The National e-Governance Division (NeGD) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has partnered with the Association of Australian Education Representatives in India (AAERI) to launch ‘AAERI Verify’, a digital platform aimed at streamlining document verification for Indian students seeking admission to Australian universities.
The platform, integrated with DigiLocker, enables secure, paperless and consent-based verification of academic, identity and financial documents. It was unveiled during the AAERI Annual Convention in New Delhi on August 7.
Launched by AAERI in collaboration with NeGD, AAERI Verify is designed to facilitate source-verified authentication of student credentials for Australian higher education institutions. Through its integration with DigiLocker, students can securely share authentic, issuer-verified digital documents directly from authorised sources, reducing reliance on physical records and manual verification.
The new digital workflow replaces conventional document checks with a two-stage verification process.
The first stage, termed the ‘Student Check’, is carried out before the university application process begins. The second, the ‘Sponsor Check’, is initiated after a student receives an admission offer to verify the authenticity of financial documents.
With the student’s explicit consent, DigiLocker will enable Australian universities to access digitally signed records issued by authorised institutions. The initiative is aimed at reducing the risk of fraudulent documents, protecting data privacy and shortening application processing times.
Highlighting the significance of the initiative, NeGD Director JL Gupta said the collaboration demonstrates how India’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) can address challenges in international education.
“This collaboration demonstrates how India’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) is solving real-world global challenges. By integrating DigiLocker with AAERI Verify, we are providing a secure, paperless, and trusted framework that simplifies the entire international admission process for our students,” Gupta said.
Gupta also made a presentation on NeGD’s role in developing and coordinating India’s digital public infrastructure. Established as an independent business division under MeitY in 2009, NeGD supports project management, policy formulation and technology appraisal across major government digital initiatives.
The division manages technology platforms supporting public workflows across various statutory and government organisations, including the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and NITI Aayog.
DigiLocker is a flagship DPI initiative under MeitY’s NeGD and provides citizens with a secure, consent-based platform to store, share and verify authentic digital documents issued by authorised organisations.
Developed under the Digital India programme, DigiLocker currently has more than 72 crore registered users and facilitates the secure issuance, storage, sharing and real-time verification of digitally signed documents.
The partnership with AAERI marks an expansion of DigiLocker’s use of India’s digital public infrastructure into the international education ecosystem, potentially simplifying credential verification for Indian students seeking to study in Australia.
