Korean Job Discussion Forums

pgplummer · Joined: 10 Jun 2006 Location: Canada

Greetings to all the experts out there in Korea land. I have been contacted by a long-term friend�s sister about teaching in Korea. She would like to know if it is possible to obtain credentials based on her work experience? There are a few schools that claim to do this and also claim to be accredited. Will the paperwork that this type of educational facility provides be sufficient to gain an E2 Visa? Apparently they will supply a degree based on work and life experience, sealed university transcripts of the courses that would have been learned by her experiences and based on the placement exam results. They will also write a letter of recommendation based on her results and the information they receive back from the references on her resume. I understand that Korean Immigration has really cracked down on the ESL industry in the past year. I do not want to see her get into deep trouble. I can speak for her capabilities as she is absolutely wonderful with children and has been an early childhood teacher for the past 7 years. There are no real teaching credentials required for this type of position other then a short college course. She has looked into teaching in Taiwan, Japan etc and Korea is the only one that provides both the income, variety and paid expenses that she requires. Can any of the resident experts shed some light on this?

Also, please be constructively critical and not turn this thread into a wild rodeo of degree bashing. I sympathize with her situation and do understand that not everyone in life had the opportunity to attend higher education as many of us did here. Many people had to work straight out of school and struggle to make ends meet. They have learned more in the workforce then any of us probably did sitting in classes. We only dealt with paper and bookwork experience and many have dealt first hand with the real deal without any formal education. I sure hope that there are some schools out there that do take life experience into account for partial or complete degree placement.

Thanks in advance

Pyongshin Sangja · Joined: 20 Apr 2003 Location: I love baby!

stevenisi · Joined: 17 Jul 2006

I'm no expert. But as far as I know, you need a diploma from a university. Now if that university can grant a degree based on life experiences, either way, you'll still have to go through the university. But I'm pretty positive Korea Immigration will laugh at just work experiences. And is that someone's real degree and why is it posted as a response??

youmepicnic · Joined: 05 Mar 2006

well, I understand your friends issues, but the fact remains... very few schools will go with out a degree. Now, there are two reasons I can think of. The first is immigration. They make the rules, not the schools, for the most part. If the law says only people that have the degree can be given the visa, then your friend is SOL.

A second reason is, frankly, the schools here will take ANY degree. It is not as if they are even picky about it. Now this is not positive from many perspectives. (but that is not the issue) See, Korean logic is not Western logic, so stay with me here. . . If the school can have the teacher with the degree, albeit in classical flute and wave dancing, or they can have a person, no degree but a life of teaching, I think Koreans would take the degree.

1. Koreans like documents.
2. Names are important. Straight F's at an Ivy Leauge is better than straight A's at a second tier school.

From what I know, which isn't everything, no degree, no visa. . . no visa, no job.

Good night and good luck.

pgplummer · Joined: 10 Jun 2006 Location: Canada

From what I understand, The school will provide a printed degree once the testing and referal checking is complete. The degree will not actually state on it that it was gained through work and life experience. It will state that the student has successfully completed the necessary requirements for " Bachelor of ********" with a major in "******" . They will also include a transcript ( sealed ) with marks of the actual coarses that are required in this program based on the results of both the referals and placement exam. A letter of recommendation will be included if needed based on the same results. From the sound of all the information it is not just a diploma mill with having to take an exam and provide referals from past work experience. The school does exhist and is recognized by the Ministry of Education in both the USA and Korea is on that list too.

If anyone is familiar with this process or someone that had problems or is working successfully with this type of paperwork, I would appreciate a quick response.

Thanks again

PRagic · Joined: 24 Feb 2006

Funny stuff. Wonder why they bother to have 'Executive MBA Programs' at all the best business schools in N. America when they could just charge execs with experience for their degrees and mail them out.

Those schools are a complete scam.

hari seldon · Joined: 05 Dec 2004 Location: Incheon

Hater Depot · Joined: 29 Mar 2005

I totally agree with what you say about life experience vs. time in classrooms.. but did she hear about this fantastic degree opportunity via e-mail correspondence with a kind Nigerian gentleman?

pgplummer · Joined: 10 Jun 2006 Location: Canada

caligirl · Joined: 25 Mar 2006

I'm not here to bash, I'm just curious...what's the name of the school?

Wangja · Joined: 17 May 2004 Location: Seoul, Yongsan

Not much good for teaching English in Korea but OK on your buisness card if you can parry the occasional investigation .....

cubanlord · Joined: 08 Jul 2005 Location: In Japan!

oh c'mon now. OF COURSE THEY ARE VALID. I mean....G. Bushy got an honorary Ph.D. from Texas A&M. Of course they are worth something.

SeniorEnglish · Joined: 18 Jun 2006

Did you hear about the degree from the University of Amsterdam???
Reefer smokers can get a B.S. in Drug Science.
The requirements are:
Rolling 101
Lighting 102
Smoking 420

cubanlord · Joined: 08 Jul 2005 Location: In Japan!

mindmetoo · Joined: 02 Feb 2004

The title of this post just makes me laugh.

Yeah, Harvard and every other real university are just in the habit of awarding degrees for life experience...

There is not one single accredited university that just grants a degree based on work experience. Some give credits for work experience, if you can pass tests. But giving you a 4 year degree because you held a job is total poppycock. If they claim to be accredited, they're not accredited by the same wacky little organization that accredits American and Canadian universities. Darn tootin'. Don't be so naive, please.

Every time immi catches some lazy cracker who thinks he/she can flop into Korea and earn coin with a fake degree, the real teachers here have to go through even more hoops with immigration... marching our asses to the wilds of Mokdong to get our degrees checked again or lord knows what's next. Sorry if I flame idiots like you, but idiots like you cause ALL of us endless amounts of grief.