Articles provided by RE-Reston.com

Most individuals, both here and overseas, know nothing whatsoever about the existence of the foreign credential evaluation service. In fact, it is that agency which does the very important work of determining the equivalency of various international accreditations according to our own educational standards. This is necessary for purposes of immigration rulings, licensing approvals, admissions to advanced higher-education programs, and so forth.

Despite it being a relatively unknown field, the field of foreign credential evaluation is growing rapidly, and it has evolved a great deal over the past thirty years. In the start, educational equivalencies in the U.S. were usually determined by counting the number of years a person had studied in a foreign country and then comparing it to the level of education a student would have completed in the same number of years in the United States. This, of course, is not accurate.

Little thought was given to the amount of education provided each year. In numerous countries, students are in class almost double the amount of time of students in America. Techniques for reviewing the credentials of overseas education have gotten more complicated over time and it is no longer as straightforward as it once was.

Initially, the evaluation process was done by the U.S. Department of Education by the Foreign Credential Evaluation Service. But during 1966-1968, the FCES decreased in size and was eventually closed in 1970. Compared to other countries, there aren't any uniform national standards for the assessment of foreign educational credentials in this country.

Evaluation of foreign credentials since 1970 had been largely done by private credential evaluation services or through the offices of colleges and universities. Although the Council had developed initially the placement recommendations that provided the national guidelines for evaluating foreign educational credentials, being a non-government organization, their recommendations are non-binding. The UNESCO have provided international guidelines that are often legally binding, however these are at times ignored.

Since the Council has been in existence since 1955, many institutions and agencies in the United States respect their guidelines. Although, colleges and universities have their developed their own assessment policies, many of them are still at least loosely derived from the Council's guidelines. Additionally, the Council plays a leading role in the areas of immigration and employment. While the UNESO's recommendations would be hypothesized by most to hold more official weight since they are legally binding, many agencies still do not look to them for guidance.