Written by: Peggy Bell Hendrickson, Director, Transcript Research
In the first article of this series on Building a Resource Library, I alluded to the importance of creating your own in-house library of sample credentials. There are a number of ways this can be accomplished, and I will try to cover the highlights as well as provide specific examples. Please note that all of the websites linked in this article belong to ministries of education, evaluation services, government agencies, education providers, and other reputable resources. This compilation is not intended to be an exhaustive resource but hopefully will help you to expand your current library of resources. As always, please feel free to send me additional resources that I can add to the digital newsletter with a heartfelt thanks to you and your institution!
There are a number of considerations when trying to identify sample credentials, not least of which includes the fact that, in many countries, the level of autonomy held by the institutions may affect the consistency of the records. Countries whose academic institutions have little autonomy are generally more likely to issue highly standardized credentials that may even been awarded by the government body that authorizes that level of education such as the . Countries whose educational institutions see more autonomy may be held to less rigid standards, which often means the documents are issued more quickly but with less uniformity. Obviously, those countries whose institutions can design and issue their own educational records will result in greater variety, making it more difficult to build your resource library of samples.
Furthermore, the level of education may also determine the ease of finding sample credentials. For many countries, secondary level credentials follow a standardized format and are often issued by the Ministry of Education or the national leaving examination body. The very nature of a leaving examination ensures that graduates from the same year will end up with the same credential throughout the country since the graduation documents are not issued by the school. Countries with leaving exams also have a greater chance of offering electronic verification tools since all graduates are being measured against a state- or nationwide examination and are being assessed and awarded by the same examination body. International leaving examinations such as the International Baccalaureate and University of Cambridge International Examinations also follow a standardized format that is easily recognizable regardless of whether the documents are issued from schools in Pakistan or Mexico. Conversely, countries without a leaving exam are more likely to authorize the secondary schools to issue the official high school records that may not follow a standardized format or only loosely align to a credential outline. For those countries, verification is usually done by contacting the institution directly, though increasing numbers of countries are maintaining lists or building electronic databases of graduates even if the complete high school records are not included.
University-level documents are far less likely to be issued by the Ministry of Higher Education or using a standardized model, with some exceptions, including France, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, China (prior to 2017), the Russian Federation, and much of Eastern Europe. In addition, the Diploma Supplement from the signatories of the Bologna Accord makes it easier to track down samples as growing numbers of national governments and individual universities are making their diploma supplement layout available online. In other countries or regions, like Spain or Francophone Africa, university degree certificates may follow a similar layout without actually being on a government-designed document while the transcript format may be entirely up to the discretion of the institution and may even vary from faculty to college within the same institution. Furthermore, non-degree credentials may not follow the same appearance as degrees, and documents issued by private universities or non-university higher education institutions may also have visual differences. Technical and vocational credentials may also fall outside of documentation norms depending on the country and level of study.
The internet is an amazing tool that has revolutionized many industries including our own. Ministries of Education increasingly share information instantly on their websites about their educational system, recognized institutions, grading systems, matriculation exams, and much more. Evaluation agencies (both private and government-sponsored) create training products, resource publications, and conference materials that they may share online. Membership organizations at local, regional, national, and global levels provide people with access to educational system updates and reviews, and often their material is made available to members of the public on their websites.
Sample credentials are incredibly useful for a number of reasons. When working with a credential that is new to you, you obviously need to research the credential and institution and how it fits within the scope of its educational system. You also need to carefully examine the documents to ensure that you are making evaluation decisions based on authentic credentials.
If working with what appears to be an official document, you might examine it under a lighted microscope or magnifying glass, especially to look at things like the logo, stamp or seal, signatures, borders, and any color printing. When examined up close, images and text often appear differently (pixelated, blurry or shaky, hand-drawn, etc.) under a high-powered optic if the document has been printed on a low-resolution printer rather than an industrial printing press. You hold it up to a light to check for a watermark. You might enjoy shining an ultraviolet flashlight in hopes of identifying UV thread. You can feel the paper to inspect its weight, grain, thickness, gloss, texture, and other tactile attributes. You may visually examine it to investigate the symmetry, color, layout, size, format, style, and other optics. Another strategy is to make a photocopy to see if the paper has copy protection. You can look for other causes of concern such as inconsistencies in the font, misuse of accents, whiteout or other alterations, and spelling or language errors, among others.
