Under the high patronage of His Excellency the President of the Republic Felix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, the Minister of Higher and University Education Mr Mohindo Zangi Butondo, officially launched, this Thursday, April 7, 2022, the biometric identification project for ESU staff and students.

A brief private meeting took place between the Minister responsible Mr Mohindo Zangi Butondo, the Rector of Unikin, the Professor Jean-Marie Kayembe Ntumba and its Management Committee represented by the Budget Administrator, the Professor Yvonne Duangani MasikaDuring this interview, these different personalities reviewed the current state of operation of Unikin through these different faculties.

The Minister of ESU, Mr Mohindo Zangi Butondo, chose Unikin, the eldest daughter of the Universities of the DRC, for the pilot phase of this biometric identification project.

With the symbolic ribbon cut, a digital universe opened up before the audience. The Academic Senate chamber was converted to house the services of the team in charge of this identification operation.

Three candidates took part in the technical test of this operation: a student, a dean of faculties (Polytechniques) and the Rector of Unikin.

Biometrics allows the identification and authentication of a person based on recognizable and verifiable data that is specific and unique to them. For identification, the biometric data of a person is captured by, for example, taking a photo of their face, recording their voice, or capturing an image of their fingerprint. This data is then compared to the biometric data in the database. On the other hand, authentication or verification consists of comparing the characteristic data of the identified person to the latter's biometric reference template in order to determine resemblance. This reference template is previously recorded and stored in a secure database. This makes it possible to verify whether the person presented is indeed the person they claim to be.

Up to 250 cards can be issued per hour. These cards will provide access to various services such as Transacademia, digital libraries, academic records, etc.

Betu Ilunga, Chief Technology Officer of Biztechnologies SARL, the main operator of this service, will explain that the production cost of biometric cards is much lower than that of the smart cards we currently use and which have already shown their limitations. This identification technology is based on a three-level encryption system. It is an effective solution to eradicate fraud because it carries biometric details that allow biometric verification by simply reading it. Comparative verification is carried out either by fingerprints, iris or face. Thus, piracy becomes impossible with the performance of this cryptograph.

His Excellency the Minister of Higher Education and Training (ESU) stated that this launch is part of the digitization policy initiated by the Head of State through the creation of the Ministry of Digital Affairs in order to dematerialize all management operations in all sectors of public life. The digitization of higher and university institutions will be very beneficial. For professors, for example, this identification will bring together all their diplomas (no fraud in appointments), thus facilitating their promotion even outside our borders, by feeding the websites of our institutions with the profiles of teachers and their skills. For students, this identification will facilitate staff control, their smooth access on board transacademia buses, the allocation of registration numbers to track their academic progress while avoiding any falsification of academic documents (authentication of academic diplomas), transparent information management, and access to digital libraries. This digitization is evolving hand in hand with the LMD system. New technologies must be integrated into all areas of life.

                                                                                                                                                         Rectorate Press.