UK iLearn Engineering [sic]: an Interesting College, or just Interesting Questions?

[RKanarek]

Greetings,

I recently discovered dreadfully named https://www.ilearnengineering.com/, which purports to be a "UK Accredited Online Engineering College." It supports its claim by citing accreditation/regulation/whatever by IEAC and EduQual. (Note the terminal "L" in EduQual. There is an entirely different organization without the "L." Do not confuse them. You're welcome. ;-) This discovery inspired a few questions:

a. To what extent should I care about https://www.ilearnengineering.com/'s association with IEAC, and to what extent would anyone I might care about (e.g., other traditional universities, American foreign degree evaluators, etc.) care about it?

b. Same as "a.", but replace IEAC with EduQual.

c. To what extent would an "International Graduate Diploma" at "level 6" (presumably FHEQ level 6?) from an private, apparently-quasi UK college be considered equivalent to a bachelor's degree from an American college? (N.B. To the best of my dim recollection, the terms college and university are differently and perhaps more rigorously defined outside America than inside America, which might make comparisons more tricky then they seem. Or not.)

d. Skipping over its atrocious naming, would anyone care to share any useful thoughts about https://www.ilearnengineering.com/?


Thanks in advance for any information.


Cordially,
Richard Kanarek

P.S. Thanks also to our host. I've found this forum very useful!
P.P.S. I've been involved in distance adult education since the late 1980s -- anyone remember CalCampus on GEnie? -- and I just noticed that this forum classified me as a "newbie." If only, if only ... .

[bjcheung77]

Newbie is for those who joined and have no posts, after just one post, you become a junior member, and it goes up from there... You're on the sister board (DegreeInfo) as well, you've been on that board a year longer than I have (I didn't sign up for DI until Oct 2002, I just lurked on the board for a year before I signed up). For reference, your thread on the sister board: https://www.degreeinfo.com/index.php?thr...ual.63890/

[RKanarek]

Greetings,

The thread on the other board regarded the "Value of IEAC and EduQual?" It was not focused on ILearnElectronics, as this one is, though it was inspired by it.

My comment on being a "newbie" was me sharing a whimsical bit of self-reflection. It wasn't an actual complaint; the meaning of the classification was clear.

I was an active member of the distance learning newsgroup from whence DI came, so I'm still most senior! (Sadly, in more ways than one. ;-)

[RKanarek]

Greetings,

Though I have not failed to notice that neither engineering in general nor ILearnEngineering in particular are of particular interest here, I thought I'd update this thread anyway.

I just received a reply from EduQual regarding ILearnEngineering. While I attempted to solicit as much information as possible, their reply (quite reasonably) stuck to their remit. Regarding there reply, they stated that ILE "... is an EduQual-approved centre, and has been since March 2021" and then they proceed to list as endorsed what appeared to be every "EduQual Level" 4 and 5 course ILearnEngineering purports to offers. I did not cross-check EduQual's lengthy list of endorsed courses with those of ILE' s web site, but I will be happy to post the list in the unlikely event that anyone is interested.

Clarifications:
a. I/they used the term "course" as in course-of-study. No information on particular classes (aka courses) was provided.
b. ILearnEngineering's IGD is not accredited by Ed uQual, but by IEAC, so EduQual provided no information on it.

[Jonathan Whatley]

Though I have not failed to notice that neither engineering in general nor ILearnEngineering in particular are of particular interest here, I thought I'd update this thread anyway.

Engineering would be a big interest here if we knew a new affordable and self-paced way to earn a degree or degree-applicable credit in engineering.

So far this looks like legitimate but non-standard non-degree credentials in engineering. If we saw a way to convert it to degree-applicable credit, interest would increase.

[NotJoeBiden]

The only other self-paced program I have seen is the CU Boulder masters programs through Coursera. But those are $2k/course

[RKanarek]

Greetings,

TLdr: One may or may not be able to top-up an ILE/EduQual qualification to a proper university degree. Some possible – but ABSOLUTELY NOT DEFINITE – options are listed. Use of ILE studies for prior learning fodder, or whether some PLA and or other studies will also be required is not discussed. Some of the options may be useful in their own right.

Regarding obtaining a degree, EduQual claims that its qualifications can be topped-up to “...to Degrees awarded by many British and international universities” (https://eduqual.org.uk/about/recognition/). AFAIK none of the institutions they mention award engineering-related degrees, but they do claim that their list is not all inclusive.

Assuming that attending face-to-face classes isn’t an option, there may be an extremely tiny number of options for topping-up one of ILE’s awards into a university-issued three or four year bachelor’s degree – OR NOT. I know not which!

Teesside University offers a few fully online options for topping‑up a national certificate or diploma into a BEng Tech bachelor’s degree (three or four year?). They also offer HNCs and HNDs in "engineering" (technology, apparently). Their website is as clear as mud, check for yourself:
  https://www.tees.ac.uk/sections/onlinele...ourses.cfm

University of Portsmouth seems to be “the” place to go (digitally) for a distance engineering degree – numerous caveats omitted. See
  https://www.port.ac.uk/study/courses/und...ngineering

The non-UK Irish Atlantic Technology University, nee IT Sligo, may or may not be an option. Also, it may or may not require multiple brief but non-contiguous visits. There may be a disconnect between what they say they will require and what they will require, with the difference benefiting the learner. That was, at least, what I inferred from my last conversation with someone at IT Sligo about a decade ago. On my last conversation with someone at IT Sligo, they seemed to have had as many students as they wanted, and weren’t interested in foreign students, but YMMV.
  https://www.atu.ie/

Kind regards,
Richard Kanarek

[Robson]

Rather pricey at 7995 GBP for the equivalent of a degree