Virginia University of Lynchburg Accreditation on Warning

[Airamb]

The VUL catalog specifically says that foreign degrees are to be evaluated by WES, which is a NACES-approved evaluator. It also allows for "equivalent" evaluators. I interpret this to mean other NACES-approved evaluators. Validential is not NACES approved. These are facts not "minced" words. This is about the College of Business at VUL making a judgment call on Validential being "equivalent" to a NACES-approved evaluator of foreign credentials. If ECE, a NACES-approved organization, evaluates ENEB master's degrees equivalent to a US RA bachelor's degree, then that is the "equivalent."

Suppose an ENEB graduate can get one of the many NACES-approved evaluators to label an ENEB master's degree equivalent to a US Master's degree. In that case, I agree it is equivalent.  Validential is not "equivalent" to NACES evaluators. If VUL wants to accept foreign degrees not equivalent to NACES standards then they need to amend the admission policy that it conforms with Overview | Virginia State Council Of Higher Education, VA (schev.edu) and TRACS. When a college within a university doesn't follow the admission standards, it potentially jeopardizes the reputation and accreditation of the entire University! This isn't about you being "smart" or clever!

That said, I recognize universities have broad discretion in making policy exceptions and waivers. However, I also believe "Image" is an important aspect. Additionally, unlike many other universities in the U.S., VUL does not just deal with the US Department of Education and the TRACS accreditor but the Virginia States Council of Higher Education, which sets its own standards of higher education in the State of Virginia.

Please enlighten me. According to the posts on this forum, ENEB is an unaccredited school offering $150 Groupon® master's degrees with a 50-question test-out option that leads to the award of an MBA. ENEB has an agreement to "transcript" the coursework with Universidad Isabel I, which is an accredited school. Validential, a non-NACES evaluator, will evaluate the Isabel I/ENEB degree as equivalent to a US Regionally accredited master's degree when no other NACES evaluator will do so. VUL will now accept applicants who received a master's degree from a 50-question test-out option from a $150 Groupon of an unaccredited Spanish University that was transcripted with the accredited University of Spain Isabel I and allow those credits to partially meet the 90 graduate credits required by the Virginia State Board of Education to obtain a doctoral degree. Undoubtedly, the Virginia State Council of Higher Education will take notice! Not doing so would be a gross oversight affecting Virginia schools' reputation and "image" overall.

[bjcheung77]

Actually, a brief FYI before you dwell deeper into this, you want to review a few things, all in all, there are many points of view, from different angles and government departments of education... It's not just Validential, other non-NACES or non-AICE members are acceptable, it depends... Here's a thread in regards to Validential and the last few posts are very informative, even Validential's CEO had responded to a couple or triple of our questions and concerns. Link: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-Validential

Again, there are a few states that will accept Validential for evaluations of foreign credits, it's not just Virginia that has this offering, but other states as well (noted in the last few posts on that link above). If you want to search the ENEB thread I mentioned in that post, you'll see links to other states and their education department listing non NACES and non AICE members authorized to evaluate international transcripts and other foreign credentials. Clear as mud, I know...

[Airamb]

Actually, a brief FYI before you dwell deeper into this, you want to review a few things, all in all, there are many points of view, from different angles and government departments of education... It's not just Validential, other non-NACES or non-AICE members are acceptable, it depends... Here's a thread in regards to Validential and the last few posts are very informative, even Validential's CEO had responded to a couple or triple of our questions and concerns.  Link: https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-Validential

Again, there are a few states that will accept Validential for evaluations of foreign credits, it's not just Virginia that has this offering, but other states as well (noted in the last few posts on that link above).  If you want to search the ENEB thread I mentioned in that post, you'll see links to other states and their education department listing non NACES and non AICE members authorized to evaluate international transcripts and other foreign credentials.  Clear as mud, I know...

Do you know of any other universities or colleges in the State of Virginia that accept Validential evaluations? The Commonwealth of Virginia Education Board has its own set of high standards that may vary from boards of education in other states. Take the 90 graduate credit requirements for a doctoral degree in Virginia for instance. It would be reassuring to see other Virginia state-recognized schools accepting Validential or other non-NACES evaluators.

