Your degree certificate
As part of our commitment to embedding sustainability in all that we do, and to improve certification access for our graduates, we work with Advanced Secure Technologies to provide digital versions of graduation certificates to our students.
Digital credentials are a safe, secure and convenient way for you to share your official documents with prospective employers, other learning providers and third parties. It keeps you in control of who you share this with, and for how long, and allows the recipient to follow a secure link to verify a qualification’s authenticity.
You can still request a physical copy of your graduation certificate if you have not yet received one. If you graduate in July 2025 or later, you will be able to access a digital copy via our online portal.
For a one-off payment of £18, you will have lifetime access to your digital credential. You can share this freely and as many times as you wish through our secure portal.
Following our July 2025 graduation ceremonies, students will be emailed with an invitation to register with our digital certification portal. Once you have registered you will be able to purchase your digital certificate.
As we implement this new system, students who have recently completed their studies and received their award in July will have access to a digital certificate. We will be working to expand this to students prior to June 2025 once the system has been launched. Once digital certificates are available to more students, they will be contacted via their last personal email address on our student records system.
Once you have shared your credential with a specific employer (known as a connection), they will be sent a link to verify your credential is authentic. There will be a £20 charge to the employer to verify this. There will be some exemptions, such as other Higher Education providers and government departments who will have free access to verify documents shared with them by students.
You will be able to gain access to your credentials much quicker through the online portal. Digital certificates are also more secure and can be shared easily with potential employers or other education providers. With the online portal, you will have access to your certificate wherever you are in the world and be able to provide this quickly and securely. It is also easier for employers to verify your qualification by simply following the link you have provided. It also keeps you in control by being able to limit the timeframe people can access your link and you can remove access rights instantly.
Yes – students can still order a physical version of their certificate free of charge through the online portal. You will need to place an order for this as it will not be sent to you automatically.
Keele University operates a digital first approach to award certificates. On completion of your programme of study, and once your award has been confirmed, you will be sent an invitation to register with our online digital certification portal. From there you will have the opportunity to purchase a digital version of your certificate which can then access immediately.
You can also request a physical version of your certificate free of charge through the online portal. This will be posted by Royal Mail second class. All delivery timeframes are from the next scheduled print run. The printing schedule for 2025-26 is week commencing:
- 13 October 2025
- 15 December 2025
- 9 February 2026
- 13 April 2026
- 15 June 2026
- 3 August 2026
Individual print runs are not possible so it is important to read your registration email to know when you need to place your order to ensure it is printed and sent. If you place an order after this date your order will be printed up in the next available run.
If you achieved your award prior to July 2025, and you lose your certificate, you can obtain a replacement by completing a duplicate certificate request form.
On receipt of your request the Student Records team will respond detailing any further information we require and if you will need to make any payment.
Please note that only one Certificate can be in print at any time and we are unable to provide electronic copies of Certificates.
We hope that by introducing digital certificates which can be shared online, there will be less risk to your physical copy being damaged or lost. But if you do lose your physical certificate, you will still be able to order a replacement through the online portal. To further protect you, your old certificate will be cancelled online, meaning it will not longer be verified if the QR code is scanned.
