Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
PhD in Physics, ETH Zurich, 2015-2019, asserted by ETH via the Member API.
- Is an instance
MSc in Bioinformatics, self-claimed with department and supervisor name in the free-text description.
- Is an instance
A funded PhD studentship recorded as an education item, with a separate linked ORCID funding item for the stipend.
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
A single short course or MOOC certificate is normally placed under Qualifications, not Education.
- Not an instance
A postdoctoral fellowship is an employment, not an education item, even where a university calls it a "training" role.
Editorial commentary
An ORCID education affiliation is a record item on an ORCID iD stating that the person undertook formal, degree-granting study at a named organisation — typically a university — with a start date, expected or actual end date, degree or qualification name, department, and the organisation’s disambiguated identifier. It is one of several affiliation types ORCID groups under ‘professional activities’, alongside employment, invited position and service.
Education vs Qualifications: a distinction ORCID makes explicitly
ORCID separates Education (degree-granting study, e.g. a PhD, MSc, or BA) from Qualifications (other formal credentials that are not a degree, such as a professional certification, a chartered-status award, or a short accredited course). Both are affiliation types with the same underlying record structure — start/end date, organisation, disambiguated identifier — but they are recorded and displayed as separate categories on the ORCID record.
Who can add it, and how it differs from ORCID employment
Like employment, an education item can be self-asserted by the iD holder or asserted directly by the institution (commonly a registrar’s office or doctoral school) through the ORCID Member API. An organisation-asserted record carries a visible trust marker and is treated as higher-confidence than a self-claim. The substantive difference from employment is temporal and relational, not mechanical: education records a period of study under an institution’s degree-granting authority, while employment records a salaried or contracted working relationship. A funded PhD studentship is commonly recorded as education, sometimes with a separately linked funding item, not employment, even though a stipend is paid.
Disambiguating the institution
As with employment, each education item can carry a disambiguated organisation identifier — most commonly a ROR ID — for the awarding institution, so the degree is attributable to the correct organisation across name changes and mergers rather than relying on a free-text institution name.
How this differs from its closest ORCID siblings
ORCID education is one of four record items that answer ‘what is this person’s relationship to an organisation, and when’: education (degree-granting study), employment (a salaried or contracted role), invited position (a formal role at an organisation other than the primary employer, without the full commitment of employment), and service (committee membership, editorial roles, and similar contributions that are neither study nor employment). None is a subtype of another — ORCID stores each as its own record item with its own fields, though a single career typically includes several over time.
Frequently asked questions
Does a scholarship or funded studentship count as education or funding?
The degree itself is recorded as an education item; ORCID also supports a distinct ‘Funding’ affiliation type for the grant or studentship that supported it, and the two are not mutually exclusive.
Should a single short course go under Education?
No — ORCID’s own guidance places short, non-degree courses and certificates under Qualifications, not Education.
What if my degree institution has since merged with another university?
Use the ROR ID that correctly disambiguates the institution as it existed, or its recognised successor, and update the free-text name if the institution’s ROR record has itself been updated to reflect the merger.
References
- ORCID Inc., ‘Affiliations: Education and Qualifications’ (support.orcid.org).
- ORCID Inc., ‘Add an affiliation to your ORCID record’ (support.orcid.org).
Also known as
ORCID education affiliation
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
<role vocab="credit"
vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
vocab-term="ORCID education"
vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/orcid-education" />{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "DefinedTerm",
"@id": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/orcid-education",
"name": "ORCID education",
"identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/orcid-education",
"description": "An affiliation item in an ORCID record asserting that the iD holder undertook formal, degree-granting study at a named organisation, including degree or qualification, department, start and end dates, and the organisation's disambiguated identifier.",
"inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/persistent-identifiers#set",
"url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/orcid-education",
"sameAs": [
"ORCID education affiliation"
],
"license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
"publisher": {
"@id": "https://casrai.org/#organization"
},
"author": {
"@id": "https://casrai.org/#editorial-team"
},
"datePublished": "2026-05-21T02:08:53",
"dateModified": "2026-08-22T15:52:27",
"inLanguage": "en-GB",
"isAccessibleForFree": true
}