More sophisticated anti-fraud measures include heat sensitive paper, holograms, kinegrams or foil seals, security thread, embossing, microprinting, guilloche, hidden message technology, foil printing, rainbow printing, hidden messages or images, and other fascinating strategies for protecting document integrity. I presented on the topic of hands-on document features at the 2016 TAICEP conference because I find anti-fraud measures to be fascinating. If you want samples of some of these security features, the handouts for the 2016 conference are still on the TAICEP website and accessible to members.
But what happens when that document does not have security features? How do you proceed if you do not have official documents either because of institutional policies or the stage in the applicant’s processing? What do you do if the document looks to be official, but you have nothing with which to compare it? If this is your first time seeing a particular credential, how do you know that it is even the credential it purports to be?
Sample credentials can be extremely helpful when working with documents from all over the world and from varied time periods. Where can you find samples? There are a number of great resources.
Ministries of Education and other national educational bodies frequently provide invaluable references regarding education laws and education systems. Sometimes, though, they also offer sample credentials as a method of curtailing fraud. As an example, the Russian Federation provides a comprehensive list of all academic documents beginning with basic general education through the Doctor of Sciences degree. This list includes the certificates/diplomas and supplements (academic records) since the Soviet Union era through the present day, and most of the samples are in color. Similarly, the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Certification Authorities provides detailed information about the secondary education subjects and courses, assessment systems, and, in most cases, samples of certificates and other records of achievement for the six states in Australia as well as two territories. The Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training, which is responsible for primary and secondary education, hosts samples of contemporary secondary credentials on its website.
In other cases, sample credentials may be provided for certain levels of study within the education sector. In many countries worldwide, students prove high school graduation through successful completion of national leaving examinations. In a similar manner, further education and training bodies under the umbrella of the education ministry may offer graduation examinations leading to standardized qualifications. In both cases, the examination body is often an excellent tool for verification, but barring that, you may also be able to access sample credentials. Umalusi, the council for quality assurance in general and further education and training from South Africa, provides extensive color samples for documents issued since 1992, ranging from secondary graduation diplomas to national certificates to training awards.
Sometimes, sample credentials may be maintained or shared by agencies or associations affiliated to the Ministry of Education but legally separate from that institution. For example, Ukraine ENIC-NARIC is a state-owned company of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. Its website features color samples of completed secondary education, vocational education, and all levels of higher education since the 1980s. In addition, the site includes detailed information about the security features by academic level, document type, and date range. Likewise, the Estonian ENIC-NARIC published an incredibly useful work, Higher Education in Estonia 2010, that details the educational system, grading and credit systems, and educational reforms, while also listing public and private higher education institutions and providing samples of numerous diplomas.
In other instances, you may find that individual schools will host images of the national diplomas on their own website. That is the case for the Beltei International School in Cambodia. Its website includes color samples of the national junior and senior high school diplomas that are issued by the Ministry of Education as well as the school’s own graduation diploma. The National University of Management in that same country also includes a sample of its own transcript and graduation certificate on its website. Countries that have or hope to become signatories of the Bologna Accord utilize the Diploma Supplement and a number of higher education institutions share samples online in a similar vein. This is the case from such varied institutions as the University of Reading in the United Kingdom, Sirnak University in Turkey, University College College in Ireland, Bukovinian State Medical University in Ukraine, and Vladimir State University in Russia, among many others. The diploma supplement is not valid without the diploma, which often does not have a sample online, however,
These are only some of the methods of obtaining samples available to you. You could actually reach out to educational advisors at the Ministry or other educational agencies from the country in question, asking for samples or if they would examine a scan of the documents you have. You might also be able to send them to the institution for verification, confirming not only that you are dealing with authentic documents but also giving yourself a valuable new sample for your own library. Any time you receive a response back from an institution or educational advisor, you should save both the contact information as well as the now verified credential to your resource library! Similarly, you may choose to reach out to individual people that you know from the field or whose names you have found on a conference handout or article. These are truly excellent resources but obviously rely on the commitment of the person or agency you have contacted to respond in a timely fashion with the information you need.
