Recently, Sing in Can had a conversation with a fellow international student, who is also using studying as a pathway to apply for Canadian Permanent Residence (PR) via the Express Entry system. We talked about the Education Credential Assessment (ECA), and we found out that we used different assessment bodies to obtain our ECA. Both of us were quite confident in our choices, which prompted me to do a systematic study on all the institutions, accredited by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), that assess qualifications outside of Canada.
The first step I did was to do up a table summarising the services and fees provided by these Education Credential Assessment (ECA) institutions accredited by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). Upon comparison, I found that there is no “Number 1” ECA provider. Instead, each ECA service provider has a specialty, like cost or duration, in which they fare better than the others.
Therefore, the first step is to be clear why we need an ECA, so that we can know what type of ECA we will need. From there, it will be easier to know which institution to go for, according to other criteria such as authority, cost and duration.
What Do You Need An Education Credential Assessment (ECA) For?
I have explained in another post about what an ECA is and why we would need one, so feel free to read it via this link (https://singincan.com/3-steps-find-a-canada-school/) if you are interested. In that same post, I also referred to the official IRCC website for the accurate explanation and procedures to obtain an ECA.
However, that does not mean we should skip the usual process of asking ourselves what needs we have and whether the ECA satisfies those needs.
Overview of ECA
ECAs are generally categorised into “Immigration” and “General Purposes”, with the latter further split into “Employment” and “Studies”. “Studies” are sometimes further divided into “Secondary School Admission”, “Undergraduate Admission”, “Transfer Admission” and “Graduate Admission” (these are just names given by the service providers, which can vary from provider to provider).
An overview of the terms used by the service providers can be found in the infograph I made below, and I will elaborate on the terms in the following sections.
Immigration ECA
For those looking to have an ECA for immigration purposes, the need is quite straightforward, because IRCC dictates what information is required for the ECA, so there is only one form of ECA for immigration purposes. You would have noticed from the table below that the prices for Immigration ECA does not differ much – the main difference lies in the duration taken to have your qualifications assessed, which indirectly affects the prices.
Employment ECA
Some employers require an ECA to be match the qualification of their foreign hires to the Canadian education system. This can then be used for a string of other uses, with salary matching being the main purpose.
At this point of time, I do not have sufficient experience in knowing how many employers ask for an ECA before hiring. However, one thing I can be sure of is that, although the purpose is for employment, the ECA required is usually the “Basic” ECA, which is also used for study purposes (I will elaborate later).
Therefore, do not be frustrated if the ECA provider does not list down “Employment” ECA as one of the assessments they provide – just go for the “Basic” ECA. If in doubt, check with the HR of the employer.
Study ECA
For study-purpose ECA, it could be confusing at first sight, with different assessment bodies providing different forms of ECA. However, all the variations boil down to serve 2 needs: 1. Do you need a qualification assessment? (Also known as “Basic Assessment” or “General Assessment” by many schools), or 2. Do you need a “Course-by-Course” assessment? (Which is smetimes referred to as “Comprehensive Assessment”).
What is the Difference Between “General”, “Basic”, “Course-by-Course” and “Comprehensive Assessment”?
An ECA for “General Assessment” reviews your certificate, while a “Comprehensive Assessment” reviews both your certificate and the courses you take (hence the name “Course-by-Course”. Therefore, the former will cost less and take less time than the latter.
The school you are applying to will determine the kind of ECA they require (sometimes they don’t even need to have one submitted, so be sure to clarify about that!). The schools will usually use the phrase “qualification to be assessed” or “Course-by-Course assessment”, instead of “General Assessment” or “Comprehensive Assessment” (because those are terms used by the ECA providers and the terms changes depending on the providers).
Usually, only application for Undergraduate or Post-Graduate studies will require a Course-by-Course ECA, since the application typically involves determining whether you can be exempted from certain courses. For non-tertiary programs or for “low level” post-secondary certificate programs like the one I took, a General Assessment that assesses a qualification certificate alone is sufficient.
Another point of confusion is whether the school or the service provider is referring to the “General”, “Basic”, “Comprehensive” or “Course-by-Course” assessment. For simplicity sake, here is a “cheat sheet”:
On school websites, if they mentioned ECA is required, but don’t mention “Course-by-Course”, it is safe to assume only the “General” / “Basic” ECA is required. Similarly, “General” / “Basic” ECA is only required, unless you are applying for a post-graduate program (Masters / PhD / Post-Graduate Diploma etc) or applying for a transfer (because you need to provide proof for exemption).
On service provider websites, unless they mention that the ECA is “Comprehensive” or “Course-by-Course”, all non-Immigration and non-licensed profession ECAs are referring to the “Basic” ECA – assessment at the qualification level. They are usually the cheapest study ECA listed, and for simplicity sake, I refer them to as the “Default” ECA.
