Discerning dubious from legit foreign schools

[smartdegree]

As someone from North America, the best way to tell is really to check if the major foreign credential evaluators (e.g. WES) recognize the institution / degree.  It does not matter if the degree is prestigious or not in the local country - if the evaluators think it's not equivalent, then the qualification has limited to no value where I live.  Obviously if you live in Europe or Asia, this does not apply.

I'm going to disagree with this, a bit. The most common method I expect employers to use to "evaluate" a degree would be a Google search. If a quick search turns up that the school is prestigious locally, that would be a boon. 

Of course, that's assuming that they even go that far. If employers put that much effort into determining the legitimacy of a degree, there wouldn't be diploma mills.

That might be true but many locally prestigious schools are in a country where English is not spoken (e.g. France, Spain, Italy, China etc).  If we apply the same logic that employers might not be willing to put in the effort to do online research (and I agree that might be probable) then I have my doubts that employers will want to go through foreign websites even if they can use google translate.  But I get your point.  I know some schools in the UK like Heriot Watt in the past where their degrees were not recognized by WES due to the way they were organized.  But those are the exceptions rather than the rule.  

My comment on using WES was just my personal contribution to this thread on ideas for our forum members to verify schools.  Everyone here obviously has different ideas on how to go about this.

Lastly, I live in Canada where WES is widely used in all organizations, from immigration to employment. It is not uncommon here for various companies/organizations to ask for credential evaluations because roughly half of Torontonians were born or educated outside Canada. If for some reason your qualification was considered substandard, then it matters not if it was prestigious in your origin country (e.g. India, China, Philippines, Africa, Caribbean etc).

[rachel83az]

The problem with attempting to verify with WES, etc., before even getting a degree is that they often won't even talk to you unless you're paying them right then for a degree evaluation. There is never a guarantee that a particular degree will get a favorable evaluation, but this thread is intended to help students feel more secure in their choices without having to play games with an evaluator first.

[bjcheung77]

WES is not the one size fits all approach, as sometimes WES Canada and WES US gives different results in regards to recognition of previous studies and the credentials they give. It's a good 'tool' to use, but sometimes going with the smaller player may yield better results. I would always check with the foreign nations policies first and then make sure all the required checkboxes are marked off...

[Harry101]

This is why i use a lot of times Education Ministries, public Unis /Faculty or public Labor services in the EU to get a confirmation. People respond from insta to a week with input on verification of the degrees. The only thing they will charge you should you wish to proceed with the verification.

I had to edit my post. WES actually has a free Degree Preview Tool for equivalency and covers most degrees awarded by recognized degree-granting institutions https://applications.wes.org/ca/degree-e...ency-tool/

[elcastor21]

List of accredited universities in El Salvador: https://www.mined.gob.sv/descarga/instituciones2021.pdf

As of 2021:

[rachel83az]

https://www.enic-naric.net/

Mostly, but not entirely, restricted to EU countries. Among other things on the page are links to databases of recognized universities in the countries listed. For instance, recognized universities in Estonia: https://harno.ee/en/recognition-qualific...cation-ins

[Tomas]

Czech republic:
https://regvssp.msmt.cz/registrvssp/
and
https://www.msmt.cz/vzdelavani/vysoke-sk...kol-v-cr-3
(official up-to-date lists, both in Czech language, but can be used with Google translator)

[bjcheung77]

Thanks for the updated info, yes, the countries respective Ministry of Education or equivalent is the main counterpart to look into, in addition to NARIC... Just so many things to look at, I would create a checklist and make sure those institutions check the boxes off (all of them if need be).

[nykorn]

Sweden: All legit university studies are found on antagning.se (there is also an English version of the site).

Secondary or post-secondary but non-university level, such as trade school or the Swedish equivalent of getting a GED, may be called vuxenutbilding (adult education), komvux or hermods (certain brand of adult education), yrkesutbildning (career education / trade school), yrkeshögskoleutbildning (yh-utbildning or yh-skolor for short).

A legit accredited education gives out diplomas, degrees, or will give out education that will appear in the "merits / grades" section of your personal page on antagning.se. For example, Medborgarskolan is a school, with real classes imparting real knowledge, but does not usually give out degrees or diplomas so you need to read each course description. TISUS is a Swedish test that does not give a real grade and is not from a specific school, but it is legit as it will appear in the merits section of your antagning.se profile.

If you search, Google will say that Swedac is the official accreditation agency for all of Sweden, however it is different from American accreditation in that it accredits things regarding safety control such as the drinking water purity and the automotive industry, not education.

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Update: If you look at a Swedish university website it will not normally mention any kind of accreditation whatsoever. There is also no list of schools on the Ministry of Education or Skolverket (School Bureau) websites.

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Update 2: A lot of Swedish degrees and schools have never been evaluated by WES. This seems to be because most people immigrating to the US have a PhD or and many schools don't offer PhDs. The majority of Swedish people probably go to the US on a family/spouse visa and don't require a degree check for immigration or work. I was the first to get one done by WES for my university and I have a Bachelor's.

[Ebbwvale]

The discussion of foreign schools comes up often here, especially in regards to graduate degrees. But because most of the students that visit are from the US, we don't always know how to tell when a school is legit or not. If you have information about specific countries, please share here.

France:

I wanted to correct this part of my post cause i think people are mixing or not aware how it works in France.
This link @Messdiener is applying for licensing from the;
a) Ministère de l'Éducation nationale, de l'Enfance et de la Jeunesse https://www.education.gouv.fr  (Ministry of National Education and Youth)

...what you should be looking at is

b) Ministère de l'enseignement supérieur https://www.enseignementsup-recherche.gouv.fr/fr  (Ministry of Higher Education)

This link explains it: https://www.european-agency.org/country-...epartments
If it's not listed in:
1. https://www.hceres.fr/en/recherche
2. https://www.cefdg.fr/fr/ecoles-et-formations-visees
3. https://data.enseignementsup-recherche.g...eur/table/

Or checking the bag pages for:
1. https://www.enseignementsup-recherche.go...e-de-46529
2. https://www.enseignementsup-recherche.go...orat-46523

Then i would avoid it. Especially if you can not find it on ANABIN or has a score H-. An easy guide for checking this is going to the https://www.enic-naric.net/page-France and browse for Recognised Higher Education Institutions. Safest and 100% most accurate.

Australian schools can be checked via an Australian Govt Websitehttps://www.teqsa.gov.au/provider/global-leadership-institute-pty-ltd
This school actually has a dorty percent discount at present for post grad plus time payment