Option 2)

Professional Certification

Certification of Chartered, Certified, Statutory or Licensed Professionals in regulated or guilded professions, whereby, the profession must be listed in an applicable National Vocational Qualifications framework at the corresponding level of comparable higher education.

The degree programmes qualified for this award are in the Professional Studies area. The process of validation of professional certification assesses learning as a large body of knowledge with breadth and depth and advanced learning in a single discipline.

Degree requirements for the Master of Professional Studies or the MBA: At least a professional qualification at level 5 or 6 of the European Qualifications Framework as entry requirement, plus professional training, certification and expert experience equal to 60 ECTS credits.

These ad eundem degrees are earned degrees, not honorary, because they recognise formal learning.

Earn credit by Licenses and Certificates

If you have already attained certain licenses or certificates within your chosen profession or areas of interest, you may be well on your way to completing a degree at Universidad Azteca. Universidad Azteca will grant credit for current professional licenses or certificates that have been evaluated and approved for credit by the University´s Academic Council.

Students who have earned one of the licenses or certificates listed must submit notarized copies of the license or certificate and current renewal card (if appropriate) in order to receive credit. In addition, for health-related certifications and licenses, a transcript of the course completed must be issued by the hospital or agency through which they were completed.

Earn credit through workplace learning and Corporate and Business Training Courses

Credit for Courses You’ve Taken at Work

Universidad Azteca recognizes that many adults have acquired knowledge through their everyday work activities and from courses, classes, and seminars completed in the workplace. As a result, you may be eligible for college credit for courses you have taken at work. Universidad Azteca awards credit for employer, union, or professional association courses. Students may be able to earn credit for courses taken at their workplace or through union or professional associations.

Earn credit through credit recommendation

The purpose of Credit Recommendation is to help people obtain academic credit for learning acquired outside the sponsorship of colleges and universities by evaluation and credit recommendations for formal educational programmes and courses sponsored by non-collegiate organizations who are non degree granting and who offer courses to their employees, members, or customers. These non-collegiate organizations include business and industry, labour unions, professional and voluntary associations, and government agencies. The credit recommendations are intended to awarding credit to persons who have successfully completed non-collegiate sponsored instruction. In this way, students will be assisted in receiving academic credit for learning gained through such instruction.

The recommendation is based on the proposition that it is sound educational practice for colleges and universities to grant academic credit for quality educational programmes conducted by non-collegiate organizations, provided that the courses are appropriate to an individual’s educational programme.

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Recognised Accrediting Bodies and Recognised Awarding Organisations

Universidad Azteca recognises qualifications awarded by institutions with accreditation by any of the US accrediting agencies listed on the “CHEA list”. This list is intellectual property of CHEA: Recognized Accrediting Organizations (as of May 2013). This chart lists regional, national faith-related, national career-related and programmatic accreditors that are or have been recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) or the U.S. Department of Education (USDE) or both.

Universidad Azteca recognises qualifications with programmatic accreditation by a UK HESA recognised Accrediting Body, and qualifications awarded by an UK OFQUAL recognised Awarding Organisation.

See qualifications comparison. Learn more about the Qualifications Framework by OFQUAL – click here.

Similar recognition approaches apply to respective countries of origin of applicants, given the national qualifications framework of the countries.

Recognised Professional and Supporting Bodies

The Qualifications of Professional and Supporting Bodies listed at the UK Government National Archives have been recognised and aligned to the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF), diplomas to Level 4, advanced diplomas to Level 5, graduate diplomas to Level 6, postgraduate diplomas to Level 7, postgraduate master diploma to Level 7 and doctorate diplomas to Level 8 under higher education system.

