Foreign Credential Evaluators

It would be nice if that industry got ahold of itself.

 

Yep. Sure would. Nice little money-makers, most of 'em, though. From the look of things, there can't be all that much to opening one. According to some folks in this thread, it looks like you can make up a lot of it as you go along.

Might be a good idea to have oh - maybe a dog-grooming parlor in back. "Degrees 'n Pedigrees." Yessir, that'd probably bring folks in!

 

Does someone have an idea what a post-master's cert would come back as if you would submit it for credential evaluation?

 

Depends on the number of credits the program you took had and how that translates to the education system of the country where the evaluator does business. For example, if you took a program in a country that adheres to ECTS, and your evaluation is being done by an American evaluation agency, you can typically expect to divide by 2. 60 ECTS = 30 U.S. credits and that can be equal to a Master's degree or a graduate diploma. It doesn't always work out that smoothly though, as sometimes an evaluator will find reasons to award you less credits for a variety of reasons. You just never know for sure how it will all shake out until you submit your docs for evaluation.

 

I have a Post MBA certificate, in my case this was evaluated as a graduate certificate that requires a Masters degree.

 

WES is asinine. I can't stand them for having to go through the extra trouble of me fixing the evaluation for my spouse because they evaluated each course as one less credit equivalent that he completed in the Philippines and our community college did not accept it. As far as the CUFCE being the bottom of the barrel, I've used that phrase as well a bit here. From what I've gathered about their credential services, they grant what is called "equivalency degrees". Basically, they give recommendations of a foreign university award being equivalent to a regionally accredited evaluated school and/or to accept the equivalency degree certificate itself as a "state-approved" or "state-authorized" degree which is very strange.

 

It is a smart business, they give equivalence to schools that will not get it anywhere else. They have no NACES or any other credible certification but they provide nice looking certificates that can fool one or two. It wont fly for jobs that require a serious equivalence but it might work for some job that just needs a degree. Not everyone understand NACES.

 

Most people don't understand NACES. In fact, most don't understand regional accreditation. If the degree is verifiable and legal, it will pass the sniff test for many if not most employers. It reminds me of the Spanish Propio degrees lacking government accreditation but still having the legal backing of the school. Accreditation is most important for academic reasons and of lesser importance for employers provided the degree or certificate has some authority to back it up. CUFCE does serve a niche for those looking for a legal credential with utility for employment. I don't think it will help much if at all for academic purposes as any legitimate regionally accredited institution will want a NACES evaluation. State-authorized, nationally accredited and pre-accredited institutions may accept CUFCE.

 

I'm gonna pick a nit here, and it's not by taking fault with this. Rather, I'd like to add something.

If you ask employers--as I did--if accreditation is important, they'll almost always say, "yes." But if you ask them to make distinctions about accreditation--which, again, I did--they usually don't have a clue.

But here's the rub: many employers reflexively ask for foreign credential evaluation for degrees from foreign schools, even though they don't have the first clue about accreditation in the US. Thus, I can imagine a situation where a diploma mill doctorate from a fake school with a US address might be accepted without question, but a perfectly legitimate degree from a recognized foreign university might not get through the credential evaluation process.

It's like getting your oil changed. You know to ask for it. You know what it means. You know how to pay for it. But did you really get it? Unless you know how to do it, no.

 

That’s a good point. Interestingly enough, we discussed MCA Business School a while back here that is a legal entity, not necessarily state authorized school, that granted a USA MBA validation diploma for a fee based on the completion of ENEB - Universidad I to add credibility. While most here agreed it was a waste of money before they stoped it, I can see how that MCA school was helpful in better recognition of the degree due to having a diploma awarded from the USA. A non-accredited US degree may be perceived by employers at first glance as better than an accredited foreign degree in some cases. Another school, European International University, does the same thing by awarding state authorized degrees through a California university they have partnered with for an additional fee.

 

That is the point of California University Foreign Credential Evaluation service. They issue a degree from a non accredited school based on the foreign credential. The average employer would think is just a degree from a low profile school in California, good enough to get that car salesman or customer service job.

 

All true. this is a Tale of Two Sadnesses:

(1) A fake degree to "legitimize" another fake degree. Somewhat sad.
(2) The fact (as it all too often is) that a degree is needed to get a car sales or low-level customer service job. VERY sad indeed. And true.

 

The problem with MCA is that it has no standing in the United States. I'm okay with unaccredited but they're not even recognized as that. But that's not even the worst of it: they don't even give a transcript with the validation MBA.

Sometimes foreign schools make mistakes because they don't understand our system and that's what the deal really suffered from. A degree with no transcript is a dead end if you wish to do anything with it that requires someone seeing that piece of paper. That kinda thing flies in some other places, but not here.

 

Right. But you've got the diploma - so how hard is it to print up a transcript? They're not fancy. I bet you can make one while the coffee perks...

 

At Leicester, the university does not transcript doctoral programs. It certifies that the degree was awarded, but if you attended a taught program, you have to go to the individual school to have your course of study transcripted. I think this stems from the long-time tradition of awarding the PhD by thesis only, and taught doctorates are relatively new.

 

Heh, might as well skip the schooling and just print the diploma, too.

 

¡Ay, caramba! How did you find the secret of my Buenos Aires Doctorado?

 

That just reminded me of when Bart Simpson was the biggest star on the planet. Feels like eons ago now.

 

Most "propio" degrees do not issue transcripts. They just print in the back of the diploma the content of the program and credits per topic covered. I have a propio degree from a Spanish school, I made a transcript by getting a translation in English from a certified translator from the back of the diploma and send it when they ask for a transcript. It has worked so far, the translation has a nice looking stamp and the signature of the translator that serves to give it credibility.

However, if you want to use the propio degree for licensing purposes or to pursue a higher degree (doctorate), this will not work. Propio degrees are meant to be used for professional jobs only. It will not work if you want to use it to adjunct at a University either as most universities would require an official academic transcript to issue you a contract.

California University Foreign Credential Evaluators do issue transcripts for foreign degrees. One possible solution would be to take the propio degree to this service and ask them to issue you a transcript. This service is not NACES certified but again, it might help to bypass the transcript issue for some jobs.