Credential evaluation is the way in which academic and professional degrees earned in one country are compared to those earned in another. [1] Universities, colleges and employers around the world use credential evaluations to understand foreign education and to judge applicants for admission or employment. [2]
Immigrants can use credential evaluations to gain recognition for study completed outside the country they are immigrating to and in doing so join the workforce as skilled immigrants. [3] International students use credential evaluations to present their previous coursework and grades to universities anywhere for admission.
Universities and colleges in the United States saw a marked increase in the number of international students applying for admission after World War II when many European countries were recovering from the war. The need for an accurate and fair understanding of students’ educational past emerged and became even more important as the number of international students studying in the United States jumped from 25,000 in the years after the war, according to NAFSA. There were over 866,000 international students studying in the United States in 2013 to 2014. [4] In 2019 the United States received more than 1,000,000 international students for the fourth consecutive year. [5]
As universities face declining public financial support and the pressure to keep tuition affordable, academic institutions have relied on international students to offset the rising cost of higher education. [6] The majority of international students in the United States are from China, India and South Korea. [7] However, there has been a large and steady growth in the number of international students from Brazil, Vietnam, Indonesia and Nigeria. [8]
There is no regulations in terms of international degree evaluation in the US, and the U.S. Department of State or the U.S. government of the entity doesn’t affiliate or endorse any foreign credential evaluation agencies. [9] Therefore, there is no federal (national) government agency that oversees credential evaluations in the United States. [10] There are professional associations such as Association of International Credential Evaluators, Inc. (AICE) and National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES) that create and maintain ethical standards in the field though they are not governing agencies and membership by credential evaluators is voluntary. [11] However, credential evaluators must meet certain criteria to belong to AICE and NACES. Universities and colleges also evaluate credentials themselves. An NACES or AICE agency is normally required by universities in the US. [12] [13]
Educational credential assessment (ECA) also known as credential evaluation can be used for immigration, education and licensing. [14] An ECA is necessary for immigrants seeking entry into Canada under various Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) programs, including the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FWSP) through Express Entry, which requires immigrants to have completed a minimum equivalent of a Canadian secondary school diploma. [14] The Canadian government does not assess foreign credentials. Instead as of April 2013, the CIC has designated seven credential evaluation agencies to provide assessments for those immigrating to Canada. These designated agencies are members of the Alliance of Credential Evaluation Services of Canada. [15]
Most Canadian licensing boards or professional licensing bodies require academic credential evaluations from internationally educated professionals. The evaluations are assessed in-house or by Alliance members.
The Convention on the Recognition of the Qualifications Concerning Higher Education in the European Region, commonly called the Lisbon Recognition Convention, is the main legal agreement which governs the recognition of qualifications between the member states of the Council of Europe, excluding Greece and Monaco. [16] The European Network of Information Centres and the National Academic Recognition Information Centres (known as ENIC-NARIC) can evaluate credentials and issue a “statement of comparability” for a university degree earned in one member country for use in another. [17] The convention states that degree holders must have access to “adequate assessments” of their credentials and degrees must be recognized among member countries unless there are proven “substantial differences” between the degrees awarded in that country and the degree being assessed. [16]
The Australian government evaluates foreign credentials depending on the reason for the evaluation. [18] For example, if an evaluation is needed only for immigration purposes the Department of Immigration and Border Protection will assess qualifications. [18] There are designated assessing authorities for specific professions, such as the Australian Institute For Teaching and School Leadership which assesses credentials for school teacher occupations. [19] For most other credential assessments, Overseas Qualifications Units were established in most Australian states and territories to evaluate foreign credentials. [19] The Department of Education and Training can also assess credentials for foreign-born residents of New South Wales and credentials for occupations that do not require registration, licensing, or professional membership. [20]
The Convention on the Recognition of Studies, Diplomas and Degrees in Higher Education in the Arab States was held in 1978 to “adopt terminology and evaluation criteria as similar as possible… in order to simplify the application of a system which will ensure the comparability of credits, subjects of study and diplomas” and to encourage student mobility across borders. [21] Eighteen states signed the convention including Jordan, Morocco, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. [21]
Generally the types of credential evaluations vary depending on the country and purpose of the evaluation. The ENIC-NARIC offers full equivalency or comparable reports. [17] In the United States and Canada credential evaluations range from detailed course-by-course analysis to document-by-document analysis depending on the admissions requirements of a particular school or the requirements for employment and immigration. [22] While academic and professional institutions may use credential evaluations to assess candidates’ qualifications, the institution decides whether a candidates credentials meet their requirements for admission.