UK National Archives of Professional and Supporting Bodies:

UK Government Listing of Professional Bodies click here

Professional Bodies

• Architects Registration Board
• Association for Project Management
• Association of Chartered Certified Accountants
• Association of Clinical Scientists
• Association of Graduate Recruiters
• Association of International Accountants
• Association of Masters of Business Administration
• Bar Council
• British Association For Counselling and Psychotherapy
• British Dental Association
• British Institute of Facilities Management
• British Medical Association
• British Psychological Society
• British Quality Foundation
• British Sociological Association
• Broadcasting Journalism Training Council
• Cambridge Academy of Management, The
• Cambridge Association of Managers, The
• Chartered Institute for Securities & Investments (CISI)
• Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity
• Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists
• Chartered Institute of Building
• Chartered Institute of Environmental Health
• Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals
• Chartered Institute of Linguists
• Chartered Institute of Management Accountants
• Chartered Institute of Marketing
• Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
• Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy
• Chartered Insurance Institute
• Chartered Management Institute
• Chartered Quality Institute
• Chartered Society of Designers & The Design Association
• Chartered Society of Physiotherapy
• College of Occupational Therapists
• Engineering Council UK
• General Chiropractic Council
• General Dental Council
• General Medical Council
• General Optical Council
• General Osteopathic Council
• General Social Care Council
• General Teaching Council For England
• Health Professions Council
• Institute for Learning
• Institute of Actuaries
• Institute of Administrative Management
• Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators
• Institution of Civil Engineers
• Institute of Payroll Professionals (IPP)
• Institute of Physics
• Institute of Recruiters (IoR)
• Institute of Science and Technology, The
• Institution of Chemical Engineers
• Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales
• Institution of Engineering and Technology
• Institution of Occupational Safety and Health
• Landscape Institute
• Law Society
• Nursing and Midwifery Council
• Oxbridge Professional Institutions
• Oxford Association of Management, The
• Registration Council For Clinical Physiologists
• Royal Academy of Engineering
• Royal College of General Practitioners
• Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists
• Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons
• Royal Economic Society
• Royal Institute of British Architects
• Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors
• Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain
• Royal Society of Chemistry
• Royal Statistical Society
• Royal Town Planning Institute
• Sector Skills Council for the Justice, Community Safety and Legal Services sectors
• Society and College of Radiographers
• Solicitors Regulation Authority
• UK Inter-Professional Group
• Welding Institute, The

Supporting Bodies

• Accreditation Syndicate for Education & Training
• CFA – business skills @ work
• CILT (the National centre for Languages)
• Department of Health
• Employers Forum on Disability
• European Business School
• GuildHE
• Improvement and Development Agency for local government (IDeA)
• Internocracy
• Isles International Varsity – Commonwealth
• National Council For the Training of Journalists
• NHS Employers
• PARN – Professional Associations Research Network
• Quality Assurance Commission
• QED-UK
• Sector Skills Council for Science, Engineering & Manufacturing Technologies (SEMTA)
• Sector Skills Council for the Justice, Community Safety and Legal Services sectors
• Skills for Health
• Social Mobility Foundation
• Training and Development Agency for Schools
• Universities UK

Visit the website of the European Union about ECVET.

Quotations from RECOMMENDATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 18 June 2009 on the establishment of a European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET) (Text with EEA relevance) (2009/C 155/02):

This Recommendation should facilitate the compatibility, comparability and complementarity of credit systems used in VET and the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (‘ECTS’), which is used in the higher education sector, and thus should contribute to greater permeability between levels of education and training, in accordance with national legislation and practice.

The validation of assessed non-formal and informal learning outcomes should be promoted in accordance with the Council conclusions of 28 May 2004 on common European principles for the identification and validation of non-formal and informal learning.

This Recommendation complements the Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2008 on the establishment of the European Qualifications Framework for lifelong learning ( 2 ) which recommends that Member States promote close links between the EQF and existing or future European systems for credit transfer and accumulation in higher education and VET.

Develop users′ guides and tools, and adapt relevant Europass documents, in collaboration with Member States, national and European experts and users; develop expertise for enhancing the compatibility and complementarity of ECVET and ECTS used in the higher education sector, in collaboration with VET and higher education experts and users at European and national levels; and provide regular information on the developments of ECVET;.

