Foreign degree conundrum.

[lidel]

Hello everyone.

I'm not sure where the best place is to post this, so I'm going to give it a try here. If anyone knows of a better option please let me know. This is a little out of the ordinary, but I know that some of you have quite a lot of experience with universities and study plans and may be able to give some valid suggestions. 

A little back story. I'm writing this for a friend. She is originally from Romania and completed a bachelor's of Arts in History, Literature and Theology from the Dunarea De Jos University, Galati, Romania back in 2000. This degree was to be a Romanian language teacher in her country as it is required for all students and was a great job option at the time. She got a job right out of university and taught middle school kids until 2005 when she moved to Canada and settled in an area where she was able to quickly get a job in the oilfields and lab industry. The pay was good, it didn't require a degree and she just went with it. She worked there for seven years, then left there and moved to a different area that is very small town and began raising her family. She was out of the workforce for a few years, but now her little fellow is school age and she is having a hard time finding employment that is more than the area minimum wage. Her degree has no use here, and the couple of people she has spoken with regarding updating her education have basically said that because her degree is from Romania she would need to start from scratch, and the one lady even said that her high school would be worth nothing here. This was from an area employment centre when she was looking into taking the early childhood education program certification. The response she has received has been pretty discouraging to hear and has prevented her from seeking out further education options. I'm trying to get some ideas to give her a boost. 

I don't know a darn thing about European universities and accreditation, but her university looks legitimate and lists numerous partnerships with other universities, including some in the United States and Canada. I'm encouraging her to apply for her transcript from Romania but am wondering if there are any other steps that she can take or strategies she can employ to maximize her existing education credits in the Canadian university system so she can upgrade into a degree that will have some use here. 

I'm just in the brainstorming stage of things and any ideas or sharing of similar experiences would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance to anyone who gives input.

All the best.

Shawn