Legality and recognition
I. LEGALITY
Further education (based on higher education) is a completely legitimate procedure, recognized and encouraged in all countries of the world.
The key goal of development of educational processes on the continent is determined within the framework of the Bologna Process. It is the creation of a transnational pan-European education system in Europe. In order to achieve such an ambitious goal, the specific tasks have been identified. Solving these tasks will contribute to the creation of a common European educational and scientific environment (the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and the European Research Area (ERA)).
LLL — (LIFE LONG LEARNING; lifelong learning) is a mechanism of fulfilling of the social role of higher education, its accessibility, and the development of a further education system. The LLL concept is reflected in the documents of three main international organizations: the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), UNESCO and the Council of Europe.
The central idea of these documents is the same — to create consistent strategies to provide learning and teaching opportunities for all people throughout their life. The Memorandum on LLL (A Memorandum on Lifelong Learning) of the European Union of 2000, takes into account the decisions of the Lisbon and Santa Maria de Feira summits on the development of the LLL concept.
The principle of “lifelong learning” was officially included in the contents of the Bologna Process in 2001.
LLL development matters formed the basis of the Bologna seminar “Recognition and Credit Systems in the Context of Lifelong Learning”, held in Prague (Czech Republic) in June 2003.
The IASHE scientific and analytical programs have more complex structure and degrees than that of the traditional educational procedures, implemented according to the principle: lectures (educational literature) — exam. In addition to that, our programs are also characterized by creativity, innovation, original presentation of material, publications, expert reviewing and scientometric indexing. That means that in our programs there are more layers of development of skills, competencies and certification reviewing.
The validity and logic of the non-standard educational procedure of the Academy also should not be questioned. And its long-term prospects are significant: knowledge is acquired in a more stable form, competencies are broader and deeper, the professional potential of an individual is more versatile.
All scientific and analytical qualifications of the IASHE granted to participants of our programs are further education qualifications formed on the basis of the basic higher education or are associated with it.
Qualification improvement (confirmation) statuses, mini-MBA programs, as well as the scientific and analytical degrees (Master, Doctor, Professor or Academician) are educational levels and degrees that are not analogues or substitutes for the corresponding traditional university degrees. The degrees granted by the IASHE are further education statuses and levels obtained after participation in the exclusive procedures offered by the Academy. Our projects differ from traditional university programs. They offer competencies that differ from those offered by universities. In addition we use educational and creative methods of intellectual development (self-improvement) of participants of the Academy programs, which do not coincide with the educational methodology of universities.
At the same time, educational competencies and qualifications of the Academy can still be compared with the university competencies and qualifications because they assume expert reviewing, promulgation, professional publication, scientometric indexing of scientific papers and adaptive documenting of the established level of qualification.
Educational process within the IASHE programs is based on original and innovative scientific creativity, manifested in international publications and accompanied by international (collegial) peer reviewing and scientometric indexing.
Accordingly, all degrees and titles granted by the IASHE are not in any way connected to the university higher education degrees. They may be compared but they are not analogous or substitutes. Such educational factors are just additional and alternative means to improve the qualifications of specialists, stimulate, document and encourage the development of their knowledge and skills, originally built in the course of the basic higher education.
The names of IASHE degrees always have an indication of their scientific and analytical (creative) nature, which is explained by the creative and innovative specificity of the educational process.
The IASHE programs are built in such a way that even those creative, originally thinking individuals, who for certain reasons find it difficult to complete the huge, lengthy and fairly bureaucratic traditional scientific procedure of a university, can still participate in scientific activities of the Academy.
Doctor’s (7 levels), Professor’s (6 levels) and Academic (6 levels)) scientific and analytical degrees (statuses) of the IASHE are the original format of educational mechanisms in the field of establishing, encouraging and stimulating innovative creative efforts of researchers of scientific problems.
Within the framework of the IASHE programs authoritative scientists (those with an official scientific university status) can find new spheres and impulses for self-realization, additional tools for confirmation of their high qualifications. And for the novice scholars these programs will offer an environment for presentation and recognition of their talent.
