Events
Transcript Research is pleased to engage in a variety of events to contribute to the field of international education, from conference presentations to publication contributions. Here we have listed the highlights.
Please visit our Training page for handouts from some of these conferences and copies of our e-publications.
Upcoming Events
2021
TAICEP 2021 Annual Virtual Meeting
October 25-November 19, 2021; register online
October 26, 2021: Exploring the Pacific Islands: Credential Evaluation Daydreams
November 3, 2021: Researching International Credentials
November 4, 2021: DocuHub: TAICEP's Digital Docs Resource
November 10, 2021: The Evolution of Vocational Education in the Former Soviet Countries
Past Events
2021
TAICEP At Your Desk Series: Using the Internet Archive, Part II, Intermediate Session
video and presentation
TAICEP At Your Desk Series: Using the Internet Archive, Part I; Beginners Session
video and presentation
2020
TAICEP 2020 Annual Virtual Meeting
October 5, 2020-October 30, 2020; register online
October 16, 2020: Certificate Program and Member Resources
October 19, 2020: The Educational System in the U.S.
AACRAO Webinar: Digital Documents in International Admissions: What You Need to Know
September 22, 2020 - view the recording
Join your international credential evaluation colleagues for an exploration of digital documents in international admissions. We'll discuss the models that exist in electronic transcript exchange and how this may impact your documentation requirements for international students. You'll see hands-on demonstrations of Digital Student Data systems: how they present, how to use them, who requests the documents, whether fees are required, who can receive the documents, whether they can be shared, and more.
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TAICEP At Your Desk Series: Resources at Your Desk
April 23, 2020
After the success of the initial TAICEP At Your Desk web meeting, we asked for feedback and heard that many of you are concerned about the lack of resources while working away from your traditional print library or other in-office tools. A team of experienced credentials evaluators want to share some of our favorite resources that you can access remotely. Join us on April 23 for a Zoom meeting to learn about some of our best-loved tools for credentials evaluations.
https://www.taicep.org/taiceporgwp/resources/taicep-at-your-desk-series/
TAICEP At Your Desk Series: Electronic Verification Tips and Tricks
May 7, 2020
https://www.taicep.org/taiceporgwp/resources/taicep-at-your-desk-series/
TAICEP At Your Desk Series: Introduction to Digital Records
May 14, 2020
https://www.taicep.org/taiceporgwp/resources/taicep-at-your-desk-series/
Transcript Research Presents: Researching Credentials Online webinar
June 2, 2020
Researching international education credentials can be challenging, especially if you are at a smaller institution; are new(er) in the field; don't have an extensive library, network, or budget; or just don't know where to start. The myth of The Big Book that has all the answers is exactly that: a myth. There are many print publications that are critical to our work, but they are often out-of-date, out-of-print, or simply out of budget. Many subscription databases offer wonderful and current information, but even those are not able to be fully comprehensive so additional research may still be needed. Let us help you build your online research skills so you can get your evaluations completed and your student admissions decisions finalized.
Register and Pay Online at: http://bit.ly/30UyQzF
AACRAO 2020 Annual Meeting
April 5-8, 2020, New Orleans, LA
Cancelled due to Covid-19
Evaluation Training Seminar
March 26 and 27, 2020. Ft Worth, Texas
Postponed due to Covid-19
Transcript Research Presents: Researching Grading Scales and Degree Plans webinar
March 27, 2020
Transcript Research is delighted to announce our newest webinar on researching international grading scales and degree plans (also known as a study plan, course schedule, syllabus, calendar). We know that some of the most challenging aspects of comparing educational credentials is trying to figure out how to convert grades and credits, so this webinar is designed to help make that process a little easier.
Transcript Research Presents: Fraud and Verification Tools webinar
March 3, 2020
Transcript Research has been a leader in verification tools and takes fraud prevention very seriously since its existence. Please join us for an introduction to fraud and verification tools for international education records in order to limit your receipt of fraudulent documents.
