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In Portuguese, a college diploma is colloquially referred to as a “canudo”, literally a “tube”. This usage is typically semi-dismissive, for example if you want to imply a diploma — the actual piece of paper — for a certain course is worth more than the education it represents.
Is there a similar word in English?
You'll sometimes hear "a piece of paper" used this way; see https://www.google.com/search?q=went+to+school+for+a+piece+of+paper for plenty of examples.
(But as choster notes: "The expression can be used to dismiss any kind of official document, however, not just diplomas or other educational credentials: marriage licenses, operating certificates, travel visas, building permits, arrest warrants, property deeds, constitutions.")
It's often said in English to be a 'sheepskin'. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sheepskin
Because at one point, diplomas were printed on parchment made from sheepskins, the term “sheepskin” used to refer to them (first recorded in 1804): see the bottom of the page http://www.dictionary.com/browse/sheepskin
Of course, you could ironically use the term "BS" as a double entendre as in:
Bachelor's of Science
and
Bull Shit.
BS is used in this way in the below Dr. McNinja comic in the fifth panel.
As an American, sheepskin came immediately to mind, but I think the OP is referring to a worthless Diploma (i.e. Not worth the paper it's printed on).
A prime example in America would be a Diploma from a DIPLOMA MILL "An institution of higher education operating without supervision of a state or professional agency and granting diplomas which are either fraudulent or because of the lack of proper standards worthless. - Webster's Third New International Dictionary". However, I could not find a good slang term for the Diploma itself, just the institution it comes from.
union card From Merriam-Webster:
1 : a card certifying personal membership in good standing in a labor union
2 : something that resembles a union card especially in being necessary for employment or in providing evidence of in-group status
Definition #2 is the one that answers the OP's question.
A made-up example of how it might be used:
I'm taking night classes to get my BA, because I'll never get a management job unless I have my union card.
(This is an ironic example, because traditionally, union jobs were always non-management jobs.)
Peter Thiel, billionaire co-founder of PayPal is an extreme example of thinking of a college diploma as unnecessary, even harmful, as described in the Newsweek Article Peter Thiel Thinks You Should Skip College, and He’ll Even Pay You For Your Trouble. Thiel thinks today’s elite universities are overpriced relics and is offering fellowships to uniquely qualified teenagers so that they can pursue radical innovation that will benefit society. The catch: they must drop out of college.
The term is not meant to disparage blue-collar jobs. Indeed, such jobs can be more interesting and more rewarding and require just as much smarts and skills as white collar jobs. But, traditionally, a college diploma was the route to upward mobility, economically and socially, but is less so now, and now often comes with the burden of enormous student loans. I remember the term union card from my own college days, decades ago, when it was much less apt than it is today.
The Hawaiian word for paper or document, palapala, can be used.
diplomaused colloquially when referring to the physical document. There may be some other slang terms (likesheepskin), but I'd say far and away people just refer to their diploma as just that,diploma.