Another wonderful opportunity for gathering samples for your library is to connect with various international education organizations around the world. Many of these organizations host conferences, produce newsletters, or offer training online or in person. Sometimes, the conference handouts, newsletters, or training materials may be made available to the public for a short time before or after their event. Those organizations may also release publications, white papers, working groups, task force summaries and more. In addition, some of these materials may include country studies, detailed information on evaluating credentials from a particular country or region, and even our highly sought sample credentials.
Conference presentation and handouts in particular provide wonderful opportunities for obtaining new samples. This includes conferences from TAICEP, NAFSA: Association of International Educators, the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, the European Association for International Education, the Asia-Pacific Association for International Education, and others. Sometimes you can find the conference handouts online, or the conference program will identify the presenter, who may be willing to share them with you individually. I have included very incomplete lists of some of the organizations that conduct this type of work, but these are only the organizations I am personally familiar with. If there are other conferences, member organizations, or education networks that you use or are aware of, please send them my why so I can add them to this document and make things easier for our entire credentials evaluator community.
Newsletters and other industry publications can also provide easy access to sample credentials. Our own TAICEP Talk Newsletter has provided sample credentials in this issue and most previous editions, and it is a practice that I hope will continue for many years. The NAFSA IEM Spotlight (formerly the NAFSA wRAP-Up Newsletter, which I edited for several years) is published several times a year. This publication often includes sample credentials from a particular country or, as is the case for the November 2017 edition, a range of pre-university credentials. World Education News and Reviews, the long-standing news source from World Education Services, features a number of country profiles that include education ladders, educational system information, and sample credentials.
In addition, you may find sample credentials from others who are using credentials to make admissions decisions, recruit students, or evaluate foreign credentials as part of a branch of the Ministry of Education. NUFFIC, the Dutch organisation for internationalisation in education, is one such agency. They have produced marvelously detailed publications on education systems and how they compare to the Dutch system. Information about the various levels of the education system, an education ladder, recognition authorities, and sample credentials are all included in each of the 85 country modules. The International Qualifications Assessment Service (IQAS) of Alberta, Canada, has produced extremely detailed country guides for more than a dozen countries. The IQAS guides delve much more deeply into the education system and include extensive color photographs of sample credentials for each country profiled. The Information Centre on Academic Mobility and Equivalence (CIMEA) in Italy shares detailed information not only on the Italian education system but has also produced guides and publications for a number of other countries, including Brazil, India, and Russia. Beyond just the sample credentials in these publications, CIMEA also maintains several online databases of grading scales and university systems. The Nordic National Recognition Information Centres (NORRIC) has also produced a number of country publications as part of their Study Visits series. Some of the reports are only available in Swedish, but most of them do not have sample credentials while nearly all of the English-language reports do include samples. The University of Minnesota hosts a short list of sample credentials from China, Korea, Malaysia, India, and Vietnam on its website. The Ontario University Registrar’s Association 2017 conference produced a useful conference handout on the higher education system and credentials of France, complete with several samples. Shelby Cearley of Texas Tech University hosts an international education blog where she shares dozens of conference handouts she has collected or written over the years.
Some of the agencies that offer evaluation services, either at a national level or as private industries, also offer subscription database services for credentials evaluators. These vary in content, depth, and pricing structure, but they typically include many of the same features: educational system overviews, education ladders, in-depth reviews of education levels, types of higher education institutions and credentials, information about recognized institutions, and much more. AACRAO EDGE does include many sample credentials as well as contemporary country profiles and US equivalency recommendations. The UK NARIC International Comparisons also provides a robust database including samples and British equivalency guides. The Australian Government Department of Education and Training also offers an online database of Country Education Profiles, though these profiles do not include sample credentials.
Private evaluation companies located in the United States are another unexpected resource for sample credential. In most countries, foreign transcript evaluation is done at the national level, often by the Ministry of Education or an agency or office appointed by that body; some of those agencies are listed elsewhere in this article as they provide a tremendous resource to the international education community, both with respect to their own country as well as education worldwide. In the United States, on the other hand, education is decentralized at every level and so is credentials evaluation. There are many hundreds of private evaluation companies in the US since there are no national or state requirements for starting such an organization. The agencies mentioned in this article are all known to me personally and are staffed and run by experienced credentials evaluators who contribute greatly to the field of international credentials evaluation; many are members of TAICEP and on TAICEP committees.
