Caveat Student

I met a friend who tried to get into a Canadian university, but had been rejected by quite a few. Her English is less than perfect, and she didn’t understand the reasons for her rejections.

She had attended a UAE university that claimed to meet all international standards, so their bachelor’s degree would qualify the student to enter a post-graduate program, all credits would transfer, and a degree would count toward a Western visa.

The university claims to be in complete conformance with the university standards of a certain Western country.

Universities in this Western country give a three-year degree and call it a bachelor’s, but this degree is not recognized by Canadian or British universities. The universities in this Western country offer a fourth year, and call this a bachelor’s with honours, and this is the degree Canadian (and British) universities require. The fourth year is not offered by this UAE university.

The university guarantees (orally, not in writing) that its students in the UAE automatically qualify for student visas in the Western country so they can transfer all credits and (if desired) take the fourth year. But this proves much more difficult than described.

And she had even managed to find some Canadian universities that wouldn’t accept her into their undergraduate programs based on her transfer credit from this UAE university, though they would have accepted her had she applied based on her high-school marks.

The UAE has some reputable universities. But not all.