An associate degree or associate's degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of academic qualification above a high school diploma and below a bachelor's degree.
A diploma mill is a company or organization that claims to be a higher education institution but provides illegitimate academic degrees and diplomas for a fee. The degrees can be fabricated (made-up), falsified (fake), or misrepresented. These degrees may claim to give credit for relevant life experience, but should not be confused with legitimate prior learning assessment programs. They may also claim to evaluate work history or require submission of a thesis or dissertation for evaluation to give an appearance of authenticity. Diploma mills are frequently supported by accreditation mills, set up for the purpose of providing an appearance of authenticity. The term may also be used pejoratively to describe an accredited institution with low academic admission standards and a low job placement rate. An individual may or may not be aware that the degree they have obtained is not wholly legitimate. In either case, legal issues can arise if the qualification is used in resumes.
The Lisbon Recognition Convention, officially the Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education in the European Region, is an international convention of the Council of Europe elaborated together with the UNESCO. This is the main legal agreement on credential evaluation in Europe.
According to the US Department of Education, the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates is "the authorized credential evaluation and guidance agency for non-U.S. physicians and graduates of non-U.S. medical schools who seek to practice in the United States or apply for a U.S. medical residency program. It provides comprehensive information and resources on licensure, the U.S. Medical Licensure Examination (USMLE), residencies, and recognition."
A Diplom is an academic degree in the German-speaking countries Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and a similarly named degree in some other European countries including Albania, Bulgaria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine and only for engineers in France, Greece, Hungary, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, and Brazil.
The European Network of Information Centres (ENIC) were established in 1994 as a joint initiative of UNESCO and the Council of Europe. They are intended to implement the Lisbon recognition convention (LRC) and, in general, to develop policy and practice for the recognition of qualifications. The ENIC Network works closely with the NARIC network of the European Union.
An accreditation mill is an organization that purports to award educational accreditation to higher education institutions without having government authority or recognition from mainstream academia to operate as an accreditor. Implicit in the terminology is the assumption that the "mill" has low standards for such accreditation. Accreditation mills are much like diploma mills, and in many cases are closely associated with diploma mills. The "accreditation" they supply has no legal or academic value but is used in diploma mill marketing to help attract students.
All EU and EEA states and all the associated countries in Central and Eastern Europe and Cyprus have a designated National Academic Recognition Information Centre (NARIC), which provides a way to compare academic qualifications as part of the Bologna Process. Together they form the NARIC network.
National Academy of Higher Education (NAHE) identifies itself as an organization specializing in evaluation of people's educational credentials. Some United States educational authorities identify it as an unrecognized accreditation organization or accreditation mill. NAHE charges fees for a service described as an evaluation of the educational credentials of clients who have studied in other countries or attained degrees through alternative methods.
The Validation or recognition of foreign studies and degrees is the process whereby a competent authority in one country formally recognises the value of a qualification from a foreign country. This can entail total or partial validation of foreign university and non-university studies, degrees and other qualifications. Particularly within Europe, this is covered by a number of international conventions and agreements.
World Education Services (WES) is a nonprofit organization that provides credential evaluations for international students and immigrants planning to study or work in the U.S. and Canada. Founded in 1974, it is based in New York, U.S. It also has operations in Toronto, Canada.
A graduate certificate is an educational credential representing completion of specialized training at the college or university level. A graduate certificate can be awarded by universities upon completion of certain coursework indicating mastering of a specific subject area. Graduate certificates represent training at different levels in different countries, for example a graduate certificate is at master's degree level in Ireland, but is at a bachelor's degree level in the United Kingdom. In both cases, the graduate certificate represents less work than a degree at the same level.
Academic Evaluation Services (AES) is a global organization that provides evaluations of foreign academic credential and translation services. The organization is a member of the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES), the European Association for International Education (EAIE), and the NAFSA: Association of International Educators, formerly known as the National Association of Foreign Student Advisers.
A high school diploma is a diploma awarded upon graduation of high school. A high school diploma is awarded after completion of courses of studies lasting four years, typically from grade 9 to grade 12. It is the school leaving qualification in the United States and Canada.
Educational inflation is the increasing educational requirements for occupations that do not require them. Credential inflation is the increasing overqualification for occupations demanded by employers.
Online credentials for learning are digital credentials that are offered in place of traditional paper credentials for a skill or educational achievement. They are directly linked to the accelerated development of internet communication technologies, the development of digital badges, electronic passports and massive open online courses (MOOCs).
The National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES) is a United States non-profit organization, established in 1987, which accredits private companies who, in turn, provide transcript evaluation services of academic degrees awarded from non-United States educational institutions.