Educational Credential Evaluators runs The Connection, which offers free access to its message board and lists of resources. Paid membership includes digital access to their own publications and training library as well as a new feature: an extensive database of hundreds of sample documents (including confirmed frauds). The International Education Research Foundation (IERF) has produced a number of free print publications in the last several years, including its fabulous “Index of Secondary Credentials” which includes not only the names of the secondary leaving credentials from approximately 200 education systems but also color photographs of sample credentials from more than 30 countries/systems. In addition to its excellent newsletter mentioned elsewhere in this article, World Education Services produces country profiles that cover educational systems and include samples, often with free accompanying webinars. Academic Credentials Evaluation Institution runs a blog that covers a wide variety of international education topics including education system information, which sometimes includes sample credentials. My own organization, Transcript Research, also shares its conference handouts and e-publications on our website, and we offer dozens of handouts on credentials evaluation, most with sample credentials.
The information below represents a very incomplete list of resources for acquiring samples to grow your sample credential library. This represents a tiny fraction of the material available, but this project continued to grow and spiral out of control until I worried it would languish on my computer as I added to it daily (it wouldn’t be my first 300+ page compilation of resources for the industry!). Instead, I decided it would be better to simply call it good and hope to hear from my friends in TAICEP of other resources I should have included that I can add to the list!
Please also check out the Resources for Members section of the TAICEP website for an extensive database of print and electronic publications on a country or region basis. https://www.taicep.org/taiceporgwp/professional-development/resources/reference-materials/
There is no single source I would say is the “best resource” because it truly varies by country and time. For some countries, the only sample credentials you may find are contemporary, and the document submitted to you for evaluation is from 35 years ago. Perhaps it is the opposite, and you have a contemporary credential that you are trying to compare against a book published in the 1980s. In those instances, when you have exhausted your other resources, I would encourage you to reach out to your network. Ask on message boards and mailing lists. Send an email to the educational advising center in that country. Track down the contact information of someone who presented, wrote a country profile, or simply answered other questions on a message board for that country.
It is also worth pointing out that the vast majority of these resources are in English as that is my native language. Please also note that there are many, many, many references that are useful for credentials evaluation that are not included in this article, either because they do not include sample credentials or because I do not personally know about them, so please send your favorites my way if you don’t see them listed here!
In a previous article in this series, I encouraged you to build your own in-house resource library. I briefly explained how to use a wiki as one alternative to doing this, and it allows you to compile everything you need for country research in one place: education ladders, equivalencies, grading scales, sample credentials, verification information, and more. Whether you use electronic or physical folders, an online database, or word processing documents, the ability to quickly look up your research information and compare your documents to a sample library cannot be overstated!
Short List of Miscellaneous Resources for Country-Specific Samples:
Australia: http://acaca.org.au/go/leaving-school
Belarus: http://aacrao-web.s3.amazonaws.com/migrated/AnnKoenig15589660.pdf_51d6f127804461.14760622.pdf
Cambodia: http://beltei.edu.kh/eng/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=870&itemid=270 and http://num.edu.kh/web/web/num/Pages?id=68 and http://num.edu.kh/web/web/num/Pages?id=69
Canada (Quebec): http://www3.education.gouv.qc.ca/fpt/Bibliotheque/GuideCondAdmFinal%2013Nov2009.pdf and http://www.cesba.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/40F-Guide-Quebec_FR.pdf