Researching Credentials in the Internet Age
February 28, 2019
2020 NAFSA Texas State Conference, Texas A&M University
https://www.nafsa.org/connect-and-network/nafsa-regions/region-iii/welcome-texas-nafsa-page
Transcript Research Presents: International Evaluation Concepts webinar (encore presentation)
February 4, 2020
Please join us at 10 am Central Standard Time for a 1-hour webinar on terminology and concepts related to international students, international education, and international credentials evaluation. This webinar is aimed at new evaluators as well as support staff and other professionals who work with international students, applicants, and employees and their educational records. Register and pay online.
2019
Transcript Research Presents: International Evaluation Concepts webinar
December 10, 2019.
Transcript Research has been a leader in verification tools and takes fraud prevention very seriously since its existence. Please join us for an introduction to fraud and verification tools for international education records in order to limit your receipt of fraudulent documents.
Evaluator Training Seminar
November 7, 2019, Dallas/Addison, Texas
Transcript Research is hosting an all day for evaluators who are new to the field or who have not had detailed, hands-on training. Transcript Research's Evaluation Training Seminar will be held November 7, 2019 at the Dallas/Addison Marriott Quorum.
Sign up for more information here: https://transcriptresearch.com/pages/trainme
NAFSA Region III Conference
November 4-6, 2019, Dallas/Addison, Texas
Register for the conference here:
https://www.nafsa.org/conferences/regional/2019-region-iii-conference
Session: Updates to Verification and Fraud
Session: Introducing International Admissions Concepts
TAICEP Annual Conference
October 21-October 24, 2019
Stay tuned for more information about the 2019 TAICEP Annual Conference, which will be held in Vancouver, Canada. Transcript Research evaluation staff will be presenting two pre-conference workshops and several conference sessions on a variety of topics, ranging from combating fraud, the communal credential archive project, British non-university credentials, the Vietnamese education system, accreditation across borders, and more.
Register for the conference here: https://taicep2019.dryfta.com/en/
Pre-Conference Workshop: Review! Refresh! Revisit! Updates and Best Practices on Detecting and Combating Fraud
Session: Odds and Ends - Exploring British Non-University Qualifications
Session: Down the Rabbit Hole: Researching Credentials in the Internet Age
Session: Xin Chao: Say Hello to Vietnam's Educational System and Its Credentials
Session: Looking to the Future: The Communal Credential Archive Project
Session: Accreditation across Borders: How Do We View Cross-Country Accreditation?
NAFSA Texas State Meeting
March 8, 2019
We'll be exhibiting and presenting at the 2019 NAFSA Texas State Meeting on March 8 at the University of Texas at Arlington. Talk with our evaluators about Indian education or our new training initiatives.
https://www.nafsa.org/Connect_and_Network/NAFSA_Regions/Region_III/States/Texas/Welcome_to_the_Texas_NAFSA_Page/
Hands-On Experience: India, Secondary & Post-Secondary Credential Evaluation.
TxGAP Summer Institute
Transcript Research will be exhibiting at the TxGAP Summer Institute in Dallas, in Dallas June 6-7th. We're happy to talk about our custom applications for graduate admissions and evaluator training options.
International Graduate Emerging Markets Overview.
