Keeping up with international student applications

Following an incredible two-decade run of growth, Canada is now home to the third largest population of international students in the world, with over 642,000. That includes a six-fold increase seen since 2000, with a tripling in numbers over the last 10 years alone.

To maintain that momentum amidst the current challenges of COVID-19, it will be crucial for universities to continue to stay on top of their international student admissions.

Educational Credential Evaluators has expanded their services across the border to assist Canadian universities and their applicants with international educational credential assessments.

While new to Canada, ECE has been a trusted name in assessments in the United States for 40 years. In that time ECE has served over 2,000 institutions and completed over 600,000 high-quality reports, with over 35,000 completed in 2019 alone.

Depending on their needs, students seeking to further their education in Canada can choose from three different types of academic assessment report: a General Assessment Report, a General Assessment Report with Grade Average, or a more thorough Course-by-Course Assessment Report.

Each level of report adds greater depth of information. General Assessment Reports include Canadian equivalence for each educational credential. A General Assessment Report with Grade Average adds the grade average for each university level credential. The Course-by-Course Assessment Report includes everything from the previous reports, plus credit and grade equivalents for university level courses and identification of upper-level courses for undergraduate or professional studies.

ECE also offers the fastest turnaround time for a Canadian assessment report, with an average of just five business days. That’s because unlike other organizations that handle assessments for immigration, which can tie up reports for weeks or months, ECE processes assessments for educational purposes only.

Thanks to their high level of focus and attention to detail, ECE became a founding member of the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services in the U.S., where they remain a member in good standing. With this expansion of services into Canada, they are applying for membership in the Alliance of Credential Evaluation Services of Canada.

For added efficiency, institutions can choose to receive reports electronically through ECE® Dispatch, ECE’s free electronic delivery and notification system that provides secure access to the complete ECE® Report package, including the assessment results and international educational documents in one convenient PDF document.

ECE works directly with the institution’s admissions department or any department that handles academic credential assessments.

These services are all backed by ECE’s emphasis on exceptional customer service, which includes communication with full-time customer service representatives and a 24/7 automated chat for simple questions, available on the ECE® website. Applicants can even talk directly with the evaluator who completed their assessment. And if time is a factor, as it almost always is, all applicant and institution messages are returned within 24 hours.

While Canada’s universities continue to face challenges in light of COVID-19, it will also be important for them to find new ways to accommodate their soon-to-be growing influx of international students.

And with ECE’s expansion of services into Canada, both students and institutions have a great new resource for fast, high-quality credential assessments that can help them maintain that momentum into the future.

Unlocking the Promise of International Education®. Commencing its 40^th anniversary, Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE) is a nonprofit organization that reviews educational achievements by individuals from other countries and converts them to the Canadian system for purposes of further education. Our mission is to promote the betterment of individuals’ lives and society by ensuring that educational qualifications are fairly and accurately recognized across borders. We take pride in our meticulous, high quality educational credential assessment reports based on official documents and expert research as well as our quick turnaround time and superior customer service.