France: http://www.education.gouv.fr/bo/2006/47/MENS0603037C.htm and http://oura.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/C4-1.pdf
Jordan: http://www.reconow.eu/en/index.aspx
Norway: https://www.udir.no/eksamen-og-prover/dokumentasjon/vitnemal-og-kompetansebevis/eksempler-pa-vitnemal—studieforberedende/ and https://www.udir.no/eksamen-og-prover/dokumentasjon/vitnemal-og-kompetansebevis/
Palestine: http://www.reconow.eu/en/index.aspx
Russian Federation: http://www.russianenic.ru/rus/diplom.html
South Africa: http://www.umalusi.org.za/docs/guides/2015/qcc_certificate.pdf
Turkmenistan: http://aacrao-web.s3.amazonaws.com/migrated/AnnKoenig15589660.pdf_51d6f127804461.14760622.pdf
Ukraine: http://enic.in.ua/index.php/en/educational-documents-samples
National or Regional Education Centers and Projects
Centre international d’études pédagogiques (CIEP): https://plus.ciep.fr/blocks/magazine/revueresource.php
NUFFIC Education System Modules: https://www.nuffic.nl/en/diploma-recognition/foreign-education-systems
Nordic National Recognition Information Centres (NORRIC): India, Iraq, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, and more: https://norric.org/publications
International Qualifications Assessment Service (IQAS) International Guides: https://www.alberta.ca/iqas-education-guides.aspx
CIMEA: Brazil, China, Italy, Russia: http://www.cimea.it/en/services/publications-and-databases/guides-and-publications.aspx
UK NARIC: https://www.naric.org.uk/naric/organisations/documents/sp-malaysia-seminar.pdf
RecoNow: http://www.reconow.eu/en/index.aspx
Conferences
NAFSA: http://www.nafsa.org/Annual_Conference/Annual_Conference___Expo/ and http://www.nafsa.org/Connect_and_Network/NAFSA_Regions/Regional_Conferences/
AACRAO: http://www.aacrao.org/professional-development/meetings/current-meetings and http://www.aacrao.org/professional-development/meetings/past-meetings
TAICEP: https://www.taicep.org/taiceporgwp/meetings/
NAGAP: https://www.nagap.org/annual-conference
EAIE: https://www.eaie.org/geneva.html and https://www.eaie.org/past-conferences.html
Newsletters
AACRAO Transcript – International Admissions/Credential Evaluation: http://www.aacrao.org/resources/resources-list-view/international-admissions-credential-evaluation
NAFSA IEM Spotlight (formerly wRAP-Up Newsletter): http://www.nafsa.org/resourcelibrary/default.aspx?catId=273
TAICEP Talk Newsletter: https://www.taicep.org/taiceporgwp/professional-development/newsletter/
World Education News and Reviews: https://wenr.wes.org/tools-resources/country-profiles
Paid Publications/Subscription Databases
AACRAO EDGE: http://aacraoedge.aacrao.org/aacrao-edge-login-page.php?uri=/
UK NARIC: https://www.naric.org.uk/naric/organisations/
ECE The Connection Advantage, now including Sample Documents Database: https://theconnection.ece.org/Advantage
Australian Government Department of Education and Training:
Evaluation Companies and Universities
Academic Credentials Evaluation Institute: http://www.acei-global.org/presentation-reports/ and https://acei-global.blog/
China Credential Services: http://www.chinacredentialservices.com/about/conference-presentations/
Credential Consultants: http://www.credentialconsultants.com/resources/
International Education Research Foundation: http://www.ierf.org/for-institutions/ierf-presentations/
Foreign Credits: https://www.foreigncredits.com/resources/presentations/
SDR Educational: http://sdreducational.org/lang/en/resources-presentations/
Shelby Cearley’s Blog on International Admissions: https://shelbycearley.wordpress.com/credentials-and-admissions/
Transcript Research: http://www.transcriptresearch.com/training
University of Minnesota: China, India, Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam: https://admissions.tc.umn.edu/international/docs.html
World Education Services: https://wenr.wes.org/tools-resources/country-profiles
Webinars
Academic Credentials Evaluation Institute: http://www.acei-global.org/homepage-webinars-presentations/
AACRAO: http://www.aacrao.org/professional-development/webinars and http://www.aacrao.org/professional-development/webinars/archived-webinars
American Council on Education: http://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Pages/International-Briefs-for-Higher-Education-Leaders.aspx
Canadian Bureau for International Education: http://cbie.ca/learning/webinars/
