From European Large-Scale Pilots to National Higher Education Adoption: Operationalising EUDI Wallet–based Digital Credentials in Germany

11 pages•Published: June 18, 2026

Tamas Molnar, Guido Bacharach and Helmut Nehrenheim

Abstract

The revision of the eIDAS Regulation and the introduction of the European Digital Identity Wallet (EUDI Wallet) create new opportunities for issuing and verifying digital educational credentials across Europe. The European Large-Scale Pilot Digital Credentials for Europe (DC4EU) has produced a comprehensive set of artefacts, including reference user journeys, data models based on the European Learning Model (ELM), and technical and governance frameworks for EUDI Wallet–based credentials across education sectors. However, the adoption of these artefacts within national education systems and institutional IT environments remains an open challenge. This paper presents DC4EU-DE, a newly launched national initiative that aims to explore the adoption of EUDI Wallet–based educational credentials in Germany. Rather than reporting empirical results, the paper focuses on the conceptual foundations, objectives, and planned methodological approach of the initiative. Higher education serves as the initial entry point due to institutional readiness, while secondary and vocational education are explicitly considered as applicable contexts. The paper analyses the relevance of DC4EU artefacts for national adoption, proposes a structured approach for embedding these artefacts into a national education initiative, and motivates the selection of initial education-related use cases and user journeys. In addition, it outlines a conceptual technical architecture that preserves institutional autonomy and interoperability while aligning with the European EUDI Wallet ecosystem. By documenting the design and scope of an early-stage national initiative, this paper contributes a structured perspective for bridging European pilot results and coordinated national adoption of digital educational credentials.

Keyphrases: dc4eu, dc4eu de, digital credentials, eudiwallet, higher education

In: Laurence Desnos, Carmen Diaz, Janina Mincer-Daszkiewicz, Lazaros Merakos, Raimund Vogl, Stuart McLellan and Ulrike Lucke (editors). Proceedings of EUNIS 2026 Annual Congress, vol 109, pages 161-171.

Links:	https://easychair.org/publications/paper/6h7h
	https://doi.org/10.29007/n9q6

BibTeX entry

@inproceedings{EUNIS2026:From_European_Large_Scale,
  author    = {Tamas Molnar and Guido Bacharach and Helmut Nehrenheim},
  title     = {From European Large-Scale Pilots to National Higher Education Adoption: Operationalising EUDI Wallet–based Digital Credentials in Germany},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of EUNIS 2026 Annual Congress},
  editor    = {Laurence Desnos and Carmen Diaz and Janina Mincer-Daszkiewicz and Lazaros Merakos and Raimund Vogl and Stuart McLellan and Ulrike Lucke},
  series    = {EPiC Series in Computing},
  volume    = {109},
  publisher = {EasyChair},
  bibsource = {EasyChair, https://easychair.org},
  issn      = {2398-7340},
  url       = {/publications/paper/6h7h},
  doi       = {10.29007/n9q6},
  pages     = {161-171},
  year      = {2026}}

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