At ICAE, we review curriculum to make sure it meets US regional or national accreditation requirements, and we also evaluate foreign credentials for US degree equivalency. That means when we review credentials, whether or not the program meets US accreditation requirements for the degree equivalency are examined closely. This makes us the ideal resource for the highest standard of credential evaluation services, raising the standard of excellence for the industry.

It also means that when we review curriculum to make sure it meets accreditation requirements, we bring a global understanding of how this degree will translate into academic value across borders.

ICAE works with boards of education as well as US institutions of higher education to develop and review curriculum to submit for accreditation In every degree curriculum, the following areas of study must be met for US accreditation: Natural Sciences, Humanities, Social Sciences, Mathematics, Electives, and a Field of Specialization – the “major.” The sequence of classes taken, including prerequisites, lower level, and higher level classes, are also important to structure curriculum fit for accreditation in the US. Having completed a major factors into this as well. If a student completes the baseline 120 credits required for a US Bachelor's degree, but has not completed a major, then the terms of graduation have not been met.

It is important to note that a Bachelors of Arts (BA) and a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree are different in that a BA requires at least 3.0 credits of Language Arts or a Liberal Arts component, and a BS requires at least 5.0 credits of Natural Sciences. When developing curriculum, institutions need to be aware of this difference, and plan their degree tracks accordingly. We can help you.

For more information about ICAE and how to work with us to develop and review academic curriculum before submission for accreditation, visit http://www.academicevaluation.org http://www.academicevaluation.org.

The reality of students entering the workforce is changing as businesses of all sizes become more global in scope.

Those entering the workforce today must be prepared with highly specialized education, but also with a multidisciplinary skillset and an adaptable mind. It's a paradox that's left many institutions of higher education stumped. How do you create specialized curriculum that also cultivates the flexibility required for a multicultural, integrative working environment?

At ICAE, we're tackling this problem head on. We work with professors around the globe to develop and review programs and curriculum before and after accreditation to make sure they are up to US Department of Education standards, as well as have what it takes to prepare students to enter a global, multidisciplinary workforce.

“With consulting professors from all around the world, ICAE has a unique global perspective to bring UNESCO's vision into practice on campuses across the country. ICAE helps schools develop innovative curriculum while meeting US academic requirements for accreditation,” states Sheila Danzig, international education expert and Executive Director of prominent credential evaluation agency TheDegreePeople in recent article, “ICAE Helps Schools Develop Curriculum for Peace.”

UNESCO's Policy on Education is a pillar of our philosophy that states education is a human right, and is necessary to cultivate peace, respect, and sustainability around the world. We are proud to be one of just three UNESCO approved evaluation agency membership organizations.

We work with schools and boards of education to develop, review, and implement curriculum that integrates a multidisciplinary skillset into a specialized focus. We help schools attract an international student body and create curriculum that welcomes them into their education. When a global perspective is present, the school doesn't need to rely so heavily on the curriculum to promote an international view because with the proper presence and guidance, students will share socio-economic and cultural perspectives from their own first hand experiences. The key here is integration. It's a complex art that cannot rely on cookie cutter solutions. The same bodes true for credential evaluation. That's why none of our member agencies rely primarily on online data bases, but instead maintain their own current resource libraries and research each and every case uniquely.

To work with experts here at ICAE on curriculum and program development, credential evaluation, or to learn more about what we do, simply reply to this email or visit academicevaluation.org.

A primary focus of ICAE has always been to set a high standard of excellence for academic evaluators worldwide, protecting consumers from predatory evaluation agencies.

We earned UNESCO approval by developing accountability measures that hold both the organization as a whole, and all of its members up to scrutiny by governmental and non-governmental oversight authorities, as well as to the public that we serve directly. We do this in these two ways:

1. We hold ourselves directly accountable to the public by creating a complain section where the public can file complaints against ICAE members and ICAE itself. Complaints will be responded to promptly, and more than three unresolved complaints or excessive complaints will result in membership suspension.
2. We hold ourselves accountable to governmental and non-governmental oversight authorities by voluntarily supplying affidavits to the State Consumer Affairs Office which binds ICAE to compliance with consumer protection guidelines and ensures disciplinary action should we be in violation of them. Our member organizations are required to adhere to Consumer Affairs guidelines and encouraged to submit affidavits of their own. In addition to this, ICAE and all accredited members submit themselves for inspection by the US Better Business Bureau, the US Department of Education, and by all other relevant governmental oversight organizations.  All ICAE members are required to do this within the second year of membership since the accreditation process takes about a year to complete.

Alongside consumer protection measures, we stay up to date on new consumer protection regulations, laws, and guidelines.