http://txgap.com/summer-institute
2018
NAFSA Texas State Meeting
April 13 2018, Prairie View University
http://www.nafsa.org/Connect_and_Network/NAFSA_Regions/Region_III/States/Texas/Welcome_to_the_Texas_NAFSA_Page/
Basics of Foreign Credential Evaluation
AACRAO Annual Meeting
March 2018, Orlando, Florida
http://www.aacrao.org/professional-development/meetings/current-meetings/2018-aacrao-annual-meeting/overview
Transcriptese 101: A Course in Learning to Read Global Transcripts
TAICEP Annual Conference
October 2018, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
https://www.taicep.org/taiceporgwp/meetings/2018-annual-conference-philadelphia/
NAFSA Region III Conference
October 2018, Little Rock, Arkansas
http://www.nafsa.org/Connect_and_Network/NAFSA_Regions/Region_III/
2017
2017 NAFSA Texas State Meeting
Everything You Wanted to Know About Evaluating, But Were Afraid to Ask
Ft Worth, Texas, March 2017
2017 NAFSA Region III Conference
The Four Basic Food Groups - Systems of Education
San Antonio, Texas, October 2017
AACRAO Fall Symposium on Three-Year Degrees
Washington, D.C., December, 2017
2016
AACRAO Annual Meeting
Phoenix, Arizona, March 2016
TAICEP Annual Meeting
Chicago, Illinois, September 2016
2016 NAFSA Region III Conference
New Orleans, Louisiana, November 2017
2015
2015 AACRAO Annual Meeting
Baltimore, Maryland, April 2015
2015 NAFSA Texas State Meeting
2015 NAFSA Region III Conference
Norman Oklahoma, October 2015
2014
2014 NAFSA Region III Conference
http://www.nafsa.org/Connect_and_Network/Engage_with_a_Community/NAFSA_Regions/Region_III/Conference/2014_Conference/
November 2-6, 2014 in Ft Worth, TX
Transcript Research will be presenting the conference session: Electronic Verification Services
This session will provide updated information on using electronic methods (email and fax but primarily the web) for verification of educational records from numerous countries at both secondary and post-secondary levels.
Please join and other sessions presenters us at NAFSA Region III for wonderful credential-related sessions on verification services, Chinese education, reading academic credentials, fraud detection, and more! The NAFSA Region III Conference will also offer the pre-conference workshop, Foreign Educational Credential Analysis.
2014 AACRAO Annual Meeting
International Education Research: It’s Easier than You May Think!
The Director of Transcript Research presented at the 2014 AACRAO Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado in May 2014 on various resources useful for researching international education credentials. This session is geared toward newcomers to the international admissions profession, admission personnel who review international educational credentials, and other personnel with a need or desire to learn more about international education in general. This session will show you how easy it is to get started and will cover the basics of international education research.
http://www.aacrao.org/resources/resources-detail-view/international-education-research–it-s-easier-than-you-think
2014 NAFSA Texas State Meeting
Transcript Research is delighted to continue to support Texas NAFSAns with our active participation in the 2014 NAFSA Texas State Meeting. This year’s meeting will be held in Corpus Christi, Texas, at the Texas A&M University campus.
Transcript Research is participating in two conference sessions:
Internet ICEcapades: Using the Internet for International Credential Evaluation
Print resources, while wonderful are useful in their own right, are often outdated. This session will give an overview of how to use the vast resources available on the internet to ensure evaluators are work-ing with the most up-to-date information available.
Speed Dating across the Globe
This poster session will focus on education in six countries whose students attend Texas HEI’s, with the selection spanning the globe: Mexico, Germany, Kazakhstan, Sudan, China, and Saudi Arabia. The posters may cover under-graduate admission, graduate admission, or both. Each presenter will give a short overview of education in his selected country with handouts or information for electronic access. Each presenter will pose a few questions for which he will bring a few small prizes.
2013
2013 NAFSA Region III Conference
The 2013 NAFSA Region III Conference will be held at the John Q Hammons Convention Center in Rogers, Arkansan from October 21 through October 24.
A wonderful array of professional development opportunities will be available for those who work with international students or students who study internationally.
Since our focus is on evaluating educational credentials and training educational specialists, we have highlighted only the sessions related to foreign credentials evaluation, but dozens of other sessions are being offered on education abroad, immigration, ESL programming, student insurance, collaborations and partnerships, internationalization, and more!
International Education Sessions and Poster Fair:
- Introduction to Foreign Credential Evaluation
- Educational Systems of the World, Part I – presented by Transcript Research
- Educational Systems of the World, Part II – presented by Transcript Research
- Determining Transfer Credit
- The Educational System of Iran
- Secondary Education Poster Fair – co-presented by Transcript Research
Transcript Research will also be hosting a booth in the Exhibit Hall so stop by and visit us. We will have complementary copies of some of our recent publications available!