[michaeladsmith2]

I want to address a point that was raised on the forum regarding my educational background. It was mentioned that my progression from a Diploma to two foreign Masters (ENEB) and then to an accredited US Doctoral degree seemed suspicious.

I want to clarify that there are accredited UK schools that allow experienced professionals with 7+ years of leadership, management, or human resources experience to enroll in their MBA programs without a Bachelor's degree. I began my MBA journey at the University of Wales - Trinity Saint David and later chose ENEB/Ui1 due to cost considerations.

Several UK schools, such as Ducere Global Business School (https://ducere.education), who partner with ONLY accredited schools worldwide, offer MBA programs without a Bachelor's degree requirement.

ENEB is aware that their degree may not be recognized worldwide on its own, which is why they issue both an ENEB degree and a Universidad Isabel I degree. Universidad Isabel I is an accredited university listed on The World Higher Education Database, giving schools like VUL the right to accept it as a valid credential. One school I applied to only asked if Ui1 was on the WHED. They didn't need an FCE. 

In conclusion, VUL and other institutions have the authority to accept a Masters degree from an accredited university like Universidad Isabel I, even without additional documentations such as a NACES FCE or Validential FCE.

This will be my final post on this subject. I have clarified my point on several posts. If this is not enough to squash this debate, because of people's personal need to be superior or argue a mute point, then there's nothing more to say.  

[Airamb]

I want to address a point that was raised on the forum regarding my educational background. It was mentioned that my progression from a Diploma to two foreign Masters (ENEB) and then to an accredited US Doctoral degree seemed suspicious.

I want to clarify that there are accredited UK schools that allow experienced professionals with 7+ years of leadership, management, or human resources experience to enroll in their MBA programs without a Bachelor's degree. I began my MBA journey at the University of Wales - Trinity Saint David and later chose ENEB/Ui1 due to cost considerations.

Several UK schools, such as Ducere Global Business School (https://ducere.education), who partner with ONLY accredited schools worldwide, offer MBA programs without a Bachelor's degree requirement.

ENEB is aware that their degree may not be recognized worldwide on its own, which is why they issue both an ENEB degree and a Universidad Isabel I degree. Universidad Isabel I is an accredited university listed on The World Higher Education Database, giving schools like VUL the right to accept it as a valid credential. One school I applied to only asked if Ui1 was on the WHED. They didn't need an FCE. 

In conclusion, VUL and other institutions have the authority to accept a Masters degree from an accredited university like Universidad Isabel I, even without additional documentations such as a NACES FCE or Validential FCE.

This will be my final post on this subject. I have clarified my point on several posts. If this is not enough to squash this debate, because of people's personal need to be superior or argue a mute point, then there's nothing more to say.  

In my mind, this isn't about you Dr. Smith! This is about a Virginia school accepting graduate credits that were evaluated at the bachelor level by a NACES-approved evaluator that were counted towards the 90 graduate credit requirements for the award of a doctoral degree in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This is not a national issue but a state policy developed by the Virginia Council on Higher Education. I'm positive all these evaluators have disclaimers saying the institution, government, education board, employer, etc., may reserve the right to accept or reject their evaluation. VUL accepted it. However, I'm not convinced that the Virginia Council of Higher Education, upon audit, will accept it towards their 90 graduate credit requirements for the issuance of a doctoral degree in the Commonwealth of Virginia. I hope I am wrong.

[eLearner]

In my mind, this isn't about you Dr. Smith! This is about a Virginia school accepting graduate credits that were evaluated at the bachelor level by a NACES-approved evaluator that were counted towards the 90 graduate credit requirements for the award of a doctoral degree in the Commonwealth of Virginia. This is not a national issue but a state policy developed by the Virginia Council on Higher Education. I'm positive all these evaluators have disclaimers saying the institution, government, education board, employer, etc., may reserve the right to accept or reject their evaluation. VUL accepted it. However, I'm not convinced that the Virginia Council of Higher Education, upon audit, will accept it towards their 90 graduate credit requirements for the issuance of a doctoral degree in the Commonwealth of Virginia. I hope I am wrong.

