Is there a US Department of Education site that lists approved foreign doctorates? I am considering pursuing a doctorate in business. I would prefer to go the foreign (UNISA, HW) route. Thanks!
I doubt it. Use the Commonwealth Universities Yearbook, the International Handbook of Universities, or the PIER Country Series to check up on a school. The acceptability of that degree will be, of course, situational. But if the degree comes from a school recognized by its government, it is likely acceptable. Not guaranteed, of course, but generally.
The United States Department of Education is not in the business of approving foreign degrees. In the United States, the "competent authority" in approving or rejecting any degree is the individual employer, educational institution or licensing body concerned. Perhaps the most user-friendly one-stop source of information on US-foreign higher education issues is the US Network for Education Information (USNEI) http://www.ed.gov/NLE/USNEI/ Here's their page that deals specifically with the question of who in the US has the authority to recognize degrees and other certifications: http://www.ed.gov/NLE/USNEI/us/uscompauth.html
Bill Dayson: "The United States Department of Education is not in the business of approving foreign degrees." John: Well, it's time for my every-few-years attempt to understand FICE, which used to be the Federal Interagency Council on Education, but then became the OPEID, Office of Postsecondary Education Identification. During the years I was involved in marketing the Heriot-Watt MBA, we had a significant 'breakthrough' in understanding and acceptance when we discovered that the university had a 6-digit FICE number, just as every GAAP-accredited US school does. (They are listed in the Higher Education Directory, which still uses "FICE" even while acknowledging that OPEID is probably correct. I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to find out what the criteria were for issuing a FICE number, and never succeeded. If it turns out to be something that schools like Heriot-Watt have and schools like Kennedy-Western and St. Regis don't, then we could be onto something. I know it has to do with loan eligibility, but I don't know what the criteria are for getting one.
I looked into this a few years ago. IIRC, the school has to apply for it, and they become subject to a financial audit--and future audits.
Thanks for the replies. I am aware that many States consider unaccredited degrees taboo. Just want to make sure an UNISA DBL or such would not fall into this category.
