The Process of Foreign Education Evaluation: What You Need to Know

Planning to move to Canada or the US for higher education, join a professional program,  licensing, a better job opportunity, or for Permanent Residency (PR), then it is important to understand how foreign education evaluation works. Whether you have completed your degree in India or any other country, you will need to prove that your earned degree or qualifications are equivalent to the education standards in Canada, the US or any destination country. This is where foreign education evaluation, also referred to as credential evaluation, comes into play.

In this blog, we will try to get into the importance, process, and how Worldwide Transcripts can help you get university transcripts and ensure a stress-free experience for immigration, education, licensing or employment purposes.

Why Is Foreign Education Evaluation Required?

Foreign education evaluation is the process where your academic credentials, your University Transcript, degrees, diplomas, and other educational certificates are assessed and compared with the destination country’s educational standards to determine their equivalency.

It’s Required For:

• University Admissions: Institutions in Canada and the US require Academic Transcripts from a university or school of studies to complete their Admissions Requirements. This permits them to assess whether candidates’ last education meets the standards for their educational programs or requirements.
• Employment Opportunities: Employers need an official, verified, and authoritative document serving as Proof of Education to assess and evaluate whether you are qualified for the job role.
• Immigration and PR: For Canadian immigration like Express Entry(1), you must get your credentials assessed and evaluated via an Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) by an authorized body such as WES, IQAS, or CES.
• Professional Licensing: Professions like medicine, engineering, and teaching require credential validation to issue practice licenses.

Understanding Key Terms

Before diving deeper, let’s clarify a few important terms:

• Transcript: An official document issued by your university, listing all subjects studied, grades earned, and degrees awarded.
• Academic Transcript: A more detailed version of a Transcript that includes performance evaluation over each semester or academic year of the course.
• University Transcript: Specifically issued by the university, it’s required by most ECA bodies and employers.
• Apply for Transcript: The process of submitting a request to your institution for issuing your educational records.
• Transcript Services: Assistance offered by Transcript agencies or Transcript service providers to help students procure and send official transcripts globally.
• Request Transcript: A formal application made to the university or service provider to begin the transcript procurement process.

Types of Credential Evaluations

Depending on your purpose, be it education, job, or immigration, there are different types of evaluations:

• Document-by-Document Evaluation – This provides an overview of your qualifications and confirms their authenticity. Ideal for employment and immigration.
• Course-by-Course Evaluation – Used for higher education, this breaks down each subject, grade, and GPA equivalency to match the Canadian/US curriculum.
• Work Experience Evaluation – Needed primarily for visa categories like the H1-B in the US, where work experience is assessed instead of formal education.

Step-by-Step: How the Foreign Credential Evaluation Process Works

Step 1:Choose the Right ECA Body

For Canadian immigration, opt for one of these:

1. WES (World Education Services)
2. IQAS (International Qualifications Assessment Service)
3. CES (Comparative Education Service)
4. ICAS (International Credential Assessment Service)

For US-bound applications:

1. WES
2. ECE (Educational Credential Evaluators)
3. J&SA (Joseph & Silney Associates)

Step 2:Collect All Required Documents

• • • To ensure smooth processing, gather the following:
    • All semester/year mark sheets
    • Degree or Provisional Certificate
    • Government-issued ID (like Passport/Aadhaar)
    • ECA form specific to the evaluation body

Step 3:Request a Transcript from Your University

You can apply directly through your university, but the process is often time-consuming and lacks proper tracking. That’s where Worldwide Transcripts steps in as your trusted Transcript agency.

How Worldwide Transcripts Can Help

We offer a simplified way to bypass many of these challenges. We take care of the complexities, ensuring a worry-free experience from the beginning till last, providing personalised service with faster turnaround times. We are India’s top Transcript service provider in India, assisting students and professionals globally in getting their official transcripts from indian universities and sending them to affiliated ECA bodies in the US and Canada.