Central University of Nicaragua Degree Scheme

Looking forward to good news from you!

 

My issue is that the university appears to be very explicit about the fact that non-nationals (or those who did not study inside Mexico) won't have that privilege upon graduation: "According the Mexican Higher Education laws Universidad Azteca is authorized to award degrees with RVOE for nationals, and own academic higher degrees of the university (grados propios) without RVOE. (source: https://univ-azteca.edu.mx/accreditation/). How can your degree be approved by RVOE and "without RVOE"? So, it seems to me (let me know if I have misread something) that you won't be able to "fall back on the RVOE approved degree" in this case.

 

I'd be more concerned about having to answer questions about what it was like in Nicaragua.

 

The whole situation is ambiguous. I just have see what happens. I may have lost a little of time and money although from a money aspect, I had that wrote off as a business expense and then discharged as a bankruptcy so I'm not worried too much about it. Worst case scenario would be me getting the Doctor of Education without RVOE since Azteca will still issue their own diploma. If that happens, I will still receive a regionally accredited / non-accredited program evaluation from IEE. Validential would give me full recognition. There is another evaluator that has evaluated Azteca similar to IEE or Validential as well.

 

I would be honest and tell them that this degree was done by distance learning so I did not have to travel there. I can also just put Azteca on a resume because they also issue their own diploma. I have no intention of competing with other doctorate degree earners as a requirement for a job or career. It may be used as a side hustle at best. Ultimately this is for personal development and if I was really serious about doing something with a Doctorate, I would have went to a state university offering an assistantship or fellowship instead. I may go to another school for an additional doctorate or post-doc coursework at some point.

 

Almost every foreign degree will be questioned. Heck, any degree from a school not in your area or with an unusual name will be questioned. People overcome those things every day.

Getting a legitimate degree outside conventional means isn't a death sentence, and at the low prices these foreign schools charge you can always just pick up and go pursue another program in your home country in the future if you enjoy learning and the foreign program you took didn't yield the results you hoped for. You may even have an advantage coming in with foreign credits that can possibly be transferred and a strong knowledge base from that foreign program you completed beforehand.

 

It’s true that almost all foreign degrees will be questioned. However, the reason behind the questioning could be simple curiosity (oh, you did a Swedish degree as an American. Cool, why did you choose it?), but it could also be a sense of distrust. (So, you’re an American, who did your online degree at a private college in Eritrea?). I would rather be in the first scenario. But yeah, I would agree that (in general) a foreign degree isn't a death sentence to graduates. I have a hard time understanding why anyone would think that it constitutes a death sentence.

 

I'm curious: why did you use Eritrea as the distrust example?

 

I think Eritrea is one of those newer countries that nobody knows about. So why would you get a degree there?

 

I have no doubt you will. But that's not my point.

Then it is likely you will not come across this question in a critical situation.

Only crazy people do that.

 

I could have used Nicaragua as a distrust example. There are some countries that do not inspire confidence as places for quality higher education. Sometimes, it is simple prejudice. But in other cases, it is based on a realistic or even intuitive assessment of where the country stands in terms of its higher education system, resources available to students, whether it is a war-torn area, its global scholarship output, how developed it is, whether it is a non-democratic dictatorship, etc. I would say the perception of Nicaragua isn't just based on simple prejudice. We don't live in an ideal world and certain countries bring up certain imagery. If you're raised in one of these places and attend college there, I would hope that there would be more understanding for you as an immigrant. But I think we need to be realistic about foreigners from rich countries attending colleges in these poverty-stricken locations via online learning and how this might be perceived within a developed nation. All foreign degrees do not cause the same type of reactions. It's very much depend on your location. In Poland (I can only speak of my own local context), a degree from Nicaragua would be seen as suspect, that is if you were a regular Polish citizen who attended any of its universities remotely and show no signs of Spanish speaking ability. Of course, Poland will also bring up certain imagery as a place of higher education, whether fair or not. I've also lived in Canada and know how foreign degrees are often perceived in that country, especially degrees from developing nations. But it's just how things work and we need to be aware of that instead of assuring ourselves that all foreign degrees bring up the same level of questioning within our own contexts. That's just not true.

