/logo on controlled watermarked paper together with a unique security design, audit numbering, thermochromic ink and microtext. 

Please watch the video below for an introduction into how ESB’s learner e-certificate portal works:

If you as one of our centres would like to be part of our “e-certificates first” programme, please contact a member of our Customer Experience Team at customer@esbuk.org. 

Here at ESB, we want to support all learners to possess the oracy and English language skills they need in order to achieve their aspirations, boosting progression and employability.