Purdue University has become the latest high-profile academic institution to embrace mobile ID technology for students. The school’s new Purdue Mobile ID is compatible with Android devices, iPhones, and the Apple Watch, and can be used to access campus facilities and pay for school meals and laundry services.
Purdue will start issuing mobile IDs to all undergraduate students this summer, and end the issuance of physical ID cards, with the aim of transitioning all of its 50,000 West Lafayette campus students to mobile in the next few years. The university says that the digital ID card is safer, more convenient and more secure than the traditional card, and that it can be issued remotely without the need for students to request it in person. This also reduces the printing and mailing costs and the environmental impact of producing hard-copy cards.
As Loribeth Hettinger, the senior associate bursar of ID Card Operations/Support, explained, the mobile ID technology is expected to “greatly simplify some of our bottlenecks by streamlining our ID card distribution processes to our incoming freshmen while also meeting student expectations – and even save them the time and resources they end up spending when losing a physical card.”
The Purdue Mobile ID is powered by Transact Mobile Credential technology, which is designed to be compatible with existing campus infrastructure and systems. The university says that the Purdue Mobile ID is one of the ways it is leveraging technology to enhance the student experience and campus operations.
“We know that Purdue students have high expectations for their technology solutions, and mobile credentialing naturally fits in this space,” explained Purdue Student Life Vice Provost Beth McCuskey.
In embracing mobile student ID technology, Purdue joins a growing number of institutions of higher education, with the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Penn State, and Australia’s Monash University among other recent examples.
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