FTA agreement. Australia-US

Does anybody know how the FTA will affect credit transfer between Australian and American universities?
I'm hoping to transfer a couple of years worth of credit from an Australian university to Excelsior and would prefer not to go through the ECE evaluation ordeal.

 

Agreement signed!!

Well apparently the agreement has just been signed (like today) and this is about all I managed to dig up regarding mutual recognition of educational credentials on this site
http://www.dfat.gov.au/trade/negotiations/us_fta/final-text/chapter_10.html

"Annex 10-A - Professional Services
Development of Professional Services

1. The Parties shall encourage the relevant bodies in their respective territories to develop mutually acceptable standards and criteria for licensing and certification of professional services suppliers and to provide recommendations on mutual recognition to the Joint Committee.

2. The standards and criteria referred to in paragraph 1 may be developed with regard to the following matters:

(a) education – accreditation of schools or academic programs;

(b) examinations – qualifying examinations for licensing, including alternative methods of assessment, such as oral examinations and interviews;"

I'm not sure if it's good news or not. The modal verb "may" rears it's ambiguous head a lot...

 

Re: Agreement signed!!

I wouldn't hold your breath, unfortunately. Canada signed a Free Trade Agreement with the US back in the late 1980's (superceded by NAFTA) and Excelsior requires ECE evaluations for most Canadian schools....

Cheers,
Mark

 

Re: Re: Agreement signed!!

Mark is correct. The recognition of degrees in the NAFTA document is for the establishment of “professional” status for the time limited (I believe up to five years) professional work visas for nationals of each country to reside in the other country (Canada, US, Mexico). Such nationals when living in the other country, must still meet the local professional standard.

For example, a Chartered Accountant in Canada must become a Certified Public Accountant to practice accounting in any particular state. Most professional bodies have published the requirements for other nationals to practice in their jurisdiction. In some cases the profession accepts the other jurisdictions certification and the candidate simply registers; in other cases the candidate must meet additional requirements (courses, residency, practice)

So, NAFTA does not direct professions, or schools to accept qualifications from the other jurisdiction.

I suppose that this is not surprising since schools within a jurisdiction are not required to accept each others courses for transfer, how could the national governments require it? Similarly, most professions are organized on a state/province basis and require candidates from other states/provinces within the national jurisdiction to meet the local requirement. (See the law discussions on this board for examples)

The best advise is to check with your intended school to see what they require and what they will accept.

Best wishes----Jim

 

Thanks people.
I guess I'll just have to submit my transcripts to ECE for evaluation and hope for the best. But after reading about the experiences of others with that organization, I'm not particularly optimistic...

 

I am an Engineer and Accountant and there has been reciprocal arrangements in place for some time - I used it back in the 1980's. In Accounting we are becoming globally harmonised as far as standards are concerned, and we can sit for the US CPA exam with our qualifications out here. There will still be examinations as we have different statutes and regulatory environments. Sorry - all I know is the 'practical' aspect.