Accreditation

Accreditation carries a hefty price tag. Accreditation bodies levy substantial upfront and ongoing fees to confer accreditation upon an institution. Consequently, accredited institutions transfer these costs to students, resulting in significant financial burden. As a tuition-free institution, SoBaT cannot shift these expenses to students and thus cannot afford the fees charged by accreditation bodies.

SoBaT advocates for accessible education without exorbitant fees. Consequently, we have chosen to remain an independent online business school, free from dependence on external organisations. Our objective is to uphold our status as a tuition-free institution for students worldwide.

Universal recognition of credentials is not guaranteed globally; recognition varies at the discretion of employers, companies, or institutions.

Nonetheless, all education holds value, representing an achievement that remains with the individual who has earned it.

Our mission is to offer free education, with the primary goal of empowering individuals through knowledge. However, it is crucial to emphasise that if individuals have intentions other than genuine educational pursuits, such as seeking credits from traditional postgraduate programmes or wanting to use our qualification for immigration purposes, thorough research should be conducted before commencing their studies, not after.




Recognition of SoBaT Qualifications

The following is the abstract of the statement of State Secretariat for Education and Research, Federal Department of Home Affairs, Switzerland on the validity of degrees issued by private institutions in Switzerland.

The original statement can be viewed on the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs website.

“private institutions were created mainly for the purpose of servicing international students and are not part of Switzerland’s public higher education sector”.

“As a general rule, in Switzerland no prior authorisation is required in order to offer higher education courses, organise examinations or issue private degrees”.

“Private institutions that are not part of Switzerland’s public higher education sector, are not compatible with it, or are not entirely supervised by public authorities offer a different, but not necessarily lower, level of quality. There are several prestigious private institutions that are entirely independent from Switzerland’s public higher education sector”.

“For unregulated professions (e.g. managers, journalists, etc.), it is up to employers to decide whether to “recognise” the value of a degree”.

“Private institutions based in Switzerland that are not accredited as HEIs by the Swiss University Conference (SUK) may only issue private degrees”. Such degrees:

may be used by the holder to carry out an unregulated profession; appreciation of the value of private degrees is left up to employers”.

“Generally speaking, there are no international agreements protecting the value of private degrees; in all cases, it is up to the national authorities in the host country to decide whether to recognise foreign qualifications”.

“Private institutions are able to legitimately carry out their activities in Switzerland by virtue of the principle of economic freedom”.




Legalisation / Verification / Authentication / Notarisation

Certain countries mandate the legalisation, verification, authentication, or notarisation of foreign degrees. The School of Business and Trade does not provide these services; therefore, we kindly request you not to contact us regarding this matter.

Wondering how to proceed? Follow the instructions below:

    1. Print out your PDF certificate using a colour laser printer.
    2. Make a photocopy of the printed certificate.
    3. Present this to any notary public or authorised department for certification.
    4. If further verification is required, it can be done through our website or via email.