In an industry with very few checks and balances, it is essential for organizations to voluntarily ensure their own transparency. In doing so, ICAE and its members set a standard of excellence for the industry and provide consumers products and services they can count on.

For more information on ICAE and its consumer protection policies, visit academicevaluation.org.

ICAE has recently joined NACES and AICE in being the only credential evaluation membership organizations with UNESCO approval. What sets ICAE apart is that evaluators also have a complex understanding of curriculum development that meets US regional and national accreditation requirements, setting the highest standard for credential evaluation in the industry.

Credential evaluation goes far beyond simply translating transcripts into English. When ICAE evaluators conclude that a foreign degree is the equivalent of a given US regionally or nationally accredited degree, it means that the degree has been thoroughly reviewed to certify that the requirements for the areas of study necessary to meet US accreditation requirements for that degree have been met.

ICAE works with boards of education as well as US institutions of higher education to develop and review curriculum to submit for accreditation In every degree curriculum, the following areas of study must be met for US accreditation: Natural Sciences, Humanities, Social Sciences, Mathematics, Electives, and a Field of Specialization – the “major.” The sequence of classes taken, including prerequisites, lower level, and higher level classes, are also important to structure curriculum fit for accreditation in the US. Having completed a major factors into this as well. If a student completes the baseline 120 credits required for a US Bachelor's degree, but has not completed a major, then the terms of graduation have not been met.

It is important to note that a Bachelors of Arts (BA) and a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree are different in that a BA requires at least 3.0 credits of Language Arts or a Liberal Arts component, and a BS requires at least 5.0 credits of Natural Sciences.

When ICAE evaluators review credentials, whether or not the program meets US accreditation requirements for the degree equivalency are examined closely.  ICAE members' advanced understanding of curriculum accreditation requirements makes the organization the ideal resource for the highest standard of credential evaluation services, raising the standard of excellence for the industry.  To learn more about ICAE, visit http://www.academicevaluation.org.

We formed the International Center for Academic Evaluation to address the problem of low quality and inaccurate credential evaluations.

There is very little mandatory oversight in the industry of foreign credential evaluation with most evaluation agencies relying primarily on online databases like EDGE for equivalencies. Online databases attempt to provide cookie-cutter solutions in a world where there really are none. At ICAE, we understand that every evaluation must be uniquely researched and documented to provide an accurate understanding of the academic value of each pathway through education.

Our members must maintain their own current research libraries for evaluations, rather than relying primarily on online databases. Senior evaluators must have in depth understanding and experience with international education, as well as evaluations for college, university and graduate program admissions, as well as for US work visas. ICAE and its members are in compliance with US Department of Education evaluation standards, as well as UNESCO standards of excellence.

ICAE is now one of only three academic evaluation membership organizations with officialy UNESCO approval. We have education experts on hand all over the world to work with you.

To get the very highest standard of academic evaluation guaranteed, work with ICAE and its members! Visit academicevaluation.org to learn more.

When we formed the International Center for Academic Excellence (ICAE), we did so with the intent of raising the bar of excellence for academic evaluation of degree programs and for credential evaluation.

Credential evaluation agencies, college and university admissions offices, and even USCIS have become dependent on generalized online databases for credential evaluation, which has lead to low quality and even inaccurate evaluations that don't take the specifics of the academic program, job, or visa the evaluation is needed for into consideration. This hurts individual clients, as well as the employers, industries, and institutions of higher education involved, as well as the entire industry of academic evaluation in general.

Online databases like EDGE are helpful tools only if they are used as PART of an extensive toolbox because they only express the most conservative of equivalency judgments. Primary reliance on online databases presents a cookie cutter solution to a far more complex situation.

All of our members maintain their own reference libraries and keep them up to date as the terrain of international education is always changing. Senior staff are well-versed in academic accreditation and equivalencies across borders, and understand different visa requirments, international trade agreements that impact academic equivalence, and college and graduate program admissions precedents. Each evaluation written by our members is uniquely researched and written for each client's individual pathway through education, work experience, academic program content, and for the purpose the evaluation is ordered for.

To work with us, visit academicevaluation.org.

UNESCO has extended its approval to the International Center for Academic Evaluation (ICAE). ICAE is now one of only three academic evaluation member organizations with UNESCO approval.

The purpose of the UNESCO Policy on Education is to establish a standard for the cultivation of high quality education worldwide that prepares students to enter into a global marketplace and cultivate international peace and understanding through education and industry. ICAE organized with the understanding that there is no government oversight in the United States for academic evaluation across borders. For that reason, it is up to organizations to hold its members to a high standard of excellence. ICAE does this by following the UNESCO standards for academic evaluation – whether it's evaluating a program for national or regional accreditation or evaluating a foreign degree for US academic value. ICAE is in compliance with the US Department of Education, UNESCO legally binding instruments, and other guidelines for credential evaluation established internationally.