Using the infograph I showed earlier, the “differences” is highlighted in the infograph below. The purposes / needs boxed together only requires the “Basic” / “General” / “Default” ECA. This means, unless the ECA is specifically mentioned to be used for “Immigration” / “Licensed/Certified Professions” or goes by the name “Course-by-Course” / “Comprehensive”, the ECA you are getting falls into the category boxed up by the red dotted line.
Finalising Your Need for Education Credential Assessment (ECA)
Therefore, for those who are looking to study in Canada, reviewing the requirements of the school you are applying to will help clarify what type of ECA you need. Schools will not risk giving wrong or vague instructions, since it will mean a lot of last minute handling of complaints. Therefore, be sure to scour through the application webpage for international students to search for the precise instruction.
On a side note, this step of searching for the type of ECA required can be done in the step after you have selected the institution. For a full run down of the process to find a school to study in Canada, you can read my other post on Sing in Can (https://singincan.com/3-steps-find-a-canada-school/).
Additional Note: What I left out of the “categories of ECA” was ECA for “Licensed Professions”. Basically, for jobs that are licensed in Canada (like nursing or technician), a certified professional must still obtain an ECA. However, this is a very specialised need and you would have known from the onset (either informed by IRCC or your employer) that you require this specific ECA, hence I didn’t elaborate on it in the main post.
The Institutions Providing ECA Services
According to IRCC’s website, there are 4 ECA service providers (IRCC calls them “designated organisations” and “professional bodies”, though for simplicity sake, I’ll refer to them as “ECA service providers”) for ECA*. They range from established institution of learning (University of Toronto; BCIT) to individual service provider (International Credential Assessment Service of Canada) and service providers that provide assessment of education qualifications worldwide (World Education Services).
*There is a 5th institution which is currently not providing assessment until May 2020.
Services From ECA Service Providers
Interestingly, despite just providing one service to assess qualifications outside of Canada, these institutions managed to break them down into various specialised assessmets. I suppose they did this in order to differentiate themselves from each other.
It can be a headache to navigate each of their websites (which can be designed in different ways) to find and compare the information. Fortunately for all Sing in Can readers, I made a table to summarise their services, so that we can make an easy comparison.
| Purpose | UoT Comparative Education Service – University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies | ICASC International Credential Assessment Service of Canada | WES World Education Services | BCIT | |
| Price | Immigration | $210 | $200 | $220 | $200 |
| General (Basic) | $149 | $90 (for Employment) | $150 (First Year, Employment) | $128 | |
| General (Comprehensive) | $120 (Secondary School) | $245 (Transfer Admissions, Graduate Admissions) | $230 | ||
| General (Comprehensive) 2 | $200 (Post-Secondary School) | ||||
| General (Comprehensive) 3 | $280 (Secondary and Post-Secondary School) | 100 (Upgrade Basic to to Course-by-Course after assessment results finalised) | |||
| Delivery of Results | Within Canada | $25 | $25 | $25 | $26 |
| International | $90 | $85 | $85 | $75 | |
| Waiting Time | Immigration | 12 weeks | 25 weeks | 35 business days (7 weeks) | 20 weeks |
| General (Basic) | 6 weeks | 6 – 8 weeks | 7 business days | 4 – 7 weeks | |
| General (Comprehensive) | NA | 6 – 8 weeks | 7 business days | 4 – 7 weeks | |
| General (Comprehensive) 2 | NA | 25 – 30 weeks | NA | NA | |
| General (Comprehensive) 3 | NA | 25 – 30 weeks | NA | NA | |
| Validity | 5 Years (Immigration purposes) No Limit (General Purposes) | 5 Years (Immigration purposes) No Limit (General Purposes) | 5 Years (Immigration purposes) No Limit (General Purposes) | 5 Years (Immigration purposes) No Limit (General Purposes) | |
| Appointed Date | April 17, 2013 | April 17, 2013 | April 17, 2013 | August 6, 2015 | |
| What is Included? | Result accessed directly by IRCC Electronic Copy Official Paper Report x2 | Result accessed directly by IRCC Electronic Copy Official Paper Report x2 | Result accessed directly by IRCC Electronic Copy Official Paper Report | Result accessed directly by IRCC Official Paper Report | |
| Pros | Established institution with high credibility; With just 2 options, no confusing terms and conditions | Cheapest General Purpose ECAs | Shortest waiting times for all ECA types | Established institution with high credibility; Cheapest Immigration ECA; Provides “Course-by-Course” assessment (unlike UoT) | |
| Cons | One of the more expensive options. Does not provide “Course-by-Course” assessment | Significantly longer waiting time | Most expensive General Purpose report, although 7 days, Note the term “Document-by-Document” vs “Course-by-Course” | Doesn’t stand out in any factor (cost, waiting time or reputation) |
Showdown of the ECA Service Providers
Since all of the institutions are accredited by IRCC, we should safely assume they are reliable and free from scams. However, that does not prevent us from comparing them so that we can maximise every cent spent on getting our qualifications assessed for use in Canada!