For more details, including online registration, travel arrangements, and the detailed conference schedule, check the 2013 NAFSA Region III Conference Site.
2013 NAFSA Texas State Meeting
The 2013 NAFSA Texas State Meeting will be held at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio from February 14-15.
If you have international students on campus, or if you offer study abroad programs, this is the perfect opportunity to network with others at Texas colleges and universities, keep up with industry best-practices, and learn about new initiatives.
On Thursday, February 14, the following NAFSA workshops are being offered: F-1 Student Advising for Beginners, F-1 Student Advising: Intermediate, J-1 Advising: Advanced, Education Abroad Advising, Fundamentals of Short-Term Education Abroad Programming, and Health, Safety, and Risk Management in Education Abroad.
On Friday, February 15, a full day is available, along with breakfast, lunch, 4 concurrent sessions, and breakout sessions for special interest groups.
In particular, I am thrilled to announce that we have a full day of back-to-back sessions on foreign transcript evaluations. These sessions are being offered by experienced transcript evaluators from a mix of public universities and private evaluation companies.
9:00 am – Introduction to Foreign Transcript Evaluation
10:15 am – Understanding the 4 Basic Education Models
1:15 pm – Determining Transfer Credit
2:30 pm – Hot Topics: Foreign Credential Evaluations
If you conduct your own evaluations in-house, this is a wonderful and cost-effective opportunity to update your skills. If you require outside evaluations from private evaluation services, this is a great chance to meet with representatives and better understand the process.
For a list of the full complement of workshops and sessions for immigration and education abroad, please see the attached schedule.
Registration and hotel information can be found online at the NAFSA website athttp://www.nafsa.org/Connect_and_Network/Engage_with_a_Community/NAFSA_Regions/Region_III/States/Texas/
2012
November 2012
Transcript Research is delighted to be an exhibitor at the 91st Annual Meeting of the Texas Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (TACRAO). Stop by our booth during the Vendor Reception on Sunday, November 4, and we’ll be in the exhibit hall all day Monday and Tuesday. We look forward to meeting with you and answering your questions about working with a foreign transcript evaluator.
May 2012
International Credential Evaluation: Using the Internet
Our director recently co-presented a session with Nancy Katz of Evaluation Service, Inc., and AACRAO International Education Services on using the internet to research international education systems and credentials at the AACRAO 2012 Annual Meeting.
The handout from the session covers some of the most useful online resources related to evaluating international academic credentials, including:
lists of official and unofficial resources
newsletters
publications and databases
online verification services and examples
diploma mill resources
online training options
general strategies for evaluation
lots of links, most of which are also included in “Researching International Education Systems and Institutions“
May 2012
Saudi Arabia Education Updates
Our director recently presented a session on updates to the education system of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the AACRAO 2012 Annual Meeting.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has spent a tremendous amount of time and money over the last decade updating the educational system and educational opportunities for its growing population of young people. The handoutfrom this session covers numerous topics related to education in the Kingdom including:
- current and upcoming changes to education
- samples of new secondary and alternative secondary school credentials
- the ongoing scholarship program, including information on the scholarship portal, the applicant process, and acceptable documents
- lists of various types of recognized higher education institutions, including public and private universities, colleges of technology, higher technical institutes, and private health institutes
- other topics of interest to admissions officers, recruiters, and credentials evaluators
February 2012
Foreign Transcript Evaluations for Beginners
Are you new to international credentials evaluations? Do you work with international transcripts but don’t do the actual evaluations because you don’t understand them? Have you hoped to learn to evaluate but never known where to even begin? This session from the 2012 NAFSA Texas State Meeting will provide a very brief introduction to some of the most basic aspects of evaluating academic credentials from other countries and point you in the right direction to develop your own learning plan for furthering your skills given the time, budget and support you have.