Conference of the Americas on International Education (CAIE): https://www.caie-caei.org/en/caie-canada-2017-webinar-series/#1498573090974-db621d7d-a90a
EAIE: https://www.eaie.org/training/webinars.html
ECE: https://www.ece.org/ECE/Institutions/Institution-Training-and-Resources/e-Learning
National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC): https://www.nacacnet.org/professional-development/webinars/
NAGAP, The Association for Graduate Enrollment Management: https://www.nagap.org/webinars
NUFFIC: https://cec.nuffic.nl/login/index.php and https://www.nuffic.nl/en/diploma-recognition/evaluation-of-foreign-diplomas/courses-in-credential-evaluation
TAICEP: https://www.taicep.org/taiceporgwp/professional-development/webinars/
UK NARIC: https://www.naric.org.uk/naric/organisations/training/default.aspx
World Education Services: https://www.wes.org/partners/events/?s=&partners_types=602,599
Print Publications:
AACRAO: http://www.aacrao.org/key-topics/international-admissions-credential and http://www4.aacrao.org/publications/catalog.php?category=6
ECE: https://www.ece.org/ECE/Institutions/Publications
IERF: http://www.ierf.org/for-institutions/ierf-publications/
Associations and Networks:
African and Malagasy Council for Higher Education (CAMES): http://www.lecames.org/
African Quality Assurance Network (AfriQAN): https://afriqan.aau.org/
African Qualifications Verification Network: http://www.saqa.org.za/event.php?id=125
Arab Network for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ANQAHE): http://www.anqahe.org/
ASEAN Quality Assurance Network (AQAN): http://www.aqan.org/
Asia-Pacific Association for International Education (APAIE): https://www.apaie2018.org/about-apaie
Asia-Pacific Quality Network (APQN): http://www.apqn.org/
Asian National Information Centres (ANIC): http://www.aniccw.net/
Association for Educational Assessment in Africa: https://www.aeaafrica.org/
Canadian Bureau for International Education: http://cbie.ca/learning/workshops/
Caribbean Area Network for Quality Assurance in Tertiary Education (CANQATE): https://canqate.org/
Caribbean Community: http://www.caricom.org/our-work/education
East African Network for Quality Assurance (EAQAN): http://www.iucea.org/EAQAN/
Eastern and Southern Africa Higher Education Centres of Excellence: http://ace2.iucea.org/
EducationUSA: https://educationusa.state.gov/us-higher-education-professionals/educationusa-network
European Network of Information Centres in the European Region-National Academic Recognition
European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education: http://www.enqa.eu/
Groningen Declaration: http://www.hes.edu.au/events/groningen-meeting-2/2017-groningen-meeting-presentations/
Information Centres in the European Union (ENIC-NARIC): http://www.enic-naric.net/
Information System of Educational Trends in Latin America: http://www.siteal.iipe.unesco.org/
International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE): http://www.inqaahe.org/
Inter-University Council for East Africa: http://www.iucea.org
Mediterranean Network of National Information Centres (MERIC): http://www.meric-net.eu/en/index.aspx
Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organisation (SEAMEO-RIHED): http://rihed.seameo.org/
Upcoming Sources
International Association for College Admission Counseling: https://intlacac.memberclicks.net/
http://www.meric-net.eu/en/index.aspx: Algeria, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia
Information System On pre-Bologna Academic Qualifications – ISOBAQ, http://nacid.bg/en/projects/ISOBAQ_2016
RecoLatin: http://www.recolatin.eu/new/
Inside this edition:
President’s Welcome -January 2018 Newsletter
Committee Updates -January 2018 Newsletter
Organizational Structure Updates -January 2018 Newsletter
TAICEP Meet Your 2018-2019 Leadership Team -January 2018 Newsletter
Indian Diploma Programmes Awarded by State Boards for Technical Education -January 2018 Newsletter
Brief Primer on the American Territories -January 2018 Newsletter
Cambridge Advanced Coursework: An Introduction -January 2018 Newsletter
Secondary Credential Overview- Part I -January 2018 Newsletter
European Union General Data Protection Regulation -January 2018 Newsletter
Memoriam to David Millar -January 2018 Newsletter
TAICEP News -January 2018 Newsletter
Add to your Library -January 2018 Newsletter
Recent TAICEP Events January 2018 Newsletter
Upcoming TAICEP Events -January 2018 Newsletter
From the TAICEP Website -January 2018 Newsletter
Notes from the Field -January 2018 Newsletter