This guide asks important questions that should be answered when pursuing the services of a credentials evaluation provider.
Institutional Responsibility
Colleges and universities that admit students with educational backgrounds from outside of the United States need to have trained admissions staff and adequate resources to evaluate foreign educational credentials accurately. While credential evaluation is typically done in-house, it can also be outsourced, entirely, or an "as needed" basis.
When searching for and selecting an outside credential evaluation service provider it is important to have your institutional needs clearly defined and to seek service providers whose capabilities match those needs. This document offers guidelines for service provider selection.
General Guidelines
In general, translation services only translate documents from one language to another without applying interpretative judgment, while credential evaluation services apply informed judgments to the interpretation of credentials and determination of the equivalency of educational programs, degrees awarded, and/or grades achieved to international and/or US standards.
Choosing a foreign educational credential evaluation service is similar to choosing other professional service providers. Criteria for choosing a provider begin with whether the provider can meet the specific needs of your institution.
Further selection criteria typically include a number of general factors such as level of preparedness, performance and price. Intangible factors also include their flexibility, and the ease with which you can do business with them.
Research Options
There currently is no single, comprehensive source of all foreign credential evaluation service providers.
Search for providers on the World Wide Web. Using search strings such as "foreign credential evaluation service" or "educational credential evaluators" will yield a number of firms and associations.
You may be able to determine from information on their web sites what areas of expertise and experience a credential evaluator has and whether there might be a match with your institution's needs.
Talk to colleagues at institutions you feel would have similar institutional needs, or who have experience in working with evaluation services. Ask for recommendations.
Ask service providers for a list of customers whom you can contact. Talk to several, particularly institutions whose needs you feel might be similar to your own institution's needs.
Compare the responses and information received from each of the credential evaluation providers contacted to the needs of your institution. If anything is unclear or more information is needed, contact Academic and Professional International Evaluations inc and Credential Evaluation Services in USA.
If you need an outside opinion, engage an unbiased international admission consultant or an experienced colleague to assist in the process.
Questions to Ask Providers
What kinds of evaluation services does the provider offer?
For what purposes do they evaluate, e.g., secondary, college/university, English as a Second Language, professional licensure, and/or immigration? Do they specialize? Does the organization provide printed information about the scope of its services, procedures used for requesting an evaluation, and evaluation policies?
How does the provider's evaluation staff get trained and stay current?
Training may include, but need not be limited to, in-house training, participation in professional conferences, participation in workshops and training programs offered by professional organizations, research on country educational systems, etc. What opportunities does the staff have for professional development? Are evaluators knowledgeable about the credentials which the institution needs evaluated?
What reference materials and resources are available to support evaluation?
Does the organization have a library of standard references in international education with an emphasis on credentials evaluation? Does the library contain resource material on the countries/credentials that your institution commonly needs evaluated? How current are the resources in the library? How is the library developed and maintained? How often are references updated? Does the organization conduct primary research? How and how often?
How long will it take to get credentials evaluated?
What is the standard turn-around time required for a provider to complete an evaluation? Are there periods during the year when the processing time may be faster/slower than the standard? Does the turnaround time meet the needs of the institution?
What are the evaluation processing fees?
Are there different services/different levels of service available? How do the fees compare to the financial resources of the institution's applicants? How do the fees compare with those of other evaluation services? How and by whom are fees to be paid? What are the terms of payment, e.g., upon receipt of invoice, 30 days, etc? If the institution needs information that is not usually part of an evaluation agency's standard evaluation report, how should the report be customized? Are there extra fees for customization?
What documents does a provider require to complete an evaluation?
On what type of documentation is an evaluation based? Does the provider have a list of specific documents for specific countries/levels of study, etc? What are the provider's policies regarding photocopies, original, or official credentials? How do the organization's documentation policies compare with the institution's policies on documentation required for domestic applicants?
Institutional Responsibility
Colleges and universities that admit students with educational backgrounds from outside of the United States need to have trained admissions staff and adequate resources to evaluate foreign educational credentials accurately. While credential evaluation is typically done in-house, it can also be outsourced, entirely, or an "as needed" basis.
When searching for and selecting an outside credential evaluation service provider it is important to have your institutional needs clearly defined and to seek service providers whose capabilities match those needs. This document offers guidelines for service provider selection.
General Guidelines
In general, translation services only translate documents from one language to another without applying interpretative judgment, while credential evaluation services apply informed judgments to the interpretation of credentials and determination of the equivalency of educational programs, degrees awarded, and/or grades achieved to international and/or US standards.
Choosing a foreign educational credential evaluation service is similar to choosing other professional service providers. Criteria for choosing a provider begin with whether the provider can meet the specific needs of your institution.
Further selection criteria typically include a number of general factors such as level of preparedness, performance and price. Intangible factors also include their flexibility, and the ease with which you can do business with them.
Research Options
There currently is no single, comprehensive source of all foreign credential evaluation service providers.
Search for providers on the World Wide Web. Using search strings such as "foreign credential evaluation service" or "educational credential evaluators" will yield a number of firms and associations.
You may be able to determine from information on their web sites what areas of expertise and experience a credential evaluator has and whether there might be a match with your institution's needs.
Talk to colleagues at institutions you feel would have similar institutional needs, or who have experience in working with evaluation services. Ask for recommendations.
Ask service providers for a list of customers whom you can contact. Talk to several, particularly institutions whose needs you feel might be similar to your own institution's needs.
Compare the responses and information received from each of the credential evaluation providers contacted to the needs of your institution. If anything is unclear or more information is needed, contact Academic and Professional International Evaluations inc and Credential Evaluation Services in USA.
If you need an outside opinion, engage an unbiased international admission consultant or an experienced colleague to assist in the process.
Questions to Ask Providers
What kinds of evaluation services does the provider offer?
For what purposes do they evaluate, e.g., secondary, college/university, English as a Second Language, professional licensure, and/or immigration? Do they specialize? Does the organization provide printed information about the scope of its services, procedures used for requesting an evaluation, and evaluation policies?
How does the provider's evaluation staff get trained and stay current?
Training may include, but need not be limited to, in-house training, participation in professional conferences, participation in workshops and training programs offered by professional organizations, research on country educational systems, etc. What opportunities does the staff have for professional development? Are evaluators knowledgeable about the credentials which the institution needs evaluated?
What reference materials and resources are available to support evaluation?
Does the organization have a library of standard references in international education with an emphasis on credentials evaluation? Does the library contain resource material on the countries/credentials that your institution commonly needs evaluated? How current are the resources in the library? How is the library developed and maintained? How often are references updated? Does the organization conduct primary research? How and how often?
How long will it take to get credentials evaluated?
What is the standard turn-around time required for a provider to complete an evaluation? Are there periods during the year when the processing time may be faster/slower than the standard? Does the turnaround time meet the needs of the institution?
What are the evaluation processing fees?
Are there different services/different levels of service available? How do the fees compare to the financial resources of the institution's applicants? How do the fees compare with those of other evaluation services? How and by whom are fees to be paid? What are the terms of payment, e.g., upon receipt of invoice, 30 days, etc? If the institution needs information that is not usually part of an evaluation agency's standard evaluation report, how should the report be customized? Are there extra fees for customization?
What documents does a provider require to complete an evaluation?
On what type of documentation is an evaluation based? Does the provider have a list of specific documents for specific countries/levels of study, etc? What are the provider's policies regarding photocopies, original, or official credentials? How do the organization's documentation policies compare with the institution's policies on documentation required for domestic applicants?
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