Accreditation body urges people to find out if school is legit

The agency responsible for putting the seal of approval on adult learning institutions has warned people not to rush to sign up for studies without doing background checks.

The Barbados Accreditation Council (BAC) has received several complaints over the years from people who have paid fees only to find out that the school did not even exist,  said Sharon Alleyne, BAC Manager of Technical Services.

She added that there have also been cases where people have completed their studies with some schools and received a “qualification” that was “not valid”.

Alleyne said: “These are the sort of heartbreaks that we have people come to us with. Sometimes it is really heart-rending because sometimes people are really desperate. Especially in times like now when you are really desperate for a job and you make that outlay of funds that you don’t really have, and then to find out at the end of the day that you have just lost all of that money and all of that time.

“You have to do your research before . . . You may want to do further studies and only to find out at the end of the day that your money went down the drain.”

Alleyne was speaking during a session of the BAC’s inaugural virtual expo on Wednesday.

Pointing out that the BAC was able to do “checks” for individuals to find out if an institution or its programmes were recognised, Alleyne said should an individual already complete their studies with an institution that was not recognised, it was up to the employer to accept it or another school or college to allow the graduate to do further studies.

“If you want to go to further your education then you are going to have to acquire what the provider wants for you to enter, and if it is an employer then you will have to meet the employer’s requirement for what the vacancy is,” the BAC official said. “Sometimes an employer may exercise his or her discretion and ask you to do a demonstration so they can assess your skills, but if it is not recognised it is not recognised. It is going to be up to the provider or employer to decide.”

BAC can check to see if an institution or its programmes are recognised on behalf of individuals for a fee, she said.

Alleyne explained that “at the end of that process we issue a statement on recognition which speaks to whether or not the institution is recognised, whether the programme is recognised, and what sort of recognition the BAC itself would assign to the school and the programme”.

Alleyne also urged education providers to “come for accreditation”, stating that there were benefits.

She said: “You are not only open to the Barbadian market. You are now open to the global environment. So persons anywhere in the world will want to come to you . . . we encourage all our providers to become accredited. Once you meet all the requirements for accreditation you should do that because the world now becomes your recruiting pool.”
marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb