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Wow! The PD was great! I took down so many notes and I feel more confident helping my foreign students better.

The group activities were also very helpful and realistic. I will be following the REACH method with my students.

Acclimating is such and important step to this process and should be emphasized to students so they don't feel pressured or

disappointed.

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Anna Fan - Immigrant Learning Center at Malden, MA

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Anna Fan - Immigrant Learning Center at Malden, MA

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I have a few takeaways from the panelists:
1- The essential questions to provided by the panelists to guide ss and navigate through their career path here in the US.
2- Help students evaluate whether their career goals and timelines are realistic, if not what are creative and outside of the box ways to pursue something in the same field.
3- Invaluable resources from the guide to advising and coaching students with foreign degrees to finding financial support to students who are interested in higher degree.
4- I appreciated what Emmanuel said about encouraging advisors to give students recommendations where needed and giving concrete examples about certain fields may not be as available here in MA.

The webinar were extremely information and helpful. Thank you to the panelists and organizers of this topic.

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I learned some resources shared in this webinar and they are very helpful in advising students who have foreign degrees and want to gain a Master's degree in the U.S.
I also learned it is important to sit down with the student and discover their needs and find out an appropriate way for the student to pursue them.

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From the panel/presentation I took away many different things. First and foremost, this is something I have been recently struggling with. I have had potential students coming into our program with bachelors, masters, and even some have doctorates. I at first had no idea that their are organizations out there that will credential foreign degrees. This informaiton for me alone is a diamond in the rough.

After hearing that that these students do not have to drop everything they learned and start from scratch also brought much comfort to me for these students. I often struggled with the concept of these students getting a high school equivalency.

The whole thing has been very useful. You provided many links and useful resources which will come in very handy very soon. I also like how we need to often think outside of the box for many of these people.

Currently I am dealing with a student from Africa who has a masters degree in chemistry. This student is utilizing the HSE program for English skills too, however seeing that there may be many other paths for this student to take has given me the momentum to continue to persue these potential students. They are the aytipcal student, but it feels as if more and more students have these advanced degrees and are completely underemployed in many different fields.

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The most important take away from this panel is understanding students' goals - which might not be clear to them - before looking for ways to validate credentials. During the panel, the examples were great to help illustrate how the "best solution" will change case by case. The guiding questions are a great way to begin this process of helping students reach their goals. There was a lot of helpful information, resources and tools provided.

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Lina Louro-Cunha; New Bedford Adult Education

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Lina Louro-Cunha; New Bedford Adult Education

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As an academic advisor, I have often come across students who have advanced degrees from their country. I have been unsure of exactly how to help them and even if it were possible for them to transfer their degree to the US without starting over. The Guide is an invaluable tool to help when advising in these cases. It offers a user-friendly flowchart to advisors. Now, I feel like I have the resources and information to better guide students toward their intended career paths. One question I still have is regarding the costs associated with translations and evaluations. The guide mentions that there are sometimes workforce or community-based programs that may help to offset the cost, but I would like to have more specifics.

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Jennifer Rezende, YMCA International Learning Center-Woburn

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Jennifer Rezende, YMCA International Learning Center-Woburn

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My take away from this panel and guide is the importance of having the proper guiding questions with students.  Asking the right questions when working with students whose goals relate to employment, education or re-entering a licensed profession is critical, so that once the student’s goals are established we can them determine what kind of degree or credential evaluation process is appropriate with suggestions for next steps.

Over the past few years we have seen an increase of students who have foreign degrees and credentials and having a more guided discussion about their current situation and what their goals are, is essential in order to better serve their needs.

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Anabel Diaz, YMCA International Learning Center - Woburn.

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Anabel Diaz, YMCA International Learning Center - Woburn.

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I learned a lot about this panel and how important it's to set a realistic goal and identify each individual skill. From here the Advisor can had a clear view on what the student wants to achieve and evaluate all the possible scenery for example, Legal U.S. status, educational status, personal skills. The Advisor can make an effort to help the student to find a career that fit the profile of each individual.

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Sally Nobinger; Immigrant Learning Center

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Sally Nobinger; Immigrant Learning Center

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I think this panel covered many important topics/questions regarding advising students with foreign credentials. It is obviously a complex and individualized process, and I still have learning to do and resources to investigate. Some take aways for me:

-A translation/validation of a student's foreign degree is not always necessary for them to reach their professional goal; we as advisors should help the student get really clear on whether or not this is even needed.

-I hadn't thought about how certain schools/programs may prefer or require that credentials be translated or evaluated by a specific organization. We should contact the school/program directly to see if this is the case.

-I liked how Emmanuel talked about the "translation" of who a student was (professionally) in their country to who they are now in the U.S. and in the context of the U.S. labor market. I think this is an important concept to talk about with students, and to help them broaden their ideas of who they can be in the United States and what opportunities are available to them.

Many thanks for the interesting and informative workshop!

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Something I am taking away from this panel and the Guide is the importance of asking students pointed questions to help them evaluate their options. Some examples from the panel: ask about their educational/work history in their native country, whether or not they liked it, and why (get a sense about if they want to continue this here and for what reasons); ask them if they think their goals are realistic with regards to financial support, family support, if MA is the right place to pursue a particular field (to get a feel for if this is the right time in their life for this). Page 4 of the Guide also had some really helpful questions for helping students be realistic about the demands of college and brainstorm alternatives to college that may be more useful for meeting their goal.

I also appreciated the idea of we advisors helping students translate who they were in their country to the U.S. labor market. The job market in the U.S. is likely very different from the ones in students' native countries. For example, there are many job titles/roles they may not even be aware of within their field in the U.S. We can help by increasing their awareness of these options.

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I learned many important facets when it comes to students with foreign degrees and credentials. For example, it's vital to ask the appropriate questions to discover their needs and wants during the process. The questions are vital to learn who they are, what their goals are, and what they have accomplished thus far.

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I learned a lot about helping students with their foreign degrees from the webinar and from the advising foreign students guide sheet. They both were very helpful tools.

Some of the takeaways from this PD is knowing the important questions to ask the students during the intake process. For example, asking the students what they want to do for a job, do they have enough time, resources and money if they want to attend school full time. Will they need to work full time and go back to school part time or take one course a semester. Do they need advanced level ESOL classes? Is Massachusetts the right location for the career they want? If it isn't are they willing to relocate?

Another important takeaway that I learned is to ask the students what their past work history and education is. As an advisor it is crucial that you are realistic with the student and give the students recommendations and suggestions if their goal(s) are not realistic.

I will save the advising foreign students guide because I know it will come in handy in the near future. The resources on the last page are very helpful.

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Advising students with foreign degrees and credentials is a complicated and highly individualized process. However, some guiding questions and best practices can be applied to all scenarios.

This Advising Students with Foreign Degrees and Credentials Guide helps instructors, advisors, and career coaches ask the right questions when working with students whose goals relate to employment, education or entering a licensed profession. Once the student's goals are established, this guide will help determine what kind of degree or credential evaluation process is appropriate with suggestions for next steps.

The guide also contains a resource list with links to evaluation companies, additional guiding resources, and local agencies and organizations that may be able to take referred students.

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GUIDE: Advising Students with Foreign Degrees and Credentials

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Advising students with foreign degrees and credentials is a complicated and highly individualized process. However, some guiding questions and best practices can be applied to all scenarios. This Advising Students with Foreign Degrees and Credentials Guide helps instructors, advisors, and career coaches ask the right questions when working with students whose goals relate to employment, education or entering a licensed profession.

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Take away: it is our role to take a closer look and evaluate our students' needs-then provide the necessary guidance and resources.