Disclaimer: The following blog post is sponsored by ECE. The content represents the sponsor's views and not necessarily AIRC's. Please contact staff@airc-education.org with any questions.
Helping a student order a credential evaluation to apply for admission at a U.S. or Canadian university can be confusing. As a recruitment agent, you want to help your students through that process. How can you do that when you’re unsure of the process yourself? What documents do your students need to submit? How can documents be sent to the organization completing the evaluation report? Let’s dive in and get the answers you need!
What is the credential evaluation application process?
Most evaluation companies will have their own application for the student to complete. At ECE students follow an easy 3-step process:
What documents do students need to submit?
The required documents include their complete transcript from each institution listed on their application and any degree certificates that they received. Typically, the student will need to submit the documents in the original language accompanied with an English translation. Some evaluators require an English translation that was completed by a translation company. At ECE the student can translate their own transcripts into English if it is a word-for-word translation and in the same format as the original document. We also offer a translation waiver option for General reports.
To complete the evaluation report, in most cases, official documentation is required. The format and method of transmission varies depending on the country, institution, and program, but ECE’s overall philosophy is to require the most official, secure documentation while keeping with the standards of the country the student was educated in. For many countries this is either original documents that were issued to the student or documents in sealed envelopes to be opened by ECE. We can receive many official documents electronically, and, in some cases, accept copies of documents that can be verified online. Because the global political, economic, and cultural realities are constantly changing, we update our documentation requirements to reflect those realities. We encourage students to carefully review our documentation requirements before submitting their applications.
Are scanned copies of documents acceptable?
We get this question a lot. At ECE we are researching services all the time that offer online, shareable documents through secure websites. Like any type of document - photocopies, scans, or originals - the origin of the document is important. In addition to many institutions issuing electronic documents, there are also third parties that issue, or re-issue verified official documents electronically. Check with the evaluation organization where your students are applying to see if they work with any services that are available online. We accept documents through providers like MyCreds, Tredential, Parchment, Digitary, My eQuals, TrueCopy, and Gradintel. Also, if the institution is unable to provide paper documents, we try to work with students to accept alternatives. In some cases, ECE may be able to accept secure documents directly from a verifiable email address of the institution or uploaded scans of documents that can be verified on institutional databases.
ECE has recently developed an Agent Portal that recruitment agents can use to apply for evaluation reports on behalf of their students. These ECE Agent Use™ reports are available in U.S. or Canadian equivalency and give the agent the ability to upload scanned copies of the students’ educational documents. The completed report is delivered back to the Agent Portal and can be downloaded for inclusion with other admission documents being forwarded to institutions.
Any additional suggestions?
When helping your students apply for a credential evaluation, always research the organization they’re thinking of using. Hopefully, the provider has clear, concise instructions on how to apply for an evaluation report and how to send the required documents. Don’t be afraid to ask questions if you don’t understand something. ECE has a customer care team that is ready to answer all your students’ questions, and we also have an institution support team that provides support and guidance to recruitment agents that choose to work with ECE.
Phone:
240-547-6400
Address:
PO Box 7522
Falls Church, VA 22040
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