Course provider operations

"Is this qualification recognised?" has no answer until you know by whom

The question arrives as though it has one answer, and providers reply as though it does: yes, we are accredited. Both sides then discover, sometimes years later, that the enquirer meant recognised by a professional body, or by a university admissions office, or by an immigration authority, or by one specific employer, and that the answer differs for each. Getting the "by whom" out of the enquirer is the whole of the useful work here.

Ask who has to accept it, before answering anything

An employer in the same city, a licensing body, a foreign university and a visa application are four different tests, and a certificate can pass some and fail others. The assistant's first move is therefore a question rather than an answer: who needs to recognise this. Enquirers are not being vague on purpose; most have never been told the question has a second half.

State the accreditation you hold, exactly as it is named

Write the awarding body's full name, the scope of what it covers, and the date from which it applies, and do not paraphrase any of those. Paraphrase is where "accredited by" turns into "approved by" and then into something a regulator did not say. A reader who can see the exact name can go and check it, which is the point.

Never assert recognition on a third party's behalf

The one sentence to keep out of every answer is that some other organisation will accept the qualification. You do not control their criteria, they change them, and a student who enrolled on that assurance has a grievance with a name on it. Point at the body's own published position and tell the enquirer to confirm it there, with a note that it is their decision and not yours.

The honest answer is often uncomfortable and still better

Some courses are genuinely useful and recognised by nobody in particular, and saying so plainly costs an enrolment and buys a reputation. The alternative is a student who finishes and then finds out, and that student tells more people than the one you lost. Write the uncomfortable version once, in the provider's own words, and let the assistant use it rather than improvise something kinder.

Frequently asked questions

Can an AI assistant tell a student whether a qualification is recognised?
It can state exactly which accreditation the provider holds and point at the awarding body's published scope. It must not say that a third party will accept it, because that third party sets its own criteria and changes them without telling anyone.
What should a provider publish about accreditation?
The awarding body's full name without paraphrase, what the accreditation covers and does not cover, the date it applies from, and where a reader can verify it independently. Verifiability is the part that makes the claim worth making.
Why does the assistant ask who needs to recognise it?
Because the answer changes completely depending on whether it is an employer, a licensing body, a university or a visa application. Answering before knowing which one produces a confident reply that happens to address a different question.
What if the course has no formal accreditation?
Say so, and say what it does have: hours, syllabus, who teaches it, what graduates go on to do. A student who learns this at enquiry stage may still enrol; a student who learns it after finishing will tell everyone.
Which languages can enquirers use?
English, Hebrew and Russian, detected from the message. Recognition questions come disproportionately from people whose qualifications were earned somewhere else, which is exactly the group least served by a single-language reply.

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