2011
September 2011
Bogus Institutions e-book updated
Our free e-book, Bogus Institutions and Accrediting Bodies, has been updated. We were finding that too many people were not actually reading it and just using the lists as a definitive source of unaccredited schools so we have made some modifications. Whenever confusion has arisen about an institution on the list and a similarly-named institution, we have added more details to help clarify the situation. We have also added some information about faith-based institutions and the unique challenges they provide. As a reminder, Transcript Research has not personally confirmed the legitimacy (or lack thereof) of the institutions or accrediting bodies on the lists in this book. We have simply consolidated lists of suspect institutions and accrediting bodies that have been identified by others; the original sources are linked within the document.
Please note this document is now available upon request to educational institutions.
August 2011
NAFSA wRAP Up Newsletter – Accreditation II
It is with great pride that we announce that the NAFSA wRAP-Up newsletter team has published the second installment in our two-part series on global accreditation/recognition.http://www.nafsa.org/resourcelibrary/Default.aspx?id=28371
It is a very robust issue (nearly 60 pages without credentials!) covering the following special topics:
- Accreditation in Sub-Saharan Africa (with extensive resources and webliography)
- Australia Accreditation and Quality Issues
- Part II on Higher Education Accreditation in Canada
- Higher Education Accreditation in Chile
- Awards and Qualifications in the UK
- Accreditation in the US
- Rogue Providers in Vietnam
It also includes some of our regular newsletter features:
- Message from the RAP Chair
- EducationUSA and Regional Educational Advising Coordinator Updates
- Q&A with Jim Frey
- RAP publications update
- English Language Training and Administration
In case you missed the previous issue, Accreditation I was released at the end of 2010 and can be found online at http://www.nafsa.org/resourcelibrary/Default.aspx?id=24038
Special topics:
- Accreditation Mills by Allen Ezell
- Part I on Higher Education Accreditation in Canada
- Medical Education in the Caribbean
- Accreditation and Mutual Recognition in Europe
- Business School Qualifications in France
- Accreditation in India
- Accreditation in South Africa
- US Accreditation
Regular columns:
- Message from the RAP Chair
- EducationUSA Updates
- Q&A with Jim Frey
- RAP Publications Update
It has been a pleasure to work on these editions. They are one of my proudest achievements as Managing Editor, and I am so grateful to have gotten to work with such terrific people.
June 2011
NAFSA Online Guide to Educational Systems around the World
Good news! After a short stint of unexpectedly charging for each credential, NAFSA has again made all 116 countries (lots of good updates this year!) of its Online Guide to Educational Systems around the World available for free. I don’t know if this is a permanent situation, or if they’re planning to ease into the fees at a later date, but they’re available free of charge at this moment in time.
April 2011
FAQs for Foreign Transcript Evaluators
International credentials evaluation is fascinating, bewildering, time-consuming, thrilling, and exhausting – and that’s the stuff in English! This session from the 2011 NAFSA Texas State Meeting was designed to provide an introduction to the challenges of foreign transcript evaluations. It include numerous frequently asked – or not-asked-but-should-be! – question along with opinions, tools, and strategies for working with foreign academic credentials. Among many other topics, this session touched on: calculating credits for Russian hours, Indian marks, French coefficients, and others; official documents; accreditation/recognition and diploma mills; a glossary of international education terms; translations; advanced standing for 13-year systems; private education companies; tricky situations; building a library; and more.
Stay tuned for our formal unveiling of the new Evaluator’s FAQ which will be a permanent forum for foreign transcript evaluation Frequently Asked Questions.
January 2011
Accreditation around the World, part I
It is with no small amount of pride that I tell you that the NAFSA wRAP-Up Newsletter, a free online newsletter geared towards the areas of recruitment, admissions, and preparation, has recently released the first of a two-part series on accreditation/recognition around the world.
Accreditation is one of the more industrious projects we’ve undertaken (at least in the 5 years I’ve been on the newsletter team) which is why this is a two-part series, and we are hopeful that the second edition will be posted online in the coming weeks.