UNESCO has approved the organization because ICAE member agencies must undergo a rigorous vetting process to ensure they are up to ICAE standards of exellence. No ICAE members are primarily reliant on online databases for evaluation guidance, and every case is thoroughly researched. Member agencies are also required to maintain their own up-to-date reference libraries to ensure each evaluation is carried out in a thorough and well-documented manner.

ICAE works with academic institutions and school boards to develop and evaluate programs and curriculum for accreditiation in accordance with US Department of Education academic standards, as well as UNESCO academic standards.

It is important to be able to trust the accuracy of academic evaluations. Since there is no government oversight, ICAE relies on other trusted authorities as a foundation for thorough, accurate, and useful academic evaluations. As one of only three membership organizations with UNESCO approval, ICAE evaluations can be trusted to uphold international standards of excellence.

Most universities and licensing boards will only accept evaluations from organizations with UNESCO approval. Until recently, there were only two organizations that met this standard. Two options is not adequate for a mission of global scope. Now, ICAE offers another option. With professors all over the world, ICAE offers a unique global insight for program and curriculum development and evaluation necessary in a world where the global marketplace permeates nearly every industry.

For more information on ICAE or to work with the organization on credential evaluation or curriculum development and evaluation, visit academicevaluation.org.

The membership organization International Center for Academic Evaluation (ICAE) is setting the gold standard for the academic evaluation industry.

As one of only three membership organizations with UNESCO approval, a principle focus of ICAE is protecting consumers from predatory evaluation agencies and setting a high standard of excellence for academic evaluators worldwide.

Following a rigorous vetting process, the organization ensures continued accountability and consumer protection for itself and its members through these measures:

1. ICAE and its accredited members submit themselves for Inspection by the US Department of Education, the US Better Business Bureau, and other relevant government agencies. Since the accreditation process takes about a year, all ICAE members are required to submit themselves for inspection by these oversight organizations within their second year of membership.
2. Even though it is not required by law, ICAE will voluntarily supply affidavits to the State Consumer Affairs Office binding the organization to inspection for compliance with consumer laws and disciplinary action should the organization be found in violation of Consumer Affairs laws and guidelines, and consumer rights. All ICAE members are encouraged to submit affidavits of their own, and required by ICAE membership laws to follow these guidelines.
3. ICAE will create a complaint section where complaints can be filed by the public. ICAE and its members will be required to respond promptly to these complaints.  If there are excessive complaints against a member agency or organization, or if there are more than three unresolved complaints, it will result in membership suspension.

With these consumer protection measures, ICAE ensures that it and its members will be held accountable to governmental and non-governmental oversight authorities, as well as to the consumers themselves. In addition to these measures, ICAE and its members will stay up to date on Consumer Affairs guidelines, consumer rights, news, and updated laws and statutes regarding consumer protection.

For more information on ICAE and its consumer protection policies, visit academicevaluation.org.

In the face of the high cost of education, problems transfering college students are faced with when their credits don't transfer, and the pay and career upgrades workers can cash in on with a degree, degree mills have become a prevalent problem for individuals, industries, and society.

What is a degree mill? A degree mill poses as a legitimate institution of education and sells fraudulent credentials to their victims and customers. Degrees from seemingly legitimate institutions of higher education can be purchased and used. These fraudulent degrees are hard to spot because they are designed to dupe their customers and the employers that hire them, and they are often global in scope. For example, a degree mill can claim to be located in Virginia and issue a US degree, with an IP address in the Pacific Islands, and a physical address somewhere completely different. This means legal jurisdiction and litigation is difficult to pin down. At the same time, there are many loopholes to be exploited when it comes to diplomas because the US doesn't actually have any federal oversight of institutions of higher education. Accreditation is volutary and each state has differed educational regulation rules. Now, in addition to diploma mills, there are accreditation mills that diploma mills can use to add yet another level to the illusion of legitimacy.

According to the American Council on Education, as of 2017 there are about 98 million people in the United States who are vulnerable to these degree mills because they are of working age without a completed degree. Amost 31 million of these workers have already completed one or more years of college without having earned a degree. Since even an Associates degree adds about $3100 on average to the annual salary of American workers, there is a huge drive to simply have a degree whether or not workers put in the time and resources towards earning it.

