Introducing the New College Lanarkshire student digital ID card

profile picture Amy Colville 4 min read
Yoti and New College Lanarkshire partner to provide a digital student ID card

We’re helping New College Lanarkshire make life easier for their students with digital ID cards on their phone. The contactless, digital student ID cards are remotely issued via the Yoti app and can be digitally updated in real time.

All students need to do is set up a Yoti account, add their photo, student email address and as if by magic, their card will appear on their home screen.

No printing plastic, no queuing for photos – just your student ID card delivered straight to your phone.

New College Lanarkshire

New College Lanarkshire is one of the largest colleges in Scotland, with more than 15,000 students enrolled on a mix of full-time, part-time, evening and commercial courses. Each student that joins the college is issued with a plastic ID card, which is used on campus as identification and to access the university printers.

 

Covid resilient plan

When the COVID-19 crisis struck, producing and issuing these cards not only became difficult but also posed a serious health risk. New College Lanarkshire had already approached us to discuss replacing their plastic student cards with digital cards, but at the time, they wanted to minimise costs, reduce waste and make the process more efficient.

When the implications of the pandemic became clear, transitioning to digital cards became a key part of their Covid resilient plan, as they can be remotely issued straight to a students’ phone with no need for face-to-face contact.

 

Downloading the NCL student ID card

Students can download their digital ID cards to their phone in a few simple steps.

  1. Download the free Yoti app.
  2. Secure your account by adding your mobile number and PIN.
  3. Take a scan of your face to verify your identity.
  4. Take a photo of yourself for your digital ID. 
  5. Add your student email address.

 

And just like that, the ID card will appear on the home screen of the Yoti app. Students can show their cards on screen but can’t edit the details. This is controlled by New College Lanarkshire, who can remotely issue verified information in real time, as well as update or revoke the cards when students graduate or move institutions.

For a detailed explainer on how to get set up with a New College Lanarkshire ID card, have a look at our guide.

 

Saving time, money and the environment

Over the last few months, we’ve issued digital ID cards for organisations such as the NHS, Volunteer Edinburgh and MyMahi. Not only are the cards a much more convenient way to show secure identification, but they also help organisations make significant cost and efficiency savings.

The coronavirus crisis has highlighted the inefficiencies of many manual processes, which in some cases have been made impossible to carry out and risk spreading the virus. Our contactless digital ID cards have enabled organisations to continue to safeguard students, employees, volunteers and citizens, with no need for face-to-face contact.

Allan Forsyth, Head of Information Systems and Development at New College Lanarkshire, commented, “we had already been investigating how to move from plastic, student ID cards to a digital method and then COVID hit and a “nice to have” became a “must have”. Yoti had a ready-made solution and were able to respond quickly and effectively to meet our needs. As a result all of our students for the current session are set up and thousands have downloaded the app and are using it. It’s great to be part of a ground-breaking implementation of digital IDs for students in Scotland.”

If you’re interested in our digital ID cards, please get in touch.