Secure ID and card printer solutions provider, Evolis, is seeking to make life easier for students and staff with its automated card issuance kiosks. The self-service solution offers campuses a means to completely automate the card issuance process, free up valuable time for staff, and slash lines and wait times for students.

Evolis believes that the goal of a card issuance solution should be to optimize the experience for students and faculty, create secure credentials, and to preserve the brand image of the institution. The self-service terminals can be installed on campus in locations that make them freely accessible to students, enabling them to securely print their own ID cards at any time.

The idea, from a convenience standpoint, is clear. For students, the benefit is greater flexibility. Campus cards can also be printed on demand if and when a re-issue is necessary due to loss, damage or theft.

Card office staff, meanwhile, can benefit from more time allotted by automated issuance. Peak issuance times could be less of a hassle, as well, as some of the print jobs could be diverted to the kiosk system to spread out the workflow.

With the card personalization and printing modules now available for the kiosk, a campus can even opt for entirely automated issuance, removing the need for assistance from a staff member altogether.

As far as security is concerned, the Evolis solution does have safeguards in place to ensure that only the valid student, faculty or staff member is being issued the proper ID card from the kiosks.

“Evolis works with the largest US kiosk manufacturer and a multitude of secure authentication solutions can be offered at the time of issuance, including token, OTP and a biometric,” says Jean-Charles Pichon, Key Accounts Manager at Evolis. “The kiosk enclosure can integrate any device needed for the project, including photo capture, driver license scanner, biometric and payment readers.”

The terminals also enable personal data to be added to the ID cards via an encoding system for payments, access, copy/print and other services.

University deployments of Evolis’ automated card issuance kiosks are currently found in markets outside the US, but there are a number of installs here in the states in other verticals.

“To date all our installs for education are EMEA based, however we have been in discussion with some major US universities who want to explore the concept,” says Pichon. “Regarding other markets, we do have a wide variety of installs with government agencies, amusement parks, and ski resorts to name a few.”

Those familiar with the industry know that the issuance environments in the US and across Europe are noticeably different. Namely, a large number US institutions still leverage magnetic stripe alone or in conjunction with contactless.

The Evolis kiosks are well equipped for both smart credential issuance as well as legacy ID technologies.

“Evolis kiosk printers have all the features of our desktop card printers, allowing the same operations,” says Pichon. “This includes magstripe encoding and RFID/contactless encoding to offer the benefit of inline encoding at the time of graphic personalization.”

The benefits of self-service student ID card issuance:

• Administrative teams are relieved of a time-consuming, stressful task.
• Students benefit from improved service. No more long lines to collect ID cards. Students can print ID cards themselves at their own convenience, without having to adhere to the opening hours of the card office. Using an identifier – QR code, password, or numerical code – the student is recognized by the system and the card is securely issued.
• University management has full control of ID card issuance costs. A fully internalized issuance process means the institution is no longer dependent on an external service provider and their pricing conditions.

Automated card issuance kiosks tested and approved by European universities

Evolis’ automated approach to card issuance has already been battle tested, with a number of universities abroad deploying self-service card issuance kiosks on their campuses.

In Germany, six Berlin universities have deployed the kiosks, issuing more than 180,000 student ID cards to date.

Faced with an increasing student population and stagnating or decreasing resources, card issuance had become a significant headache at the beginning of each academic year. The implementation of automated issuance terminals put an end to the bottleneck.

Management at the Berlin universities also took advantage of the new system to add new functionality to the student ID cards. The campus card is now used for ID verification, library services, dining payments, and transit.

The University of Bologna also chose to install several self-service terminals to facilitate ID card issuance across its five Italian campuses.

University management had two objectives in choosing the Evolis terminals: put an end to the “never-ending” lines that formed in front of the administrative offices at the start of each academic year and free the administrative staff from tasks with little added value.

Since its launch in 2019, Bologna’s deployment has delivered on both goals.

To learn more, check out Evolis' kiosk printer specs online.