You are wrong. Virginia is not going to care. No school is obligated to accept evaluations only from NACES members. NACES is not the only valid oversight in that field, btw. Most schools use WES as the go-to evaluator, sure, but schools have the right to accept or reject whatever they want. Admission requirements have flexibility, as they should.

This is about a Virginia school accepting graduate credits that were evaluated at the bachelor level by a NACES-approved evaluator...

That is meaningless. A different evaluator deemed it as Master's level and the school accepted that. It's a done deal.

[Airamb]

You are wrong. Virginia is not going to care. No school is obligated to accept evaluations only from NACES members. NACES is not the only valid oversight in that field, btw. Most schools use WES as the go-to evaluator, sure, but schools have the right to accept or reject whatever they want. Admission requirements have flexibility, as they should.

This is about a Virginia school accepting graduate credits that were evaluated at the bachelor level by a NACES-approved evaluator...

That is meaningless. A different evaluator deemed it as Master's level and the school accepted that. It's a done deal.

The optics are not good! This "different evaluator" does not hold NACES nor AICE credentialing/approval. It is like saying anyone can hang a shingle and set up a degree credentialing/evaluation business that is accredited by the Better Business Bureau and damn you if you don't accept my evaluation. This is not the intent of an "equivalent evaluator" as mentioned in the school catalog. I asked previously, are there any other Universities in the State of Virginia that accept academic evaluations from Validential? Otherwise, lets agree to disagree, or end the argument without reaching a shared conclusion.

[eLearner]

You are wrong. Virginia is not going to care. No school is obligated to accept evaluations only from NACES members. NACES is not the only valid oversight in that field, btw. Most schools use WES as the go-to evaluator, sure, but schools have the right to accept or reject whatever they want. Admission requirements have flexibility, as they should.

This is about a Virginia school accepting graduate credits that were evaluated at the bachelor level by a NACES-approved evaluator...

That is meaningless. A different evaluator deemed it as Master's level and the school accepted that. It's a done deal.

The optics are not good! This "different evaluator" does not hold NACES nor AICE credentialing/approval. It is like saying anyone can hang a shingle and set up a degree credentialing/evaluation business that is accredited by the Better Business Bureau and damn you if you don't accept my evaluation. This is not the intent of an "equivalent evaluator" as mentioned in the school catalog. I asked previously, are there any other Universities in the State of Virginia that accept academic evaluations from Validential? Otherwise, lets agree to disagree, or end the argument without reaching a shared conclusion.

I don't "agree to disagree" when the positions being offered by the other side are objectively invalid. Foreign Credential Evaluation is not regulated or overseen by government entities. This is not the same circumstance as accreditation. So for that reason alone, it doesn't matter what schools in what states have or haven't accepted Validential evaluations, but if you're that concerned with it you could always look into it on your own. 

Foreign Credential Evaluation is not a state/legal matter, at least not in this regard. These are individual school matters. If they were state/legal matters most of these evaluators wouldn't be able to survive, because then every school would only accept evaluations from the small handful that states give the ok to and the industry would be mostly dead outside of that. The industry outside of the NACES fold survives because there is open competition, and believe it or not some schools actually openly accept evaluations from non-NACES and non-AICE evaluators like Validential. Other schools don't openly say it, but they accept non-member evaluators as well. The industry is working fine as it is. The kicker is that the biggest and most well-known NACES evaluator and evaluator in general is WES and WES sucks in a number of ways. Bad customer service, poor response times, poor turnaround times, and a lot of ridiculous decisions.

On the school matter point, every school reserves the right to make an admission judgment that may or may not correspond with their written conditions. That literally happens all the time, and I can tell you that I got into a graduate program once some years back that I was definitely not eligible for based on the school's outlined requirements, but I challenged the admission requirements by letter in such an impressive fashion that the school admitted me. I then completely aced the program.

Honestly, you should consider just letting this go. It really is making something out of nothing.

[Airamb]

"Honestly, you should consider just letting this go. It really is making something out of nothing."

Oh my Gosh! I had no idea this was not a U.S. home-based degree forum with open and free speech. Which country is Degreeforum.net operated out of? I understand now. My sincere apologies.

[jg_nuy]

I think this poor horse is ready for burial. Would be great to leave it until there are more updates on VUL's accreditation warning, which was the original topic.