Tripartite Agreement Signed to Streamline Certificate Attestation for Students

To make certificate attestation faster, more secure, and more accessible for students planning to study abroad, a tripartite memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the University Grants Commission (UGC) of Bangladesh, and the Aspire to Innovate (a2i) program.

Under this initiative, students from universities under UGC will be able to pay their attestation service fees through the National Payment Gateway ‘EkPay’ while applying via the MyGov platform.

The agreement was signed on behalf of their respective organizations by Md. Mamunur Rashid Bhuiyan, Project Director of a2i; Dr. Md. Fakhrul Islam, Secretary of UGC; and Dr. Shah Mohammad Tanvir Mansur, Director General (Consular and Welfare) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The signing ceremony took place at UGC on Tuesday, February 18.

Among the attendees were UGC Chairman Professor Dr. SMA Fayez; UGC Members Professor Dr. Mohammad Tanzimuddin Khan, Professor Dr. Mohammad Anwar Hossain, and Professor Dr. Saidur Rahman; Dr. Muhammad Nazrul Islam, Secretary (East) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Md. Omar Faruq, Director of Information Management, Communication, and Training at UGC; Md. Rezaul Karim Hawlader, Director of Finance and Accounts at UGC; Tahmina Rahman, Joint Secretary; Engineer Mohammad Ziaur Rahman and Md. Golam Mostafa, Additional Directors, along with officials from the respective organizations.

At the event, UGC Chairman Professor SMA Fayez stated, “Through this integrated online attestation system, students will now be able to submit attestation fees via the EkPay gateway. I look forward to the cooperation of all stakeholders for the successful implementation of this initiative.”

Dr. Nazrul Islam, Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, emphasized the challenges of bringing all universities under a unified online certificate attestation platform. “It was very difficult to bring all universities into a unified platform for online certificate attestation. I appreciate UGC for making this process easier,” he said. He also urged stakeholders to extend this online attestation service to embassies abroad.

Under this agreement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will develop the necessary regulations, guidelines, and policies for implementing the Apostille system and coordinate with relevant stakeholders. The UGC will issue directives to universities for implementation and take necessary steps to inform students about attestation management fees through the universities. Meanwhile, EkPay will provide access to the integrated online attestation system to participating universities.

The UGC also advised strengthening the security and monitoring of the online certificate attestation software, promoting local software solutions, and ensuring self-reliant problem-solving mechanisms for national challenges.

It is noteworthy that an online Apostille certificate attestation system is being introduced for students seeking higher education or employment abroad. The Apostille process will significantly reduce students' time, effort, and expenses while minimizing their difficulties.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education, the ICT Division’s a2i program, and the UGC will work together to authenticate certificates of students graduating from all universities in Bangladesh through the Apostille MyGov platform.