Credential Portability for a Borderless Student Body: Transcript Legends that Survive a Clerk’s Browser

Abstract

GMU students live under many credential cultures. This paper tests verification URLs, PDF transcripts and QR checks with alumni in the EU, India, Brazil, Nigeria and the United States. Failures were mundane: blocked scripts, missing mode-of-study lines, and names that did not match passports. A registrar pack that assumed a single apostille process wasted months. GlobalMind University should maintain jurisdiction notes without claiming automatic global recognition. Portability is operations. It is not a slogan on a crest.