Home : About Euclid : Accreditation of the Member Universities

 
 
 

"Caution is recommended when assessing the claims of any university. Accreditation is only meaningful if it is recognized by governmental institutions, such as the US Department of Education, the French Ministère de l'Education Nationale, or indeed inter-governmental agencies or bodies such as CAMES. Many unrecognized and unaccredited universities claim accreditation from worthless accrediting agencies (often their own creation)."

"As a rule, do not trust any university who offers degrees for money, with little or no studies. Likewise, do not expect to convert your life experience into more than 20 credits. Any school that offers degrees for "life experience" plus a paper can only be a worthless scam. Do not embarass yourself by putting such a degree on your resume. It may take you 4 or 5 years to complete your doctoral thesis with Euclid, but time does fly and if the field matches your interest, it will be a joy to produce a published thesis under the guidance of an able mentor."

 

 

 


Within the legal framework of its statutory agreements, Pôle d'Extension Universitaire Euclide / Euclid University Consortium (EUC) organizes cooperative degree programs in the name of its constitutive parties.

These joint degrees are not issued by the Euclid University Consortium: they are issued jointly by EUCLID, an intergovernmental university, and the two governmental universities (UNDT and UBRC) that participate in the Consortium.

Since July 2008, the degrees are primarily issued by EUCLID (Euclid University), under the authority of a multilateral treaty-MOU approved by the EUCLID Participating States. The secondary joint degree issuers are UNDT, UBRC. (ULI and UL Burkina are educational partners but have no degree-granting role in the Euclid Consortium because they are private, not governmental schools).

The EUCLID charter, signed by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and/or Ministers of Education of the Participating Parties confirms the charter and accreditation in Article I which states:

"In order to ensure the international usefulness of the programs offered, EUCLID is chartered to confer diplomas, degrees and completion certificates accredited by the ministries of Education of the Participating Parties.  EUCLID, a member of the Euclid University Consortium, receives the mandate to facilitate universal access to higher education and to foster the acquisition of knowledge and competencies under the supervision of the ministries of Education and Foreign Affairs of the Participating Parties."

EUCLID Intergovernmental MOU
EUCLID Statutes

EUCLID.int Website


MORE INFORMATION ON ACCREDITATION, RECOGNITION AND TRANSFERABILITY

EUC has a mission to serve students from the four corners of the world, which makes the question of global accreditation, recognition and transferability both extremely important and complex.

Accreditation is the formal recognition of an institution or degree program by a governmental agency, or by an independent agency whose judgment is recognized by a government. In most countries, universities are considered government institutions and their degrees are issued under the direct authority of their Ministry of Education.


DIRECT GOVERNMENTAL ACCREDITATION OF EUCLID UC PARTIES

EUC is also the approved extension of UNDT, a public and national university accredited by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Chad (TC). The international agreement pertaining to the participation of UNDT in the consortium was signed by the Minister of Education with the explicit mention "for accreditation by the Ministry of Education". UNDT and its Euclid extension enjoy the international recognition associated with its full membership in the International Association of University and other leading international and regional associations.

EUC is also the approved extension of UBRC, a public and national university accredited by the Ministry of Education of the Central African Republic (CAR). In fact, the Ambassador of CAR to the United States, H.E. Emmanual Touaboy serves as High Steward of the Euclid University Consortium.

[Information regarding these two constitutive parties of the Euclid initiative can be found on the UNESCO web site].

By extension, this dual and direct accreditation of the constitutive parties means that EUC-sponsored degree programs are normally recognized by all other governments, since most operate on the basis of reciprocal recognition. This is obviously true of France and of all countries whose academic systems are patterned after the French university system.

Most other countries recognize that foreign degrees, when issued by an agency equivalent to their own Department of Education and evaluated by a credentials agency are recognized as equivalent to those issued by their own nationally or regionally accredited institutions.

Because of the consortium's partnership with ULI (Brussels, Belgium) and its commitment to take into account the Bologna process and ECTS guidelines, our joint degrees are designed to be globally transferable within European Union member states and other signatories of the Bologna process agreement.

* Euclid University Consortium / Extension functions in partnership with ULI/BE and UL/BE which hold governmental authorizations to confer degrees (Belgium, degree 7/CDLF/14.774/S - July 11, 2002 and Burkina Faso, Ministerial Degree). However, this authorization is not equivalent to formal accreditation or government recognition. For that reason, the Euclid University Consirtum considers ULI and ULB as educational partners but not joint degree-granters. Also, ULB is not authorized to issue doctoral degrees.

It is important to note, though, that as the degrees issued by ULB were reviewed and accredited by the intergovernmental organization CAMES (Conseil Africain et Malgache de l'Enseignement) at the conference of Ministers of Education which took place in December 2005. As a result, EUC students may request a Euclid to ULB degree conversion plan if CAMES recognition is important to their career plan.


OTHER INTERGOVERNMENTAL RECOGNITION

Since December 2006, a landmark cooperative program signed by IOSD and ICCI has formalized the recognition of Euclid's programs by this major intergovernmental organization of 57 member states in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent and South America. ("In order to ensure the international usefulness of the educational programs offered, ICCI recognizes the applicable governmental and multi-governmental accreditation of the constitutive universities of the Euclid consortium and therefore of Euclid sponsored joint degrees and certificates").

This official agreement ensures that students residing in OIC/ICCI member states will enjoy full recognition of their Euclid-sponsored education by their national educational and governmental authorities.

Copy of the Agreement in PDF format


SUMMARY

In summary, it should be clear that the Euclid University Consortium does not issue degrees in its own name: EUC is a consortium of universities - not a free-standing degree-granting institution.

Hence, EUC programs result in a joint degree issued by the participating institutions, within the legal framework determined by the agreements signed by the parties.

All academic records are sent the participating universities for review and approval so that degree validation and verification can be done by each EUC member institution.

This clarification is important because the concept of a network or consortium of universities sponsoring a joint-degree program is uncommon in North America for instance. It is, on the other hand, quite usual in Europe.

As a result, accreditation confirmation regarding the degree programs offered at by the consortium is etablished by examining the participatory agreements and the individual accreditation of each participant.

For the purpose of establishing the governmental and intergovernmental accreditation of EUCLID, UNDT, UBRC and the Euclid Consortium, academic and governmental partners are encouraged to consult the UNESCO database and contact the supervisory ministries of Education.

Ultimately, it must be stressed that acceptance of any academic title by another university or institution is always decided by the receiving institution and cannot be guaranteed or demanded.


Other university consortiums:

The EuroMBA Consortium
The Graduate Theological Union (Berkeley)
Joint Paris (Institut Catholique - Saint Serge - Sorbonne) Ph.D
University Consortium for Geographic Information Science
Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
The Claremont University Consortium
The White Rose University Consortium

Useful Information:

Warning on Bogus Claims of accreditation or affiliation with UNESCO

 

 
 
 

The Digital Extension of EUCLID, UNDT and UBRC, co-sponsored by ULI (Belgium) and UL/Burkina.
Euclid University Consortium members: EUCLID, UNDT, UBRC, ULI/ULB
Under the High Stewardship of H.E. Ambassador E. Touaboy, CAR / Washington, DC.
© EUCLID and Pôle d'Extension Universitaire Euclide, 2005-2008 / Terms of Use - Admission Policy
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