Accreditation for Immigrants

    There have been complaints about not recognizing the degrees of immigrants to Canada. The Conservative Party of Canada has made it part of their party platform to work towards accreditation (wishing to change their image). I argue that we should not recognize degrees from foreign countries, carte blanche. There are systemic problems of racism in Canada, and in employment here. Racism is an independent issue, and I focus exclusively on the proposal for accreditation.

    There are some countries, like in Europe, which we are familiar with their educational system. In some countries, however, education standards vary wildly. There is a big difference between degrees from IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) a provincial school in Utter Pardesh, in north India.

    In many countries where education is seen as a way to escape poverty, or get immigration to Western ones, people may buy their education. In countries where corruption is wide spread, we can not even be assured that those that are admitted to colleges are based on merit.

    Further, Canadian immigration policy supports unjust social inequalities in India. Those that immigrate to Canada usually come from the privileged class, by caste, education, gender, and wealth, all three of which are linked. More men come as students to Canada than women.

    All degrees, unlike people, are not equal. Education in foreign systems may be better or worse than what we accomplish in Canada. Outside of systems we are familiar with, like England and Germany, we need to assess degrees on a case-by-case basis. Giving accreditation to anyone lowers Canadian standards, and does nothing to help the employment situation for those with authentic qualifications.