At the same time, there is a worldwide lure to diploma mills by the illusion of having a degree they can take abroad to work. This is where we see foreign workers running into problems, petitioning for work visas from institutions that are unaccredited. Oftentimes, this goes unnoticed by employers until the RFE arrives in the mail from CIS.

An estimate 2,615 diploma mills exist around the world with 1,008 of them in the United States. When we look at the numbers, in the United States alone, it is estimated that 400 of these diploma mills award around 500 fraudulent PhD's each month.

This is damaging on many levels. First of all, it harms the worker because if their fraudulent degree is uncovered their reputation can be permanently ruined. Not to mention being hired for a job with credentials they didn't actually earned in many cases means they'll be in over their head and their work performance will be subpar. On an institutional level, companies and organizations can fall victim to hiring workers who aren't actually qualified for their jobs. Systemically, degree mills act as a deterrent to actually persuing higher education. For example, why would a worker spend all the time and money it takes to earn an MBA when they can just fill out a form online, pay a fee, and get one in half an hour?

Degree and accreditation mills are a major threat facing academic excellence worldwide. ICAE sets out to fix this problem on two levels – on the level of the individual and employer, and on the systemic level.

ICAE requires all of its members to become accredited within the first two years of membership.  All members are held to a high level of excellence and accountability.  All ICAE members including us here at TheDegreePeople are familiar with accredited institutions of higher education in the US and abroad, as well as accrediting bodies.  Each credential evaluation we write is meticulously researched to make sure that the degree is legitimate.  On the systemic level, ICAE works with colleges and universities to develop degree programs for accreditation.  In developing this curriculum we encourage institutions to be more accomodating about transferring credits earned in other institutions, and work experience equivalencies.  This breaks down the roadblocks to earning legitimate degrees instead of being lured into the degree mill shortcut.  With systemic changes that make it possible for the 98 million Americans without degrees to earn them, running the risk of patronizing a degree mill for fake credentials becomes far less appealing.

In the meantime, here are some tips to spot a degree mill:

• Look into the duration and academic content of study. Degree mills have high turn around time from when the customer applies for the degree and earns it. Little or no academic requirements and advertised low cost for the degree are also big red flags.
• Double-check .edu institutions. In 2001, there was a ruling that limited these URLS to only post-secondary institutions, but those who already had these URLs were grandfathered in. According to the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, in 2015 it was found that of the approximately 7000 .edu domains, 2400 of those don't meet the requirements for the .edu domain according to the qualifications set forth by the 2001 ruling.
• Be on the lookout for misspelling and similar names. Degree mills and fake institutions often use names similar to legitimate institutions.
• If there's no physical address for the institution, this is a big red flag.

To work with ICAE credential evaluators to spot fraudulent degrees, or to develop curricula to fight the problem of degree mills on a systemic level, visit www.academicevaluation.org.

As a member of the International Center for Academic Excellence, here at TheDegreePeople, we are committed to providing the correct credetial evaluation every single time. This upholds excellence within the industry itself providing reliable credential evaluations and setting the standard for the industry at large, but also for academic institutions, employers, and immigration services.

What is a credential evaluation?

It is an accurate analysis of a foreign degree that clearly shows all Areas of Study required in US curriculums are met. That means to be considered the equivalent of a US degree, the curriculum requirements for graduation of regionally accredited US universities must be met.

Dissecting a foreign degree has layers. First, the credential evaluation will make sure that the degree has been earned from an institution that is accredited by the country's department of education itself, or by another accrediting body recognized by the country's government. Once accreditation has been established, it's time to look at the credits completed, and the progression of education within the academic content of the credential. For example, a US bachelors degree has 120 college credit hours as a minimum requirement for graduation. However, within this, there are lower and upper level courses that must be taken in sequence to count towards graduation. The progression of completing prerequisites before completing higher level courses within a major must clearly be shown in the correct credential evaluation.

However, this is just how you write a standard, correct credential evaluation.  It's one thing to write an accurate credential evaluation, but it's an entirely new level of understanding and excellence to write the correct credential evaluation needed for the visa in question, or for the graduate program, or for the job.  Taking the nuances of why the evaluation is required into practice, along with the audience that will be making judgments on the evaluation, is the very reason why ICAE requires its member organizations to keep up to date reference libraries, have international education experts on hand, and keep up to date on academic program admissions precedents, federal caselaw, CIS approval trends, and international trade agreements.  For this reason, ICAE is one of only three member organizations with UNESCO approval.

The correct credential evaluation goes beyond simply translating educational documents into English and referencing online equivalency databases. Each evaluation must be written uniquely, well-researched, and take the reason the evaluation is needed into account.

For more information on credential evaluations or to work with an ICAE member, visit academicevaluation.org.