Digital Student ID card
Category: Glasgow Caledonian University
Students should have the option of a digital ID card on the student app because it is more convenient, secure, sustainable and environmentally friendly than relying solely on physical cards.
Many students already use their phones for accessing timetables, emails, learning platforms, event tickets, and transport passes. A digital student ID would allow students to verify their identity instantly without worrying about forgetting, losing, or damaging a physical card. This would make access to campus facilities, library services, student events, and discounts much easier.
Digital IDs can also be updated in real time, reducing administrative costs and delays when students change their details or require replacement cards. For international, commuter, and placement students, having a secure ID accessible at all times can improve accessibility and convenience.
In addition, introducing digital IDs would support the university's sustainability goals by reducing the production of plastic cards and lowering waste. While physical cards could remain available for students who prefer them, a digital option would provide greater flexibility and reflect the increasingly digital way students live, study, and interact with university services.
All students at Glasgow Caledonian University are automatically members of GCU Students' Association.
This membership is free for current GCU students.
GCU Students' Association, 70 Cowcaddens Road, Glasgow, G4 0BA.
Tel: 0141 331 3886 | Email: hello@GCUstudents.co.uk | Messenger: m.me/GCUstudents
Comments
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I have significant concerns about this proposal. It claims that the option of a digital ID card would be more secure when in reality, a centralised database creates a single point of failure that hackers can exploit. Even with all the necessary security precautions, you are still creating a central point of failure. Physical cards are actually less of a security risk as a lost card only affects one person. If the student app gets breached, everyone is affected. So the convenience benefit simply doesn't justify the security and privacy risks. In regards to sustainability, a durable plastic card is minimal waste and is not going to have much of an effect, if at all on the environment. Cards can simply be securely destroyed and recycled after use. The university can pursue a card recycling program instead to help with their sustainability goals.
You have added a secondary point of failure (Online alongside Physical) while claiming it is more secure? Physical Cards are also used in exams and placed at your desk while sitting the exam. You could not do that with a phone so you would need both a digital and physical copy, so there would then be no decrease in waste. This would also be a financial sink for the University while staff are getting cut. I know where I would prefer the money to be spent, lets not give the Principal another excuse on a vanity product.
This seems like a significant waste of time and money during a time where staff are facing mandatory redundancy, if we needed digital IDs they should be through our phones wallets like apple or Google wallet, not through a complicated system on the temperamental GCU app