Sometimes, individuals applying to World Education Services (WES) from China are concerned that China Higher Education Student Information and Career Center (CHESICC) will not verify their credentials in time for them to complete their applications.
They often reach out to us, asking: Is it possible to skip CHESICC?
Currently, all applicants with education in China need to submit their academic transcripts for verification by CHESICC. Then, you send them to WES for further review and approval. Recently, some applicants have asked us if it is possible to skip CHESICC and use other channels to submit transcript documents to WES. However, to ensure the authenticity and validity of the documents we receive, WES’s document policy does not support such methods.
On the WES required documents webpage, you can find the requirements corresponding to your degree applications: Here is the page for WES U.S. and here is the page for WES Canada.
What is the reason for this?
This document policy follows the Chinese Ministry of Education’s organizational business adjustments in July 2018; WES is not the only institution affected by this change. So far, CHESICC is the only institution in China that can verify transcripts for colleges, universities, and other higher education institutions around the world.
A variety of reasons caused a longer review time at CHESICC. Firstly, during the Chinese National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holidays, CHESICC and domestic colleges and universities were all on break for a week and could not verify transcripts; the delays may be partially attributed to these holidays. The other reason is that the application season is here; it is the peak season for document verifications, and the quantity of documents increases significantly on a daily basis. Moreover, because CHESICC is currently the only institution that can verify transcripts, and there are no other channels that can share this volume, all of the transcripts of students applying to study abroad all over the world are being sent to CHESICC.
Has WES attempted to directly verify transcripts through Chinese higher education institutions?
WES has attempted to contact domestic Chinese higher education institutions, including the faculty offices of Double First Class Universities, to send them document verification requests. Due to considerations of student privacy protection, Chinese colleges and universities are unable to provide WES with transcript certification. As an independently operated North American non-profit institution, WES is not a functional institution under the banner of the Ministry of Education in China; as a result, it is unable to gain authorization to directly request student transcript materials from schools. Currently, CHESICC is the only official institution that can verify transcripts at various Chinese colleges and universities.
My application deadline is coming up, but I still have not received my transcript report. What should I do?
As a partner of CHESICC, WES has received a lot of applicant feedback from our customer service platform and our Weibo account. We have been actively reporting this problem to CHESICC, hoping that CHESICC can prioritize processing of documents from WES applicants. We have also established a team for Chinese documents at the WES New York office. When a Chinese applicant’s documents pass CHESICC verification and arrive at WES, we will prioritize processing of the received documents. After you submit your WES application, you can also choose WES’s three-day rush service. After confirming that your documents are authentic and valid, WES will issue your report within three days.
At the same time, WES is actively discussing more effective cooperation models with CHESICC in order to simplify and shorten the wait time for applicants.
Further information…
At the end of November and beginning of December, there will immediately be a round of application deadlines. Therefore, the public relations personnel at WES have been in contact with U.S. universities to explain the reasons for possible delays of Chinese documents and to seek their understanding. We hope that they will give more time to Chinese students. If your application deadline is almost here, but your document verification process is not yet complete, you may consider writing to the recruitment office of the school to which you are applying and explain your situation, and to apply for a grace period from the school.
For those applying for admission in 2020: If your target schools ask for a credential evaluation, you can start your WES evaluation early to avoid unnecessary delays. If you are still a student, you should start your WES application after you receive your transcript next June at the end of your junior year. By doing so, you can effectively avoid the peak season of evaluations in the fall and complete your application early.