Part I includes ongoing wRAP-Up Newsletter columns, including EducationUSA updates, Q&A with Jim Frey, and RAP-related publications, as well as notes from the outgoing RAP Chair and managing editor. The accreditation topics addressed include Accreditation Mills, non-university higher education in Canada, medical education in the Caribbean, European accreditation and mutual recognition, business school qualifications in France, Indian accreditation, South African education and training system, and U.S. accreditation.
http://www.nafsa.org/resourcelibrary/Default.aspx?id=24038
2010
September 2010
AACRAO 2010 International Guide
AACRAO has just released the 2010 International Guide, a revision to the 1994 and 2001 editions.
From AACRAO’s website: The 2010 AACRAO International Guide is a comprehensive resource providing a solid foundation of knowledge for professionals working in the ever-evolving field of international education. Edited by international experts Deana Williams, Robert Watkins, both at the University of Texas at Austin, and Mary Baxton, California State University-Northridge, along with 20 other contributing authors, its twenty-three chapters contain compelling overviews of the current and future states of the field, as well as chapters on core issues such as international recruitment and enrollment management, technology, study abroad, undocumented students, fraudulent documents, and the continuing saga of the Bologna Process, which has been sweeping Europe for over a decade. As a critical part of any international reference library, it also includes practical guidance on vital concerns such as international credential evaluation, office policies and procedures, undergraduate and graduate admissions questions, community college issues, student visas, and English proficiency assessment, often in a how-to format.
http://www.aacrao.org/publications/new.cfm
We’re pretty excited about this publication since the director of Transcript Research wrote Chapter 22 on Professional Development as well as Appendices A and B on Resources and Publications.
May 2010
Indian Education Updates
The education sector in India has undergone some significant changes in the year since Kapil Sibal assumed office of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, which is in charge of the Department of School and Literacy and the Department of Higher and Technical Education, among many other things. In late June, he issued two 100 Days Plans for overhauling India’s education system. His plan for the School sector addresses 10 initiatives, while his plan for the Higher Education sector covers 24 specifics.
In advance of a NAFSA conference, we have compiled a lengthy article and much abbreviated presentation on these aggressively optimistic plans for updating and overhauling India’s complex education structure.
April 2010
Focus on Secondary Education
Speaking of conferences, we should take a moment to let you know that we’re working with the fabulous Emily Tse of International Educational Research Foundation (IERF) to present a workshop on practical applications for dealing with secondary education credentials around the world.
Called “Focus on Secondary Education: Evaluating Credentials from Around the World,” it will be offered at NAFSA on Tuesday, June 1, from 8 am until 12 pm. It will be a VERY robust four hours since we’re going to cover a lot of really exciting things:
- a world roundup of the four main educational patterns including an overview of the US educational system
- resources for secondary credentials
- identifying appropriate academic records for determining assessment, especially what’s considered an official document and who the authority is
- how to deal with it when the applicant hasn’t yet reached the official document phase
- confusion between such terms as college, bachiller, baccalaureate, etc.
- academic vs. vocational track and what they can do with the respective documents at home
- lower vs. upper secondary and where they can go afterward
- GEDs
- advanced credit and things that seem like advanced credit
- Carnegie units
- forgeries and verification
For each of these exciting topics, we’ll have samples and exercises for participants to review and process during the workshop to ensure a thorough understanding. We’re also going to provide a manual of all of the documents including samples of resource material, resources to use in the workshop, a copy of the new & exciting IERF “Index of Secondary Credentials” which also has sample documents, and an appendix of the major secondary credentials. The workshop won’t be your standard lecture and note-taking; it will include discussion, case studies, debate, group exercises, and more!
Check out http://acsearch.nafsa.org/Default.aspx for more information, and be sure to register before the Early Bird deadline on April 23.
2009
October 2009
Jewels of the Nile
This material covers credential evaluations for secondary and tertiary institutions in the nine Nile-basin countries: Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.
These materials came from a conference session presented at NAFSA Region III in October 2009. The face-to-face session involved hands-on evaluation and group discussion of equivalencies, grading scales, and placement recommendations.
Presentation (83 pages → please note that HEIs – Higher Education Institutions – are only in the handout)
Handout (51 pages)
Selected sample credentials from top 5 Nile Basin countries sending students to the US in 2007/2008 (8 pages)