ECVET points provide complementary information about qualifications and units in numerical form. They have no value independent of the acquired learning outcomes for the particular qualification to which they refer and they reflect the achievement and accumulation of units. To enable a common approach for the use of ECVET points, a convention is used according to which 60 points are allocated to the learning outcomes expected to be achieved in a year of formal full time VET.

In ECVET the allocation of points usually has two phases: ECVET points are allocated first to a qualification as a whole and then to its units. For a given qualification, one formal learning context is taken as a reference and, on the basis of the convention the total number of points is assigned for that qualification. From this total, ECVET points are then allocated to each unit according to their relative weight within the qualification.

For qualifications which do not have a formal learning pathway reference, ECVET credit points can be allocated through estimation by comparison with another qualification which has a formal reference context. To establish the comparability of the qualifications, the competent institution should refer to the equivalent EQF level or, possibly, NQF level, or to the similarity of the learning outcomes in a closely related professional field.

The relative weight of a unit of learning outcomes, with regard to the qualification, should be established according to the following criteria or to a combination thereof:

— the relative importance of the learning outcomes which constitute the unit for labour market participation, for progression to other qualification levels or for social integration,

— the complexity, scope and volume of learning outcomes in the unit,

— the effort necessary for a learner to acquire the knowledge, skills and competence required for the unit.

The relative weight of any given unit common to several qualifications, as expressed in ECVET points, may vary from one of these qualifications to another.

Allocations of ECVET points are normally part of the design of qualifications and units. They are produced by the competent institution responsible for the design and maintenance of the qualification or specifically empowered for this task. In countries where there is already a national system of points, the relevant competent institutions establish arrangements for the conversion of national credit points to ECVET points.

DEFINITIONS

For the purposes of this recommendation, the following definitions shall apply:

(a) ‘Qualification’ means a formal outcome of an assessment and validation process which is obtained when a competent institution determines that an individual has achieved learning outcomes to given standards;

(b) ‘Learning outcomes’ means statements of what a learner knows, understands and is able to do on completion of a learning process and which are defined in terms of knowledge, skills and competence;

(c) ‘Unit of learning outcomes’ (unit) means a component of a qualification, consisting of a coherent set of knowledge, skills and competence, that can be assessed and validated;

(d) ‘Credit for learning outcomes’ (credit) means a set of learning outcomes of an individual which have been assessed and which can be accumulated towards a qualification or transferred to other learning programmes or qualifications;

(e) ‘Competent institution’ means an institution which is responsible for designing and awarding qualifications or recognising units or other functions linked to ECVET, such as allocation of ECVET points to qualifications and units, assessment, validation and recognition of learning outcomes, under the rules and practices of participating countries;

(f) ‘Assessment of learning outcomes’ means methods and processes used to establish the extent to which a learner has in fact attained particular knowledge, skills and competence;

(g) ‘Validation of learning outcomes’ means the process of confirming that certain assessed learning outcomes achieved by a learner correspond to specific outcomes which may be required for a unit or a qualification;

(h) ‘Recognition of learning outcomes’ means the process of attesting officially achieved learning outcomes through the awarding of units or qualifications;

(i) ‘ECVET points’ means a numerical representation of the overall weight of learning outcomes in a qualification and of the relative weight of units in relation to the qualification.

According to RECOMMENDATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 18 June 2009 on the establishment of a European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET) (2009/C 155/02):

The development and recognition of citizens′ knowledge, skills and competence are crucial for their personal and professional development and for competitiveness, employment and social cohesion in the Community. In this respect, they should facilitate transnational mobility for workers and learners and contribute towards meeting the requirements of supply and demand in the European labour market. Participation in borderless lifelong learning for all, and transfer, recognition and accumulation of individuals′ learning outcomes achieved in formal, non-formal and informal contexts, should therefore be promoted and improved at the Community level.

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