Wes equivalency result

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by TeacherBelgium, Sep 14, 2020.

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  1. TeacherBelgium

    TeacherBelgium Well-Known Member

    I used the WES equivalency tool and with both the US version and the Canadian version my degree of '' gegradueerde '' in legal administrative studies came back as equal to a US bachelor's degree and a Canadian 3 year bachelor's degree.

    Thing is that my programme was 2 years.
    WES didn't provide a 2 year option.

    Will they eventually classify it as an associate degree or will they qualify it as a bachelor's degree like they did in their tool, if I ask an equivalency examination?

    My programme was 120 ECTS and took 2 years.
    The title that I received was '' gegradueerde / graduat ''
     
  2. LearningAddict

    LearningAddict Well-Known Member

    The tool doesn't turn out an official result, so there is no way to know for sure about anything until you get an actual evaluation.
     
    Maniac Craniac likes this.
  3. TeacherBelgium

    TeacherBelgium Well-Known Member

    Are 2 year degrees always equated to associate degrees in the US and CA or is it possible that they recognize my degree as a '' bachelor's degree ''?

    The titel '' gegradueerde '' doesn't exist in Canada or the US if I'm not mistaken. The closest thing that is 2 year education over there is associate degree.

    But gegradueerde doesn't have a real equivalent in other places in the world if I'm not mistaken. We used to call it HBO5.
     
  4. mintaru

    mintaru Active Member

    An US Bachelor's degree is a four-year degree. Three-year Bachelor's degrees from Europe may be recognised as equivalent to an US Bachelor's degree, but a degree with 120 ECTS? No, that schould be equivalent to an Associate's degree.
     
  5. mintaru

    mintaru Active Member

    By the way, the WES equivalency tool does not include all qualifications from all countries. For instance, the list of German qualifications lacks the degree Bachelor of Engineering. And there seem to be a few errors as well. The German Bachelor of Science/of Arts degree usually is a three or 3 1/2- year degree, but the WES tool only offers the options 4, 5 or 6 years.
     
  6. chrisjm18

    chrisjm18 Well-Known Member


    The only way to know is to submit an application with your supporting documents to WES. Everything else is total speculations, which mean little or nothing.
     
  7. Linguaphile89

    Linguaphile89 New Member

    I'd submit one. I had good experiences with WES and ultimately the degree equivalency tool was exactly what I got, but I have US degrees and was evaluating for Canada, so not a huge leap that my US accredited degrees evaluated to their Canadian counterparts. The WES tool is just an extrapolation of what it might be. The actual evaluation process that WES takes can be pretty involved when questions arise to the exact equivalency, so the only way to know is to get an official assessment.

    You could also look at the Quebec Skilled Workers route, which has its own provincial degree equivalency process. It may be easier for you since they place a huge emphasis on French/English ability. Note that the QSW program takes much longer to get through than the Federal Skilled Worker program. I qualified for both, ended up going through the federal stream, and ultimately was selected for nomination by the government of Ontario in the French-speaking stream.

    Just a note for Canada: You only need to score B2 in each category to be classified as 'French speaking' for the extra points on the federal work stream. I took the Test d'évaluation de français" and scored C1 in each category except for reading, where I scored C2. The test was easy, and French is my second language. I found the IELTS for my native language much more challenging.
     
    Last edited: Sep 14, 2020
  8. TeacherBelgium

    TeacherBelgium Well-Known Member

    I will submit an equivalency examination request.

    The Canadian schooling system is very complicated because Quebec works with different titles than other Canadian provinces. Quebec very much resembles the French system with the baccalauréat and those titles. They have titles that here in Belgium have been abolished long time ago.

    Some Canadian provinces don't know the concept of an associate degree.

    That and the fact that some Canadian provinces have 4 year bachelor degrees and other 3 year bachelor degrees. Here in Europe a bachelor is standard 3 years.
    A master is 1 to 2 years.

    Canada seems to recognize associate degrees that are more akin to a US certificate. In the US and in Europe associate degrees take 2 years to complete but in Canada they seem to call what we would call a certificate an associate degree (the first year of a bachelor's degree is for them an associate degree).
    They also have diplomas that take 3 years which I have never seen somewhere else. A diploma in most countries is less than a year.

    My father is Québecois so if I would immigrate to Canada I would likely move to Quebec but it seems that the WES equivalency test for Canada would need to take the different regulations of the different provinces into account for the equivalency certification.

    My 2 year degree had a capstone for example. I was under the impression that US associate degrees never require a capstone?
    That they are courses bundled but don't require internships or capstones?

    I'm going to submit an application.
    Very curious what the result will be.
    I hope it comes back as 3 years bachelor.
     
  9. Linguaphile89

    Linguaphile89 New Member

    Another plus with Quebec is that the law system is based on civil law, like Belgium, whereas the rest of Canada (and the US) are based on common law.

    The Immigration authorities in Quebec will not accept WES, as they do their own evaluation for the Quebec skilled worker program, so if you want to apply to QSW and the federal skilled worker, you will need to do evaluations twice.

    They also have many reciprocal agreements with licensing authorities, especially in France, where many licenses between Quebec and France are reciprocal. They could also have for licensing from Belgian authorities, but I'm not sure. I don't much about Belgium, but when I lived in Valenciennes, we used to walk across the border to buy tobacco because it was cheaper than in France. Hah.

    Good luck! There are so many variables in how they could evaluate that it's impossible to guess at this rate.
     
    Last edited: Sep 14, 2020
  10. Linguaphile89

    Linguaphile89 New Member

    Also, Just want to make a distinction as I don't think I was clear and I can't edit it: the Quebec authorities will accept WES if you apply through the federal skilled worker program and ultimately intend to reside in Quebec. In that case, the WES evaluation will be good for the entire country of Canada. If you want to apply to the Quebec Skilled Worker program specifically, then you will need the province of Quebec to evaluate your studies and their equivalency in Quebec.

    Also, if your father was a citizen of Canada at the time of your birth, you should be entitled to Canadian citizenship, even if you weren't born there.

    https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/canadian-citizenship/become-canadian-citizen/eligibility/already-citizen.html
     
    Last edited: Sep 14, 2020
    JBjunior likes this.
  11. RFValve

    RFValve Well-Known Member

    Just to add to this, the foreign credential evaluations from any of the CICIC members https://www.cicic.ca/ are used mainly for immigration purposes. This means that these evaluations are not really education equivalencies recognized by the minister of education of a province or universities. In few words, you might come with a nice WES evaluation that says that your degree is equivalent to an engineers degree and then apply for an engineering license and be rejected because it is not considered equivalent by a professional engineers association.

    In Canada, mainly licenses and memberships in professional associations are the main bodies that accredit educational credentials. For professions that are not regulated, it is up to the employer to accept or not to accept the foreign credential, you cannot sue an employer because your degree was not recognized for a particular job that requires a degree but it was ignored in spite of your WES equivalency evaluation.

    In some European countries this is different, if the minister of education of Spain recognizes your degree you are automatically eligible to practice a profession. The same in some Latin American Countries. In Canada this is different, the recognition of a foreign credential is not the competency of the government but those bodies that regulate the profession or employers that hire the degree holders. For this reason, you see many immigrants that cannot work in their professions even when the government allowed them to immigrate based on their credentials.
     

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