The project to develop smart student ID cards introduced smart cards with a comprehensive solution for linking various services, users and computer/IT infrastructure as one of the key technological platforms. For the purposes of this project, AKD supplied the first multifunctional dual-interface cards in the region, which will serve as data carriers and, thus enable record-keeping for a series of relevant data required for the management of student rights and obligations. By using dual-interface technology, the SmartX card can not only track class attendance, government subsidies or student grades, but also be used for a number of other purposes, such as payment transactions (where the student’s smart card assumes the role of an e-purse), public transport and other card-based applications.
The student smart card project has been designed in such a way that it can be upgraded and aligned with similar initiatives in other regions. Student mobility is one of the key principles of the Bologna Process, which serves as the basis for the organization of higher education systems in the EU member states. The aim of the process is to enable students to use their smart cards even outside their home countries, which will – for example – allow them to transfer their exam results from one country to the relevant higher educational institutions in another country.
The plan is to launch a pilot project to introduce ID cards for university staff members in an effort to and extend the functionalities of Academic ID Cards. By establishing the Academic Card Information System (ISAK), conditions have been created to manage processes related to the life cycle of official cards issued to academic community members in Croatia (students, faculty and staff members at institutions within the research and higher education system). In addition to allowing their identification and serving as proof of them being part of the education system, the introduction of ID cards for staff members enables the tracking of their access to specific areas with regard to assigned access authorizations, the tracking of working hours, the installation of new software packages and the addition of different functionalities without the need to issue new cards.