Educational Credential Assessments – how to read your report

If you want to become an Express Entry candidate, and you have had an Educational Credential Assessment (ECA), you can find out below how many points you will get.

Points are used to rank candidates once they get into the Express Entry pool.

Your result will be marked on your report as the Canadian equivalent to the foreign degree, diploma or certificate you had assessed. Find the result in the first column of the table below and you can see information about your points.

If you are being assessed to get into the pool through the Federal Skilled Worker Program, there is a separate points grid for this. The points for this grid are included as well.

Express Entry education factor

University degree at the Doctoral (PhD) level

ECA assessment results:

• Earned Doctorate Degree
• Earned Doctorate (Ph.D.)
• Professional Doctorate Degree
• Doctor of [name of discipline, such as Business Administration, Law, Psychology]
• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree with a focus in [area of concentration]
• Doctorate (Ph.D.)

University degree at the Master’s level

ECA assessment results:

• Master’s Degree
• Master’s Degree (Taught)
• Master of [name of discipline]
• Master’s degree, specializing in [name of discipline]
• Master’s degree with a focus in [area of concentration]
• One-year Master’s degree with a focus in [area of concentration]
• Two-year Master’s degree with a focus in [area of concentration]
• Master of Business Administration
• One-year Master of Business Administration degree
• One-year Master degree
• Master degree

Professional degree needed to practice in a licensed profession

(also known as First professional degree or Entry-to-practice professional degree)

For Express Entry, we only accept professional degrees in these fields:

• medicine,
• veterinary medicine,
• dentistry,
• podiatry,
• optometry,
• law,
• chiropractic medicine, or
• pharmacy.

ECA assessment results:

Medicine

• First professional degree in medicine (Doctor of Medicine)
• First professional degree in Medicine
• Doctor of Medicine degree
• First professional university degree in medicine
• First professional university degree in medicine, preceded by prerequisite undergraduate study

Veterinary Medicine

• Four to seven years of professional study in veterinary medicine
• First Professional Degree in Veterinary Medicine
• Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree
• First professional university degree in veterinary medicine
• First professional university degree in veterinary medicine, preceded by prerequisite undergraduate study

Dentistry

• Four to seven years of professional study in dentistry
• Five or more years of professional university study in dentistry
• First Professional Degree in Dentistry
• Doctor of Dental Surgery degree
• First professional university degree in dentistry
• First professional university degree in dentistry, preceded by prerequisite undergraduate study

Podiatry

• Four to five years of professional study in podiatry
• Five or more years of professional university study in podiatry
• Doctor of Podiatry degree
• First professional university degree in podiatric medicine
• First professional university degree in podiatric medicine, preceded by prerequisite undergraduate study

Optometry

• Three to six years of professional study in optometry
• Five or more years of professional university study in optometry
• Doctor of Optometry degree
• First professional university degree in optometry
• First professional university degree in optometry, preceded by prerequisite undergraduate study

Law

• Bachelor of Laws
• Juris Doctor
• First professional university degree in law
• First professional university degree in law, preceded by [x years] prerequisite undergraduate study

Chiropratic Medicine

• Five or more years of professional university study in chiropractic medicine
• Doctor of Chiropractic degree
• First professional university degree in chiropractic medicine
• First professional university degree in chiropractic medicine, preceded by prerequisite undergraduate study

Pharmacy

• Five or more years of professional university study in pharmacy
• Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy degree
• Four-year Bachelor of Science degree with a focus in pharmacy

Two or more certificates, diplomas, or degrees.

Important notice: One must be for a program of three or more years.

ECA assessment results:

A three-year or more certificate, diploma, or degree

PLUS any of the results in the sections below (not including secondary/high school), or:

• Post-Bachelor’s Certificate
• Post-undergraduate certificate
• Post-Bachelor’s Diploma
• Post-undergraduate diploma
• Graduate Certificate
• Graduate Certificate with a focus in [area of concentration]
• Postgraduate certificate
• Postgraduate Diploma
• Graduate Diploma with a focus in [area of concentration]
• Graduate diploma
• two-year Postgraduate Diploma, specializing in [name of discipline]
• two-year Bachelor’s after degree with a focus in [area of concentration]
• one-year Postgraduate Certificate in [name of discipline]
• Dual Bachelor’s degree (four years)

Bachelor’s degree or other programs (three or more years) at a university, college, trade or technical school, or other institute

ECA assessment results:

• College Diploma (three years)
• Diploma (three years)
• Three-year diploma in [name of discipline]
• Three-year advanced diploma
• Bachelor’s Degree
• Applied Bachelor’s Degree
• Bachelor’s degree (three years)
• Three-year Bachelor’s degree, specializing in [name of discipline]
• Three-year Bachelor degree
• Bachelor’s degree (four years)
• Four-year Bachelor’s degree, specializing in [name of discipline]
• Four-year Bachelor degree
• Four-year advanced diploma
• Three-year post-secondary Diploma with a focus in [area of concentration]
• Bachelor’s degree with a focus in [area of concentration]
• Applied Bachelor’s degree with a focus in [area of concentration]
• Bachelor of Technology degree with a focus in [area of concentration]
• Three-year Bachelor’s degree with a focus in [area of concentration]
• Four-year Bachelor’s degree with a focus in [area of concentration]

Two-year degree, diploma or certificate from a program at a university, college, trade or technical school, or other institute

ECA assessment results:

• College Diploma
• College Diploma (two years)
• Diploma (two years)
• Two-year diploma
• Two-year diploma in [name of discipline]
• Secondary school diploma and diploma (two years)
• Associate Degree
• Associate of [Arts/Science] degree
• Post-secondary Diploma with a focus in [area of concentration]
• Two-year post-secondary Diploma with a focus in [area of concentration]
• Two-year associate degree

One-year degree, diploma or certificate from a program at a university, college, trade or technical school, or other institute

ECA assessment results:

• College Certificate
• Completion of College-level certificate
• University Certificate
• University Diploma
• One-year certificate in [name of discipline]
• Post-secondary certificate with a focus in [area of concentration]
• One-year Post-secondary certificate with a focus in [area of concentration]
• One-year certificate

Secondary school (high school diploma)

ECA assessment results:

• Secondary School Graduation
• Secondary School Diploma
• High School Equivalency Certificate
• Certificate of High School Achievement
• Certificate of High School Achievement [plus/including] [specialized/vocational/technical] training in X
• High School Diploma
• High School Diploma [plus/including] [specialized/vocational/technical] training in X
• Grade 12 (high school completion)