Qualification Legitimacy

Finding Trustworthy eLearning Course Providers

These days eLearning institutions that offer online courses are available seemingly everywhere, with offerings covering a wide range of subjects and industries emerging from around the globe. Indeed, the fact you are reading this on our website now is testament to the success of this concept!

However, while on the face of it this is an inherently good thing – with knowledge being made more widely accessible with greater ease – there are some questions outside of these courses that will likely plague many would-be students. Chief among them; what assurances are there of qualification legitimacy? How can we be sure we are finding trustworthy eLearning providers?

Looking for a Trustworthy Qualification Provider

The hard truth of the situation is that many of these courses from around the world and their attached ‘qualifications’ sometimes have little or no practical value in the marketplace. As such, experts within the credentials verification market frequently advise that learners looking for a trustworthy qualification need to scrutinise the available options with the utmost caution.

The internet allows the ability for immediate, automatic and interactive access to information for anyone connected. However, these advantages are sometimes manipulated and abused by opportunists; developing and issuing what appear to be legitimate qualifications only on the surface. These Institutions award these qualifications based on very little information studied, the minimum amount of work completed or curriculum followed.

With this typical ease of access, widespread sharing and ability to set up a global shopfront, the empowerment of the internet is a double-edged sword, unfortunately facilitating everything from half-baked businesses to outright rip-offs.

Overwhelmed by an abundance of seemingly professional online courses the question remains; how do you tell the difference between a legitimate and illegitimate qualification? Perhaps the easiest way is to focus on the signifiers of the illegitimate ones first.

Identifying Illegitimate Institutions

This issue of legitimacy of online qualifications continues to receive media attention because of the extent to which it affects the students. It is with this in mind that we continue to drive home the message of what constitutes a legitimate operation and what does not.

Below are a few key characteristics that may help learners in identifying illegitimate institutions and qualifications that are not worth their time or money:

• Lack of accreditation or approval by recognised national or international bodies – Investigating exactly what qualifications an eLearning course claims to equip learners with upon success is a good place to start. Try researching the qualification outside of the website in question; if there is seemingly no mention made of it anywhere else on the internet it’s unlikely to carry worthwhile recognition!
• The course is too easy – While eLearning courses are typically designed for ease of learning and convenience, virtually any worthwhile qualification will require hard study for at least a day to succeed. If coursework requirements seem exceptionally low in comparison to other institutions, with qualifications awarded following practically no studying then you should be suspicious.
• Mismatched affiliation – An institution may claim to have academic legitimacy from an affiliation with respected organisations who have no involvement with academic accreditation and/or are possibly unaware their name is being misappropriated.

You can Trust SHEilds Qualifications

This brings me to the SHEilds Health and Safety Courses which are accredited by NEBOSH, ILM and City & Guilds while also being an IOSH-approved Training Provider for tailored courses.

You can trust SHEilds qualifications because of our commitment to always meeting national and international standards. We are dedicated to providing qualifications that meet industry expectations and effectively facilitate the HSE careers our students deserve.

See HSE Qualifications provided by SHEilds

These awarding bodies can be contacted, the SHEilds accreditation can be authenticated and the awarding body itself be queried for the relevance the qualification has in the Health and Safety market.

You can find out much more about our various eLearning courses on our qualifications page or simply hit the ‘LIVE CHAT’ tab in the bottom left to directly ask our advisors any questions.
And remember, whoever you seek eLearning from in future keep a weather eye on these institutions before you sign up and remember that nothing worth achieving is ever easy.

Marius Beukes