Within the world of credential evaluation in the United States, there are few things more hotly debated than 3-year bachelor’s degrees. Although they are prevalent in several different education systems from around the world, including France, Brazil, and Australia, this article will focus on those from India. These are by far the most commonly encountered, and perhaps the most misunderstood.
The Bachelor of Commerce, the Bachelor of Arts, the Bachelor of Computer Applications; anyone who has worked in credential evaluation or international admissions has surely run into these degrees before and has just as surely had questions. How should they be treated? Are they Indian education 3-year bachelor’s degree equivalent to a bachelor’s degree in the US, which requires at least 4 years of full-time study?
While it doesn’t seem like much – just a year – the shorter study time of these degrees does lead to a certain degree of uncertainty. If they were any shorter, such as the 2-year programs found in some countries, then it would be an easier assessment. And just a little longer and they would unquestioningly be on par with a bachelor’s degree in the US. What is one to do?
Differing Approaches: The Year Counting Method
In discussing 3-year degrees, it is best to start with the differing approaches to evaluation. Generally, they fall into two broad categories, year counting and benchmarking. At IEE (International Education Evaluations), both methods are employed, and each has their place.
The first approach – and the most common – is to look at the degree from a year counting perspective. Simply put, this means looking at the number of years required to complete the degree and comparing that to the number of years required to complete a comparable degree in the US.
This approach has some obvious advantages, and it is easy to see why it is the most used approach in credential evaluation in the US. For one, the year counting method is straightforward and easy to apply. The research revolves around determining the program’s intended duration of study; that is to say, how long was the program designed to last if the student studied full-time as intended?
There are also regulatory considerations, as many federal agencies and state licensing boards have requirements for credit hours or the length of degree programs. In these instances, the year counting method is not only necessary, it is required.
This approach does have its drawbacks, however. Year counting can be restrictive and because 3-year degrees in India are only available in certain subject areas, it puts the holders of these degrees at a distinct disadvantage when seeking recognition of their qualifications in the US. What’s more, do these qualifications really prepare the student for the chosen area less than a 4-year degree from the US? Anyone familiar with the US liberal arts model knows that a portion of the coursework taken are core classes and electives. This is by design, intending to expose students to a variety of fields and knowledge areas, but it still means that sizeable portions of a student’s transcript won’t be related to their major. In contrast, students enrolled in India’s 3-year degree programs, for their part, are engaged almost exclusively in coursework that is specific to their major.
Differing Approaches: Benchmarking
As outlined in last year’s white paper on benchmarking, this approach allows IEE to evaluate 3-year bachelor’s degrees from India (and some other parts of the world) as equivalent to a 4-year degree in the US. Research supports this approach as a viable, more equitable method of evaluation that takes the Indian education system into account as it was intended and no longer separates undergraduate students into different categories based on the absence or presence of 1 year of coursework. 3-year degrees in India still allow students to pursue graduate level study in their own country and there is no reason they should be denied this eligibility in the US.
It is true that benchmarking does come with its share of challenges. Because it is about more than just counting the years, there is additional research that must be done, in order to determine what the next level is in terms of progression of education. Does a 3-year degree lead to graduate level study? Fortunately, in India, the answer is a consistent yes.
Furthermore, it is important to keep in mind that since these degrees are viewed as equivalent to their 4-year counterparts in the US, the credits assigned must also follow suit. This means that credit conversions must account for 4 years, not 3. For more information, please see IEE’s article on credit conversions here.
A Higher Education Perspective
What about universities? How do they treat these degrees? Can they be considered equivalent to 4-year degrees from US institutions? It shouldn’t be a surprise that the bulk of the reports that IEE issues are for educational purposes. Students want to come to the US to continue their studies and it is IEE’s firm belief that a portion of those students should not be penalized because their degrees are structured differently.
As discussed, while they may be applying to graduate study with one fewer year of study than others, these students spent their entire programs focused on their chosen majors. This leads to questions regarding a certain program’s prerequisites, as anyone who has worked in higher education can attest to. Graduate programs by their very nature are particular of the students they admit, and at the very least want to ensure that students have met a minimum standard before being considered. And to be fair, there are also questions of student retention to consider. It doesn’t look good when a student is awarded a slot and then fails to make the grades. Even more so when the university has invested money in the form of scholarships, etc. Regardless, this form of gatekeeping still heavily favors those students from 4-year programs and those patterned on the US model of education.
A Credential Evaluation Perspective
But what about those reports not intended for admission to a higher education institution? What about from a more general, credential evaluation perspective?
Benchmarking, while not as common as the year counting methodology, is still a viable and widely used method for determining bachelor’s degree equivalencies. Both IEE and WES (World Education Services) employ this approach, albeit with different interpretations, and it has proven to be a more holistic, comprehensive approach, and nowhere is this more true than India.
The simple fact is that because these degrees grant access to higher level, graduate study in India, the same as US 4-year degrees do in the US, benchmarking them is not only the most equitable approach, but also the most accurate. Just because a Bachelor of Commerce, for example, is structured differently from a Bachelor of Engineering, does that somehow make it inherently less valuable? No, of course not. Why should one be granted access to further studies in the US and not the other?
This last point is one of gatekeeping and advancement. 3-year degrees allow for students to advance in India, just as 4-year programs do, to move forward, to work, to conduct research, etc. Precedent has also shown that they are afforded this same level of recognition in other countries, such as Canada, the UK, Australia. Indian students possessing 3-year degrees can continue to climb the ladder in these education systems, sharing their knowledge, their experience as they do so. It only makes sense that they be afforded the same opportunities in the US, and benchmarking is the best way to enable this.
Do the Indian Education 3-Year Degrees Stack Up? Final Thoughts
In conclusion, the benchmarking method is not only a viable option for evaluating 3-year credentials from India, but also the most appropriate. True, there are occasions when year counting is required due to questions of policy or licensing, but despite their being 1 year shorter, they are much more focused on their majors than the typical US bachelor’s degree, even with its additional year, and graduates have shown that they have what it takes to be successful, both in the classroom and otherwise.
Recognizing these degrees for what they are – bachelor’s degrees – allows the promotion of a more equitable – and less ethnocentric – approach to credential evaluation, one where applicants are not held back because of a focus on a methodology that arbitrarily divides and sorts them into groups. Haves and have nots. Qualified and not qualified. Eligible and not eligible.
Everyone deserves to be recognized for their achievements, whether it took them 3 years or 4-years to make it happen, and by acknowledging the similarities more than the differences that these programs have with those in the US, the mission of IEE is advanced a little further: Positively impacting the world by empowering dreams and improving the lives of people through the recognition of foreign educational achievement.
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