What Happens to Credential Evaluation When an Education System Is Disrupted?

“My school is now in occupied territory.”

Not long ago, MotaWord received a message like this from a customer looking to evaluate their degree from Ukraine, earned at a university which was now behind enemy lines.

It is difficult to imagine a clearer example of why credential evaluation cannot always operate under ordinary assumptions. A person who has already been forced to reckon with war, displacement, or occupation may also find that the university they attended is inaccessible, the records they need cannot be obtained, or the people who would normally verify their education are no longer reachable. Their education has not disappeared, but some of the ordinary ways of documenting it may have.

For credential evaluators, that creates a difficult responsibility: how do we maintain the standards necessary for a reliable evaluation without asking people to produce documents that, because of circumstances as extraordinary as these, they may simply have no way to obtain?

Ukraine has confronted credential evaluators with this question in particularly stark terms since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Universities have been damaged, displaced, relocated, or forced to suspend normal operations. Records have become inaccessible, students and university personnel have been displaced, and communication with institutions has at times become difficult or impossible.

Responding appropriately has required greater flexibility in documentation and processing timelines while continuing to establish educational attainment as reliably as possible. To learn what usually slows an evaluation down even in normal conditions, see our guide to evaluation delays.

Documentary Expectations During a Crisis

Credential evaluation depends on access to reliable educational records. Under ordinary circumstances, applicants can obtain diplomas and transcripts from their institutions, universities can respond to verification requests, and evaluators can consult established sources to confirm the status of institutions and qualifications. To see which documents an evaluation normally asks for, read our evaluation document checklist.

During the immediate aftermath of a major disruption, some of these requirements may become unreasonable or impossible for an applicant to satisfy.

A person who has been displaced may have access only to electronic copies of educational documents. An institution may be operating with reduced administrative capacity or from a different location. Records from institutions in occupied or heavily affected areas may be temporarily inaccessible. Direct verification procedures that ordinarily take days or weeks may no longer function at all.

In these circumstances, credential evaluators may temporarily adjust their documentary expectations. This does not mean abandoning verification or assuming that a qualification was completed. It means considering whether other reliable evidence can establish the same educational facts.

Electronic records, government databases, previously issued copies, institutional digital services, and other independently verifiable information can become particularly important. The appropriate evidence will vary from case to case, especially when access to records differs considerably among institutions and regions. If those records are in Ukrainian, they will also need a certified English translation. To see what that involves, see our certified Ukrainian translation service.

The distinction is between maintaining the standard of evidence and reconsidering the form that evidence must take. A crisis may make the usual document unavailable without making the underlying educational history impossible to establish.

Ukraine and the Growing Importance of Digital Records

Ukraine is particularly instructive because its response has also demonstrated the importance of national digital educational infrastructure.

Ukraine had already established the Unified State Electronic Database on Education, known as EDEBO, before the full-scale invasion. The database contains extensive information concerning Ukrainian educational institutions, students, and educational documents. During the war, access to centralized electronic educational information became increasingly important as Ukrainians were displaced both within the country and abroad.

In 2022, Ukrainian authorities expanded mechanisms through which individuals could access information about their education and educational documents in EDEBO using the government’s Diia digital identification system. The Ministry of Education and Science specifically discussed these developments in the context of people who had been displaced, were living in temporarily occupied territories, or were outside Ukraine.

Ukraine subsequently expanded this digital infrastructure further. In 2024, educational documents became available through the Diia mobile application. Supported records include secondary educational credentials and a range of higher education qualifications, including Bachelor, Specialist, Master, and doctoral credentials.

These developments are important for international credential evaluation because they provide additional official means of establishing educational history. Where appropriate records are available electronically through government systems, evaluators may be able to confirm information without depending exclusively on an applicant obtaining a newly issued paper document from an institution.

Digital records are not universal, however. Coverage depends in part on when a credential was issued and whether its information was entered into the relevant databases. Records associated with institutions or territories affected by occupation may also present additional difficulties. Evaluators therefore still need to consider the circumstances of each individual case rather than assuming that every Ukrainian qualification can be verified through the same method.

Changing Documentation Standards Without Changing the Credential

A disruption to an educational system primarily changes the conditions under which educational history can be documented and verified. It does not, by itself, change the academic meaning of credentials that were already awarded.

This distinction is essential.

Credential evaluation involves both determining what a qualification represents and establishing that the individual actually earned that qualification. During periods of stability, standardized documentary procedures often allow those questions to be addressed together. During a crisis, they may need to be considered more separately.

The academic level of an established Ukrainian qualification can still be assessed according to the structure of the Ukrainian education system, the requirements of the program, the status of the awarding institution, and the standards applicable when the credential was earned. To learn how an institution's recognition is checked, see our guide to verifying institutions globally. At the same time, evaluators may need to use different sources or forms of documentation to establish an individual applicant’s educational record. To see how Ukrainian degrees compare with U.S. degrees, read our guide to academic evaluation for Ukrainian diplomas.

In the period immediately following the invasion, this could mean accepting forms of evidence that would not ordinarily have been preferred when more conventional documentation was unavailable. As Ukraine’s educational institutions and government agencies developed and expanded digital systems, official electronic records increasingly provided another means of documenting qualifications.

The documentary standard therefore does not have to remain fixed when the circumstances surrounding access to education records have fundamentally changed.

Credential Evaluation Has to Account for Circumstances

Consistency is important in credential evaluation, but consistency does not require ignoring extraordinary circumstances. Requiring documents that an applicant cannot reasonably obtain because of war, displacement, or occupation does not make an evaluation more reliable. The question is whether sufficient evidence exists to establish the applicant’s educational history.

Ukraine shows how that balance can evolve. The immediate disruption following the 2022 invasion required greater flexibility in documentation, while the subsequent expansion of government databases and digital educational records created new ways to verify credentials.

And what happened with the customer whose university was now in occupied territory? We established that the university and degree were properly recognized within the Ukrainian education system when the degree was earned. We evaluated the credential for what it was: a Ukrainian degree awarded by a Ukrainian university. The subsequent occupation of the territory did not transform it into a Russian credential or change the educational system under which it had been completed.

That case gets to the heart of why circumstances matter in credential evaluation. Documentary standards may need to adapt when access to records is disrupted, but the objective remains the same: establishing what education the applicant actually completed and evaluating it in its proper academic and historical context.

How Much Does a Credential Evaluation Cost, and How Fast Is It?

MotaWord's academic evaluations are done within 72 hours for $65. If your records were affected by war or displacement, tell us which documents you have when you place your order. Certified translation can be added to the same order at the quote stage, and live chat is available 24/7 for support.

When you are ready to have your degree evaluated, MotaWord's academic evaluation services can review your diploma and transcript and state their U.S. equivalency.

Mark Rogers - Evaluation Specialist at MotaWord

Written and reviewed by Mark Rogers, Evaluation Specialist at MotaWord, drawing on MotaWord's credential evaluation work, including degrees from Ukrainian universities. MotaWord is SOC 2 Type II certified and a corporate member of the ATA and ITI, providing academic evaluations and certified translations in 120+ languages. See our diploma evaluation service →