Most Authoritative
Undeniably, University of Toronto’s Comparative Education Service is the most authoritative and reliable. University of Toronto itself is a world class university that recently ranks first in Canada by Times Higher Education.
Unfortunately, with that reputation and branding comes the cost. While its cost for Immigration Purpose ECA is “mid-range” (the cost between the 4 institutions only varies by CAD$10-$20 in the first place), the one for General Purpose ECA stood out – plain expensive.
I sent an email query and confirmed (screenshot above) that their General Purpose ECA does not include a Course-by-Course evaluation. When compared apple to apple, UoT CES’ General Purpose ECA becomes the most expensive among the 4 bodies.
For those who wants the same level of assurance at a (slightly) cheaper rate, BCIT offers both Basic Assessment and Course-by-Course Assessment.
Cheapest
Do not be surprised, but there are a lot of ways to evaluate what is considered “cheapest”.
Cheapest Immigration Purpose ECA
For immigration ECA, International Credential Assessment Service of Canada (ICASC) and BCIT offers the cheapest rate at CAD$200. However, for prospective international applicants, BCIT offers an overall cheapest service, winning International Credential Assessment Service of Canada by CAD$10 with a cheaper international courier fee.
Cheapest General Purpose ECA
International Credential Assessment Service of Canada beats all competitors by offering the cheapest Basic ECA and Course-by-Course ECA.
For a General Purpose ECA that is mainly used for employment and admission to secondary/high schools (and undergraduate programs for many universities), its rate is cheaper than the 2nd lowest offer (BCIT) by CAD$38!
Its Course-by-Course ECA is also CAD$30 cheaper than the next lowest (also BCIT).
Cheapest Multiple Credential ECA
Since International Credential Assessment Service of Canada has an offer for offering Course-by-Course assessment for both secondary and post-secondary qualifications in one ECA, I wondered if the Comprehensive Assessment for the others (i.e. World Education Services) assesses 1 or 2 (or more) qualifications with their most expensive CAD$245 service for Graduate admissions.
This sets up a very unique and rare scenario where I am required to have a Course-by-Course assessment for my Undergraduate degree and pre-undergraduate certificates, in order to enrol into a university program (e.g. post-graduate programs).
By using World Education Services’ ECA option for Graduate admissions, can I submit multiple certificates, ranging from secondary to post-secondary qualifications, in one application and pay a single price as advertised on the website? The way that International Credential Assessment Service of Canada allows me to make a single payment for assessing 1 secondary and 1 post-secondary qualification?
I went through the application process for World Education Services, up till the payment page, to assess 3 qualifications: 1 High School certificate and 2 Undergraduate degrees from 2 different universities.
The good news is, I was only asked to pay a single price of CAD$245!
On the other hand, International Credential Assessment Service of Canada charges CAD$280 for 2 qualifications.
Anyone who needs to assess 2 or more qualifications should seriously consider World Education Services as a cost-effective solution!
Shortest Waiting Time
World Education Services wins hands down if you need an ECA, stat.
Be it for Immigration or General Purposes (regardless of whether it’s Course-by-Course), the waiting time to get an ECA from World Education Services is significantly shorter, at 35 or 7 business days respectively.
Another aspect of World Education Services I liked was its user-interface, which was simple and easy to use. For comparison, UoT, which I had used last year, did not have a mobile-enabled webpage.
The downside, of course, is that their ECAs are significantly more expensive than the others.
My Choice
When I applied for my ECA, I was doing it during what little time I had after work and settling personal stuff. I chose UoT CES just for the sake of familiarity.
Waiting time aside, I particularly hated that there was literally no update from UoT CES. I only knew my transcripts were sent from my alma mater because they sent me an email to inform me. However, UoT didn’t let me know if they received the documents, or whether they had started the assessment process.
On hindsight, I would have used one other service providers available.
Conclusion
I believe IRCC appointed at least 4 organisations to assess a foreigner’s education qualifications in order to provide a variety of options for applicants. These 4 service providers, Comparative Education Service – University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies, International Credential Assessment Service of Canada, World Education Services and BCIT, also tried to differentiate their services, so that they don’t cannibalise each other’s businesses.
Depending on your needs, you may want to use the World Education Services for its short waiting time, or International Credential Assessment Service of Canada for its cheap ECAs. If you need assurance and don’t mind waiting longer and paying more, Comparative Education Service – University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies is the choice. However, it doesn’t provide Course-by-Course ECA, so BCIT, is the next reasonable choice.
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Till then, sing while you can!
Disclaimer: Some schools and service providers were mentioned for illustration purposes, it does not mean Sing in Can endorses those schools or have affiliations to them. Sing in Can also does not engage in the service of offering immigration advice. Some photos were taken with permission from Pixabay.com.