 

Indeed. The whole post resonates with me. And I'm not proud of it, but what tadj says about how it works (but shouldn't) in Canada - is 100% true. Even, perhaps especially, American NA degrees. Stanislav knows that well. While living in Canada, he helped someone out, when an NA degree was going to cost a person a job they had been doing well - contrary to the workplace's own stated rules. They got a lawsuit going and the workplace backed down. The thread is still here but right now I'm busy... y'all can find it, I'm sure.

Summary - Great post, tadj - every word of it.

 

I just thought you used the example because Eritrea hasn't been very open to online education (much of it having to do with infrastructure challenges) until very recently and even now has very limited options, but I find it better to ask than to assume, I learn more that way.

 

Google: "Eritrea's ongoing rights crisis continues to drive thousands of Eritreans into exile, with many children and youth escaping conscription. In the first three months of 2020, 9,436 Eritreans fled to Ethiopia alone, a third of whom were children."

When it comes to education, avoid strife-torn nations. Old-timers will remember St. Regis, Robertstown U. and other corrupt schemes in Liberia some years back. Some corrupt miscreants get hold of the government's accreditation stamp and blammo - thousands of cheap, fake degrees. I remember the list of 9,000+ US people who were buyers of Liberian "degrees" in a newspaper. Cheap "degrees" - but bad bargains, certainly.

 

Corruption is deeply, deeply entrenched in Eritrea. I think it would be very unusual (I'd say unheard of) - if it hasn't spread into the higher education system -particularly schools that deal with foreigners. (That's where the money is.) The country has the dubious distinction of being ranked very low - 161 out of 180 countries. (Low rank = high corruption.) Personally, I wouldn't even go looking. YMMV - but not by much, I'd think.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_in_Eritrea#:~:text=On Transparency International's Corruption,rising to 22 in 2021.

 

I think regardless of the RVOE issue (non nationals) you probably benefit from the fact that they are authorized by the Government to issue the Doctor of Education. Someone checking will see they have proper authorization to issue an EdD. You have an EdD. It gets dicey when you earn the "own" PhD and they check on that and their national authorization (accreditation) does not include the PhD.

 

Starting the University of Palau right now. Hang on, I gotta find 20 bucks....

 

I see a foreign degree as a possible selling point just like the general interests they may ask that you have in an interview. It would give you a chance to answer why you completed a degree there and you can be honest and say you did it primarily for personal development and the tuition was lower than an American degree yet has the same academic rigor, etc. Provided that the degree is considered legitimate, it only adds to your profile as an employee and as a person in general.

In today's economic climate and The Great Resignation, jobs have to please employees and offer more benefits to keep turnover low. It is important to have good credentials but there are many employers that may be intimidated by a Harvard graduate and more intrigued by an ENEB/Universidad Isabel I graduate. I say that because employers know that they have to pay Harvard graduates a heck of a lot more than someone from a foreign or lower tier school and in many cases will be hesitant to do so.

 

20 whole dollars --- to (gasp) Palau? These nice folks wanna talk to you, Rich.
https://palaufiu.org/

 

It's not so much a question of low tier vs. high tier schools. It's the overall perception of a given country in the educational sphere that really matters, especially when you're dealing with "no name universities" (the list of global brand name universities with almost universal recognition is quite short; Harvard, Yale, MIT, Cambridge, Oxford and a few others, so unless you're a brand university graduate, the issue becomes irrelevant in job interviews). Most employers in developed countries do not spend any time on global university rankings and have no idea of what a degree from St. Cloud State University in Minnesota specifically represents in terms of quality, but they will have perceptions and ideas of what a degree from the United States or Canada represents. Those perceptions matter. A Spanish university (you brought this up as an example) brings up certain images as well, typically very different from those of an institution located in Nicaragua.