INTCODE - international commission for distance education

Discussion in 'Accreditation Discussions (RA, DETC, state approva' started by TeacherBelgium, Dec 5, 2020.

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  1. TeacherBelgium

    TeacherBelgium Well-Known Member

    This is a commission that appears to have been founded in Genève, Switzerland in 1997.
    It is recognized by the UN.
    They are an independent accreditor.
    They seem to accredit a lot of Spanish training centers.
    If a titulo propio is accredited by this institution, would that mean that it's more likely to be accepted by a degree evaluator in the home country?
    How '' serious '' is accreditation from INTCODE?
    As far as I know Euclide is also accredited by the UN and their degrees are recognized in some countries. So would an agency accredited by the United Nations that accredits your degree mean more '' value '' or '' recognition'' ?
     
  2. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    I was just on the most recent thread to touch on Euclid and read through the others. They aren't accredited by the UN. Instead, a treaty was signed by several member countries that was deposited in the UN. As an international agreement, that entitled them to register the .int domain name. The recognition, if any, of their degrees would depend on whether the country (or countries) that issue their degrees recognize them, and nobody has been able to demonstrate that.

    Euclid's refusal to just admit they're not accredited, or to positively affirm that they are accredited/recognized by the national government in the CAR doesn't bode well. Instead, they attempt a gish-gallop of arguments around UN approval and membership in various international organizations, none of which are accreditation.

    I actually thought about registering and trying for the evaluation to get a final answer from WES, but a Euclid degree would run around $1000 just to get registered (there's a base fee you pay, before the per-credit fee), plus another $5,000 for the tuition ($130 per credit) and $200 for the evaluation, and that's just too much to spend chasing this lark.

    I don't think INTCODE recognition would improve a school's chances of being positively received by an [American] evaluator because INTCODE is not recognized by CHEA/DoE.

    Edit: I didn't mean to imply INTCODE wouldn't help improve your chances in other countries.
     
    Last edited: Dec 12, 2020
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  3. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Dustin, I think that's the best darn concise summary of the Euclid situation I've read in 15+years. I'll be surprised if we don't get a FOURTH "threat of the week" from someone connected with the school. (Nobody should worry.) If you want an accredited-or-equivalent University in CAR (why?) try University of Bangui. They're a University for real. I believe Euclid claims some MOU with them, I forget the details. Not important. And INTCODE sounds awfully close to a fake accreditor that went by ICODE or something like that a while ago. Of course, I'm not certain of any connection right now. I'll have a quick look and report back - soon as I can.
     
  4. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    No. In their home country Propio degrees don't need additional accreditation. They're degrees awarded by legit schools. The schools are allowed to award them by the Ministry, or similar authorities - without needing specific approval of the particular program - in the home country. Anything extra there is simply icing on the cake.

    And right -- I seriously doubt INTCODE approval would sway any of our stalwart, legit credential evaluators this side of the world. It shouldn't, anyway! Perhaps it would work, on an evaluator from the "Spoofy List" Want a copy? :)
     
    Last edited: Dec 12, 2020
  5. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    It appears there are a multitude of things - lists, orgs etc. originating with UN that are sometimes claimed by schools to ascribe legitimacy to them. My take: a lot of these UN creations are not for this purpose and a school's using them in this way is more often a red flag than a green one.
     
  6. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    I had a brief look at the INTCODE site. List of accredited schools - has a lot of first-rate US schools that have perfectly good accreditation already. Some schools I haven't heard of (and that's a good sign - not on my mental list of bad schools) and a strangely 1997-looking website. No verdict yet. I want to be sure these schools KNOW they're accredited by INTCODE. I'll be BACK. (Apologies to Arnold.)

    * Funny thing. I didn't see those Spanish training centres on their list - the ones TeacherBelgium mentioned. I'll keep looking.
     
    Last edited: Dec 12, 2020
  7. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Whoops - wrong site. what I want is the INTCODE that's a UN Commission. Not the INTCODE that functions as an accreditor. Found the one TeacherBelgium was talking about. It's here: https://uil.unesco.org/partner/library/international-commission-distance-education-code-spain

    This is not an accreditor. Its role is to help improve distance education programs - nothing to do with accreditation or equivalent. Who read that in? You can see the aims of the org. on the home page - and they do NOT include accreditation or anything that can be construed to mean such. And yes - Spanish business schools. They serve, they say in 4 countries - Spain, Brazil France and US It's known as CODE - not INTCODE. That's a separate org.

    That one - International Commission on Open and Distance ed. is here: http://icode.atspace.com/about.htm And yes - like I said, they accredit. Too bad I wasted a lot of unnecessary effort on a chase that does not concern us. Two, in fact.

    Would be nice if people would post links. And get acronyms right. Save an old guy a lot of time. Not a good day. :(:(:(
     
    Last edited: Dec 12, 2020
  8. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    I also couldn't find INTCODE at first, but I do see this link here: http://www.intcode.org/english/english.html

    "INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION ON DISTANCE EDUCATION is a non-profit organisation established in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1997 to promote and develop distance education programmes. Since 2003 the Commission holds consultative status, special category, with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of United Nations. Its Honorary President and Founder has been Prof. Dr. Ilya Prigogine, Nobel Prize for Chemistry, until his recent death."


    That seems to mesh with TeacherBelgium's notes, though "consultative status" is not particularly prestigious, as the UN info on it reveals:

    One interesting piece on the membership page, "Official state authorisation of distance taught courses is a pre-requisite for membership. Centres that do not have academic authorisation for each of their courses in each of the countries they operate will not be eligible for membership."

    That implies that if a school isn't recognized by a national authority that would make it eligible for recognition by an evaluator, they won't be eligible for membership in INTCODE. That might help on the evaluation front.
     
  9. TeacherBelgium

    TeacherBelgium Well-Known Member

    You're the coolest old guy on this site :)
    Thanks for clarifying that, Johann.
    As for the bad day : get well soon. Hugs from cold and isolated Belgium where it's as if there is no Christmas this year :-(
     
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  10. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Thanks. It's the same here. Stinks, doesn't it? :(
     
  11. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Looks like we now have 3 links on 2 organizations. Hopefully, that's it. Dustin, I'd say your interpretation is...OK, justified. It might help - if someone reads all the stuff about this org. But - the rule is - they must have degree authority in their own country - to become members. It doesn't automatically mean their degrees are OK anywhere else, or for any other purpose, e.g. US evaluation.

    It's kind of like ACBSP programmatic accreditation at Swiss Cantonal Schools. ACBSP accredits business schools' programs at schools that have legal degree-granting capability in Switzerland ( including Cantonal license.) But that Cantonal kind of permission means nothing here, when it comes to evaluation.

    Nice that they have INTCODE. But it might not solve an evaluation problem. Wouldn't hurt, but...
     
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