How are our educational documents actually treated in other countries? This question is answered by Dmitry ROZELFELD - representative of the international corporation Foreign Consultants, Inc. in Ukraine (headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, USA), working in the field of providing services for determining the equivalence of foreign educational documents (Credential Evaluation Services).
I would like to start with the fact that all educations are equal - this provision is enshrined in the UNESCO Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education in the European Region. This document was adopted at the International Conference in Lisbon on April 11, 1997. According to the aforementioned convention, a doctor's diploma in Ukraine is a doctor's diploma in the USA, Canada, and most Western European countries. The diploma of a programmer, engineer, teacher, arbitration lawyer, and attorney is also. Where then does the persistent misconception about the non-recognition of our diplomas come from?
The whole point is that the Ukrainian educational document is completely unfamiliar to the Western employer. Indeed, the entry in the diploma "specialist" or the academic degree "candidate of technical sciences" are terms known only in the post-Soviet space. In order to determine your level of education, it is necessary to compare it with the Western one. The name of our company contains the English word "evaluation", which translated into Russian means "equivalency". Foreign Consultants, Inc. directly carries out the equivalency of any Ukrainian diploma to its American equivalent. We reissue, according to American standards, documents on higher and incomplete higher, secondary specialized and secondary education, on the conferral of academic degrees of candidate and doctor of sciences with corresponding confirmation in the USA. This also applies to those diplomas in which they have already begun to write "bachelor" or "master". It is precisely in order to compare and contrast the level of training of our bachelor and a foreign specialist holding a Bachelors Degree that the diploma is reissued.
What does this procedure represent? Evaluation is the determination of the compliance of education received in other countries with American norms and standards: in terms of the essence of the specialty, the nature and number of disciplines studied, academic hours attended, practical classes conducted, and exams taken. At the same time, on the basis of a comparative analysis of the transcript from the diploma and the corresponding American curricula, our academic hours are converted into credits, and grades into grade points, after which the GPA (Grade Point Average) value is established. The final result of the entire procedure is the so-called Evaluation Report and a certificate of a degree equivalent to the American one. The resulting document is universally accepted in the world and provides comprehensive information regarding the level of education you have received. I want to emphasize: all educational institutions and employers in the USA, Canada, and most Western European countries recognize your level of education based on a diploma reissued according to American standards.
It is necessary to reissue the diploma for those who plan to continue their studies in the USA, Canada, or Western Europe, and for those who want to get a job in their specialty. Reissuing the diploma is also important in the case of incomplete higher education: this will save significant money, since you will be credited for those subjects that you passed at a domestic university. Even in Ukraine, foreign representative offices more readily hire people whose educational documents are familiar and understandable to them.
Currently, FCI is the only organization in Ukraine providing services of this kind and having a US license for such activities. We are full members of the most influential international educational associations. These include the Association of International Education (NAFSA), the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE), the European Association for International Education (EAIE), and the American Association of Higher Education Institutions (AACRAO).
Why do we recommend reissuing your diploma at our Ukrainian representative office before leaving abroad? There are several serious reasons for this. First, FCI is one of the few companies that work with notarized copies of documents. All foreign firms work only with originals. What if the original diploma is lost during shipment? Second, we fully assume all costs associated with the translation and forwarding of your documents. In addition, by contacting our Kyiv office, you can always consult with specialists on all questions of interest. Our employees will advise you on how to reissue your diploma, where to go to study and whether it is necessary at all, what your diploma is equivalent to in a certain set of specialties, and much more.
And finally, one more important point. Recently, Foreign Consultants, Inc. granted our representative office the right to conduct the following promotion: the cost of services for citizens of Ukraine and persons residing on its territory is reduced by 30%. I would like to emphasize: throughout the world, the cost of diploma reissuance services is uniform and amounts to $250-300. In the future, of course, the financial policy will level out, but for now you have a real chance to save $70-80.
Our doctors, lawyers, engineers are highly qualified specialists who have received a good education. And I believe that we should not forget about this: we must get the maximum from our achievements - both at home and abroad!