Foreign Credential Evaluation Service Helping Education
Many people in this country and overseas have never heard of a foreign credential evaluation service. In reality the foreign credential evaluation service is the organization that reviews the qualifications of foreign education and how they will translate into U.S. educational qualifications with regards to immigrants, certifications and higher education.
Even though it is a little-known area of expertise, foreign credentials evaluation is increasing by leaps and bounds and has seen many changes in the last 30 years. At first, American institutions evaluated equivalency by simply looking at how long an individual had taken classes in his or her own country. This was used to determine the amount of education a pupil would have received in a similar period here. That approach did not result in a very accurate representation of a student's educational level.
The education that was studied every year was barely even considered. US students attend classes only half as long (or even less) as many other countries. The way foreign education credentials are being evaluated has become more complex with time, so what used to be a case of black or white has recently been showing many gray areas.
Originally, the task of such evaluation was left up to the U.S. Education Department through the Foreign Credential Evaluation Service. Between 1966 and 1969 however, the FCES was shortened, and finally terminated in 1970. Unlike many other foreign countries, there are no national government standards for assessing foreign educational credentials in the United States.
Since 1970, the foreign credential evaluations have largely been done by private credential evaluation services or through the offices of colleges and universities. National guidelines for judging foreign educational credentials have come primarily from placement recommendations developed by the Council, but this is not a government organization and their recommendations are non-binding. International guidelines also come from UNESCO and these are often legally binding, but are some times ignored.
Since the Council has been in existence since 1955, many institutions and agencies in the United States respect their guidelines. Although, colleges and universities have their developed their own assessment policies, many of them are still at least loosely derived from the Council's guidelines. Additionally, the Council plays a leading role in the areas of immigration and employment. While the UNESO's recommendations would be hypothesized by most to hold more official weight since they are legally binding, many agencies still do not look to them for guidance.
Most people are unaware of the field known as foreign credential evaluation service. This is a formal effort to perform foreign academic degree evaluation, assessing the relationship of various international credentials to the prevailing academic standards in the United States. These results are then used for immigration and employment purposes. Other uses include professional licensing and academic evaluation. Originally handled in this country directly by the government, this is now left up to private industry or to institutions directly. A major influence, however,are the UNESCO guidelines, which carry a lot of weight in the field. In many cases these are even legally binding.
Published May 9th, 2008
Filed in Government