We create an alternative and supplementary (in relation to the traditional university-based system) scientific reality: democratic and liberal, transparent and professional, accessible to all, interesting, progressive and efficient. This reality is based on the objective social need for free and convenient participation of scholars in scientific processes and communications, as well as the collegial peer review of the results of scientific work of innovators.
We are also putting into practice the social demand for the existence of effective and prestigious forms of stimulation and encouragement of research activity and scientific creativity of the international expert community and the general public.
In order to clearly illustrate the analysis of this issue, the following comparison can be made. Our projects are much more real, substantiated and effective in the scientific and educational field than, for example, the Bitcoin and the majority of cryptocurrencies in the financial and economic environment. At the same time, the need for cryptocurrencies as the addition (alternative) to fiat money is discussed (but not rejected) in the social, expert and political communities – and so such quasi-money function freely.
Both modern methods of scientific and educational work and electronic money are based on the objective necessity — social demands and the logic of the historical process. But many of the today’s cryptocurrencies are unstable and speculative (focused on the local benefit of individual investors) “soap bubbles” with no real value, legal and economic guarantees of stability (material resourcing), transparency and fairness of their functioning.
Therefore the cryptocurrency market will undoubtedly change and the level of general social benefit from «virtual financial values» will increase. Our projects in the educational environment truly respond to the emerging social needs (and satisfy them), being thus absolutely logical and effective.
II. RECOGNITION The issue of recognition of the IASHE programs should be divided into five parts:
Recognition of the programs as educational procedures is unconditional, due to their professional, qualification-related, transparent, holistic and logical nature, which is confirmed by the objective criteria — collegial peer reviewing, as well as international and professional original publications (attestation works).
The official recognition of the Doctor’s and Professor’s degrees at the academic (university) level is currently conditional and selective (at the discretion of universities). This is explained by the fact, that the traditional higher education systems stereotypically take into account only the standard university-related degrees of higher education – paying no attention to the qualifications of high-quality further education. But with the significant changes in the liberal social outlook and global concepts of higher professional education (especially in the US and the UK), this situation is dynamically changing and will soon radically transform. The quality and practical applicability of modern knowledge and effective skills (qualifications), as well as creativity, inevitably become more important than the formal sources of their origin and formal bureaucratic standards.
At the same time, the Europass documents, drawn up in accordance with ECTS-DS standards and formalizing the periods of further education (training) and the acquisition of additional (improved) professional competencies, are always recognized by universities unconditionally.
Recognition of qualifications at the professional level (by employers) is unconditional because such qualifications are: 1) the result of a legitimate educational procedure in the format of an alternative, transparent and effective method of development of knowledge, skills and creative activity of a specialist; 2) the result of objective certification and encouragement of a specialist’s professional development.
Recognition of the international (foreign) period of study, which is expressed in the ECTS-DS criteria and formalized by the Europass system documents, is unconditional. Such recognition is predetermined by the European legislation on the Bologna process. This type of recognition of educational qualifications ensures international and academic mobility of students, teachers, scientists and practitioners.
Recognition of qualifications in the social and professional environment is unconditional: it emphasizes the excellent reputation, high qualification, obvious achievements and competitive advantages of a specialist in the labor market.
III. SUMMARY Successful implementation of IASHE programs provides their participants with the following advantages:
Significantly improved opportunities of international professional and academic mobility due to periods of international (foreign) study, expressed in the ECTS-DS criteria and formalized by the Europass system documents.
Legalized and improved (documents and reputation) level of significance of the basic higher education, which leads to greater respect to it from educational institutions and employers abroad. This is due to the factor of confirmation and additional improvement of a specialist’s education at the international level.
Authoritatively increased period of special education, improved qualifications and expanded professional competencies (beyond the period of study, qualifications and competencies acquired in the course of the basic higher education), expressed in ECTS credits. This creates comparable advantages for a specialist in relation to other holders of similar qualifications (diplomas).
Improved professional and social image (reputation, authority) of a specialist, which makes such person stand out among colleagues. This also provides a person with competitive advantages in the labor market and ensures particularly respectful attitude towards such a person in the framework of any official procedures.