Online Certification of PersCert TÜV

Online certification now also available

Personnel certifications by TÜV Rheinland are now also accessible as secure online certification  – via online proctoring worldwide. This is TÜV Rheinland Academy and PersCert TÜV’s response to how the Corona-related lockdown has changed the way of life of students and those who pursue adult education and certification in almost all countries.

Learning and preparing for exams is an arduous task for anyone, but if the exam is then delayed, this can be an extremely frustrating experience. So PersCert TÜV was faced with the seemingly insurmountable challenge as a result of the Corona pandemic of certifying thousands of students and adult learners each month in a way that was secure and remote so that participants working from home could take their exams from home as well. PersCert TÜV implemented the Certification Hub in a matter of weeks to be able to provide online certification exams since mid-April.

750 different online certification in 38 languages remotely possible

Certification is an essential instrument for companies and authorities wanting to understand better the competence and knowledge of their staff for the tasks at hand. Whether working in health care, food safety, industrial plants, or management systems, these individuals need to prove that they have kept their knowledge and skills up to date. PersCert TÜV has been developing and conducting internationally recognized and comparable assessments for the determination of competence for many years, and PersCert TÜV certifies thousands of individuals around the world in around 750 ISO 17024 compliant certification programs. Now on completing their training in a variety of virtual classroom formats provided by TÜV Rheinland Academy and training partners, they can certify in a secure and safe environment and be able to validate their competence rapidly.

24/7 availability of online proctoring service

The online certification with the Certification Hub allows two variations, both of which are fully GDPR compliant. Either the participant can use the online proctoring 24/7 service (which is currently English-speaking only). The educational institution registers and authorizes the candidate for the online examination, validating that he or she fulfills the admission requirements. The candidate receives a link to the Certification Hub and can then schedule an online proctored exam appointment via their PC or laptop in the comfort of their own home. The test candidate then downloads a secure browser and logs in with his or her access data fifteen minutes before the start time. The secure browser ensures that the candidate can take the exam on their device but cannot access other applications, the Internet, a printer, etc. during the course of the exam. The candidate must activate his web camera and is welcomed by an online exam supervisor who observes the candidate during the exam. The proctor starts by authenticating the photo ID of the candidate and checking that the candidate is alone in the room. Once the proctor is satisfied that secure exam conditions are met, the exam can then be started.

After passing the exam, the candidates immediately receive their online certification results in the case of automatically scored multiple-choice exams. If there are open questions in the exam, e.g., create an audit report, the responses of the candidate are separately scored remotely by assessors with a scoring tool inside the Certification Hub. In the future, candidates will also be able to download a digital certificate from the Certification Hub.

The second variation, which has been developed to accommodate candidates who would rather interact with an online proctor in their local language, follows a similar process, but the candidate is assigned an exam appointment in an exam session event by PersCert TÜV.

Further developments of the Certification Hub

The Certification Hub is currently configured to deliver written multiple-choice and open question (manually scored) examinations. However in later phases this year the usage of the online Certification Hub will be extended to enable practical assessments via Tablet.

You can find further information about PersCert TÜV at www.tuv.com/academy-perscert

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Susan Martin