Verification explained

Recognition status labels

Verified in official record

The school, program or award appears in an accreditor’s, regulator’s or awarding body’s own register or document that we fetched, and the record is cited. Where the record shows a scope we show it; where it does not, the scope is marked as not stated.

Stated by the school

The school says it holds this status on its own website, but we could not confirm it in an official record. Treat it as a claim to check with the body concerned.

Not verified

We could not establish the status from either a record or the school. It is flagged for review. This is not a negative finding.

Sources conflict

Sources disagree. Both are shown and the record is flagged for review.

Kinds of recognition

Accreditation

Institutional or program accreditation by an accrediting body or authority.

Licence to operate or award

Authorisation from a government body to operate or to award qualifications.

Registration

The provider is registered with an authority, which is not the same as accreditation of a course.

Qualification listing

The award appears in a national qualification register or framework.

Quality mark

A quality label from a body that reviews providers. Check what the review covers.

Association membership

Membership of an association. Membership is not accreditation.

Partner-awarded degree

The qualification is awarded by a partner institution rather than by the school.

There is no universal culinary-school accreditation standard. Association membership is not accreditation, and we never use “recognized worldwide” badges.

Award status

Academic award

Awarded by a degree-granting institution.

Vocational qualification

A vocational qualification listed in a national system or issued by a national awarding body.

Provider-issued award

Issued by the training provider itself. Check separately whether any authority or employer recognises it.

Attendance certificate only

Confirms attendance; it is not a qualification.

No award

The program does not lead to a formal award.

A private professional diploma can be a respected industry credential, but it is not an academic degree, and a framework level does not make awards from different countries equivalent.

How quotes are checked

Each sourced fact stores the page address and a short verbatim quote. A script re-fetches the page and checks the quote. Found quotes are marked verified; partly matched quotes are kept and flagged; quotes proven absent withdraw the fact (costs, hours, internship and framework level) or downgrade a recognition. Pages that cannot be read automatically (documents, script-rendered pages, blocked sites) are labelled as not re-checked and are never counted as verified.

What status is not

• It is not a quality score or a ranking.
• It is not an employment, admission or placement guarantee.
• It does not establish immigration permission, visa eligibility or credit transfer.
• Schools and sponsors cannot buy or award themselves a verified status. Only our research and review set it, with an audit trail.

Freshness

Every record shows the date it was checked. Fees, deadlines and registers change; confirm with the school before paying a deposit. See questions to ask about internships and costs.