Why do we need education evaluation:
Some employers require our diploma or education to be certified if we have not finished any school in Canada
Universities require it if we plan to study at a higher degree than the one we currently have
It will also be helpful if our profession is regulated
However, most often, we need to evaluate education when we intend to participate in the Express Entry program – then (to be able to create a profile for the EE program at all) we must include the so-called Educational Credential Assessment (ECA) in our profile.
World Education Services (commonly known as WES) is one of the few institutions that will perform the EVALUATION of your education necessary in emigration. Therefore, WES is most often recommended on forums related to Express Entry. However, information has started to appear that IQAS currently (March 2017) has shorter deadlines and better contact with them.
List of other institutions authorized to carry out the evaluation (evaluation must be carried out after the date of designation of the institution, but in most cases, it will be so):
- Comparative Education Service – University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies (Date designated: April 17, 2013)
- International Credential Assessment Service of Canada (Date designated: April 17, 2013)
- World Education Services (Date designated: April 17, 2013)
- International Qualifications Assessment Service (Date designated: August 6, 2015)
- International Credential Evaluation Service (Date designated: August 6, 2015)
- Medical Council of Canada (professional body for Doctors) (Date designated: April 17, 2013)
- Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada (professional body for Pharmacists) (Date designated: January 6, 2014)
To start the whole process, we need to start by translating the DIPLOMAS AND SUPPLEMENTS into English. A sworn translator must do the translation (sometimes it is worth reminding the translator to use the month names in words – then Canadians have no problem deciphering the date format). If we have English versions of the diploma or supplement, the translation, of course, does not have to be done. However, it is necessary to include supplements with the diploma because, in the evaluation process, the most important thing is the number and type of subjects we had in our studies. Based on this list, WES can compare with the Canadian program.
EVALUATION OF EDUCATION IN WES
We create a profile on the WES website. There we get a Reference Number.
Once we have the translations, we make copies of everything. We send copies of diplomas and copies of translations to WES, remembering to mark everything with our Reference Number. NOTE: WES does not return the documents sent to them, so we do not send original documents. The exact list of required documents (you must select the country where the education took place) is here.
On the WES website, we can (but we do not have to!) Print and partially fill in THIS document. Of course, whether we want to use this document depends on our faith in the ladies from the dean’s office (in Poland, this document is often an unnecessary paper that confuses a relatively simple procedure).
The university completes the second part of the above document. I graduated from undergraduate studies and graduated studies at another university. I have printed two such copies. Usually, it is sufficient to evaluate only the highest completed education. Now begins the worst moment in my history under the name: LADIES OF THE DEAN’S OFFICE.
The WES document is in English. The fields to be completed are very simple. The most important thing is the name and surname and email to the Lady from the Dean’s Office or another person confirming our education on behalf of the university.
I sent a set of documents to both universities:
Copy of the diploma and supplement,
Photocopying for the translation of the diploma and supplement
WES printed document
A new envelope was addressed to WES with foreign stamps stuck on it so that the Dean’s Office could only fill in her part of the document, seal the envelope and send it.
In this way, the university itself sent to the WES directly everything that was needed. Of course, according to the WES website, I should send copies of the diplomas and supplements and their translations myself, but it doesn’t seem to make much difference to them …
Now I will describe the problem at one of my universities because you may encounter a similar situation, and it is essential how to go about it.
As I wrote earlier, the university in Wrocław was beautiful, and it did everything in one day.
However, the university in Poznań came up with the following position:
The document to be filled in is in English. The Lady from the Dean’s Office requested a certified translation of the document into Polish. OK, I think. He does not believe in my pencil translation on the document. We are sworn. She got a translation like that. Then she decided that she would still not fill out anything on the English document, only in Polish. She suggested that I take the completed translated document to a sworn translator to translate the whole document into English this time.
And here was my tactical error. I was overwhelmed by emotions. A few words too much. Several weeks of exchanging views and nerves, because the papers have to be sent right away.
As a last resort, the document was filled in by the Vice-Dean’s assistant after my intervention. Also, remember: not only the Lady from the Dean’s Office can help you …
There is no provision that you cannot fill in an English-language document, but sometimes it’s good to have a translation of it. Before sending or delivering everything to the dean’s office, it is worth asking. And it is worth being submissive.
The envelopes with the valuable contents were finally sent, and after a while, I received very positive news that my education fully corresponds to the Canadian one. Therefore, I could emigrate as a Master of…, and I got a sufficiently high number of points.
GOOD TO REMEMBER:
each document that we send to the evaluating institution should be in English or accompanied by a sworn translation into English,
each envelope sent should bear our reference number given by the evaluating institution,
the envelope sent by the university should have the university’s seal on the seal to certify the originality of the document,
if you want to evaluate technical education, it is better first to make sure that the institution conducting the evaluation deals with this type of study (NOTE: WES often does not recognize technical schools as higher education),
if your education is before the introduction of the two-cycle Bologna system (i.e., five-year studies, without a bachelor’s degree in between), then make sure, if you can, that your transcript includes information about the number of hours worked during your studies, because then mainly on this basis they will compare and look for equivalence (NOTE: sometimes one institution may recognize some studies as the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree and another as a master’s degree – sometimes it is worth using another institution if we can afford it).
by Ligia Ra (updates and supplements: Anna Sowińska)
