Higher Education Degree Datacheck (HEDD)

Imperial College subscribes to the Higher Education Degree Datacheck (HEDD) online verification service for employers and agencies to verify the qualifications of students and alumni of the College. Please note that this service is only for third parties.  The service allows registered enquirers to input data provided by applicants and in real time the service checks the information given against an encrypted dataset from the institution's student records and verifies it if it is matched.  Enquirers will be charged a small fee per enquiry.

How to use

1. Register:  Select Imperial College London from the list of UK higher education institutions and choose the option to 'verify a degree award'. There is a charge of £14 per enquiry. 
2. Make an enquiry: You’ll need the individual’s name, date of birth, course and qualification.  For graduates you'll also need their year of graduation and degree result. We recommend that you ask to see the degree certificate if there is one, and use that as the basis of your verification enquiry, or ask individuals to give you their data as they believe it’s recorded in the student records system.  That way you have a better chance of getting an automatic verification.  If you don’t get an automatic verification, the enquiry will go to the team at Imperial College London for manual verification, with a five working-day turnaround time.
3. Manage your enquiries: All your enquiries are stored in the system and can be exported as an MS Excel or CSV file. You can sort your enquiries according to status (see status types below)
4. Request help: If you have any problems or queries, please email heddhelp@prospects.ac.uk. 

Status types

• Automatically verified
• Pending – the University couldn’t automatically verify your enquiry and you’re waiting for a response from the University
• Not verified – the University has responded in the negative
• Partially verified – the University has verified some but not all of the data, eg the wrong year of graduation has been submitted

Information for students can be found on the Information about  Higher Education Degree Datacheck (HEDD) page

Information for third parties

The e-Documents online portal allows students to access their documents, including proof of enrolment and award documentation (namely the e-certificate and e-transcript). They are then able to digitally share these documents with third parties such as an employer or university. 

This system was introduced to combat fraudulent documents, and each document has a unique QR code with the official University watermark, making it easier to verify students’ credentials through a safe and secure platform. This online document sharing is a legitimate service, introduced and authorised by Imperial College London. 

The sharing of documents is generally initiated by students, with third parties just required to accept the connection request sent to them via email. However, third parties can also request access to a student’s document by scanning the QR code on an online version of a document. Third parties will then be required to register their details and a sharing request will be sent to student to approve. If you have any queries or are experiencing technical difficulties, please contact registry.systems@imperial.ac.uk.