What is IES Abroad’s status as an educational institution? Is IES Abroad accredited?
IES Abroad has been recognized as an organization which meets the highest standards in the field of study abroad, as established by the Forum on Education Abroad, a membership association recognized by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission as the Standards Development Organization for the field of education abroad. Read more about our Quality Improvement Process (QUIP 2A) designation.
Since IES Abroad is not a degree-granting institution, we do not have accreditation as a college or university. However, most of IES Abroad’s consortium members accept the IES Abroad transcript to transfer credit back to their home institution, recognizing our credit as they would credit from an accredited college. Our rigorous governance system gives administrators and faculty from our consortium member schools the responsibility to direct and oversee the quality of our academic programs, ensuring suitability for credit transfer back to a U.S. college or university.
How do students receive credit for an IES Abroad program?
We will issue an official IES Abroad transcript to a student’s home institution at no additional cost after the student’s grades are final. This transcript is typically either sent to the study abroad office or to the registrar, depending on the preference of the home institution. We can issue this transcript electronically or in hard copy.
Since some institutions require an official transcript from an accredited college or university in order to transfer study abroad credit, IES Abroad has entered into a School of Record agreement with the University of Rochester. For a fee of $375 per student which covers administrative costs, IES Abroad will send the student’s IES Abroad transcript to the University of Rochester, and Rochester will create a student record and produce an official University of Rochester transcript with all coursework completed on any IES Abroad program. The University of Rochester will send this transcript to the student’s home institution for credit transfer.
For more information on credit transfer, visit our Transcripts, Grades, & Student Records page for alumni.
What is a School of Record?
As IES Abroad’s School of Record, the University of Rochester issues credit for courses taken by students while enrolled in IES Abroad programs. The University of Rochester School of Record transcript includes courses taken at the IES Abroad Center or at host institutions abroad.
As part of this partnership, the University of Rochester has a great deal of oversight in IES Abroad’s academic programming. Representatives from the University of Rochester serve on the IES Abroad Academic Council which oversees program quality and academic policies; the Curriculum Committee which reviews each IES Abroad syllabus; and all Program Review Committees which conduct detailed on-site reviews of the programs offered at IES Abroad Centers. As our School of Record, the University of Rochester is continually involved with assessment of IES Abroad programs so that they can confidently award credit for IES Abroad programs.
IES Abroad adheres to the Forum on Education Abroad’s Guidelines for School of Record Relationships. See PDF below for full details.
For more information, contact us at 800.995.2300 or registrar@IESabroad.org