European International University

[artem]

EIU is recognized as a distance learning center by the French education ministry complete with its own UAI code in the education ministry's database, but it's a private school and therefore not accredited by the ministry.

I view this situation like a step up from a school offering Spanish propios. Spain considers schools offering propios as valid but does not recognize them in the government education database. While in France, a similar school offering similar programs is recognized by name and coded in the government database.

People are confusing the education database and what it takes to get in there versus a business registration. These things are separate and different. If a person/group in France wants to open a school they have to register as a business which is easy, but they cannot start teaching and cannot offer diplomas until they and their curriculum have been vetted and have successfully registered with the education department. Successful registration is not guaranteed, many are denied, and offering diplomas without official government registration is illegal in France.

I have now seen about 10 successful foreign credential evaluations of EIU degrees so it's bizarre at best (lying at worst) that some are saying the degrees aren't being considered as such by anyone. However, all of them were business degrees. The interesting part is that most of these successful evaluations were done before EIU ever had ACBSP accreditation, so my previous thought that the evaluation success may be attributed to ACBSP accreditation was off.

The simplest way to test this claim is to write directly to the foreign credential evaluation agency and provide official evidence that EIU is not recognized as an accredited university by the French government.

Ask the agency to review the institution’s legal and academic status carefully, including the difference between having a UAI code as a registered private distance-learning establishment and having government-recognized or accredited degree programs. Once the evaluator understands this distinction, it is unlikely that the agency will continue issuing positive evaluations in the future.

A positive evaluation does not prove that EIU is accredited or officially recognized in the United States, France, or any other country. It only shows that a particular evaluator reached a positive conclusion. In my view, such results are more likely evidence of insufficient research, misunderstanding of the French system, or poor-quality credential evaluation than proof of formal recognition.

The fact that several evaluations were completed successfully does not change EIU’s official status in France. Private credential evaluators can make mistakes, especially when they confuse administrative registration, permission to operate, professional accreditation, and government recognition of academic degrees.