A Study on Privacy-Preserving Scholarship Evaluation Based on Decentralized Identity and Zero-Knowledge Proofs

Abstract

Traditional centralized scholarship evaluation processes typically require students to submit detailed academic records and qualification information, which exposes them to risks of data leakage and misuse, making it difficult to simultaneously ensure privacy protection and transparent auditability. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a scholarship evaluation system based on Decentralized Identity (DID) and Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKP). The system aggregates multidimensional ZKPs off-chain, and smart contracts verify compliance with evaluation criteria without revealing raw scores or computational details. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed solution not only automates the evaluation efficiently but also maximally preserves student privacy and data integrity, offering a practical and trustworthy technical paradigm for higher education scholarship programs.