Master of the University

Master of the University programmes

Título or grado propio degrees are awarded by the University sui generis and, in case of Universidad Azteca, based on Article 59 of the General Law of Education. In either case, a título propio or university own degree reflects that the graduate has earned a degree at postsecondary education level awarded by an officially recognised university. Universidad Azteca has developed a professional and academic certification programme and awards the following título propio degrees to persons meeting the corresponding degree requirements:

(Executive) Master of Business Administration (Professional Certification) Read More…

Master of Professional Studies (Professional Certification) Read More…

Master of Individual Studies (Validation of Prior Learning) Read More…

Master of Advanced Studies (Recognition of Transfer Credits) Read More…

The three options include Recognition of Transfer Credits, Professional Certification, and Validation of Prior Learning.

DOWNLOAD THE VALIDATION INFORMATION FOLDER (PDF)

The Mexican Qualifications Framework MMC

See DGAIR MMC website | Download MMC description

The prior learning assessment grado propio programmes of Universidad Azteca are ideal for qualified professionals earning a university degree based on their qualifications, licenses, skills and experience and who do not need an accredited or recognised degree rather than a university own degree awarded by a recognised university to demonstrate their individual level of education in a given area or field of expertise. A grado propio or university own degree reflects that the graduate has earned a degree at postsecondary education level awarded by an officially recognised university.

Graduates of Universidad Azteca grado propio Master degree programmes qualify for admission to grado propio Doctor programmes of Universidad Azteca.

Professional Certification.

(Executive) Master of Business Administration (Professional Certification)

Master of Professional Studies (Professional Certification)

Degree requirements for the Master of Professional Studies or the Executive MBA: At least a professional qualification at level 5 or 6 of the European Qualifications Framework as entry requirement, plus professional training, certification and expert experience equal to 60 ECTS credits or a qualification at level 7.

At Universidad Azteca, applicants may earn up to 100% of the credits required for the Master of Professional Studies degree through Certification of Chartered, Certified, Statutory or Licensed Professionals in regulated or guilded professions, whereby, the profession must be listed in an applicable National Vocational Qualifications framework at the corresponding level of comparable higher education; or is a regulated profession in the country of residence and professional practice of the applicant.

Examples of professionals include Chartered or Certified Managers, Marketing, Management Consultants (CMC), Accountants, Financial Services, Paramedics, to name but a few.

The degree programmes qualified for this award are in the Professional Studies area. The process of validation of professional certification assesses learning as a large body of knowledge with breadth and depth and advanced learning in a single discipline.

Applicants must submit their complete educational and professional portfolio, demonstrating the acquired skills and knowledge.

An evaluation report by an independent Professional, Statutory, Regulatory or Supporting Body or a credential evaluator service will support the application. We consult students on such independent service providers.

Universidad Azteca conducts an evaluation and issues a ruling on admission or rejection, or admission on conditions to successfully complete certain coursework.

Candidates who are admitted will be invited to a diagnostic online-examination of the degree requirements.

These ad eundem degrees are earned degrees, not honorary, because they recognise formal and professional learning and qualification.

Earn credit by Licenses and Certificates

If you have already attained certain licenses or certificates within your chosen profession or areas of interest, you may be well on your way to completing a degree at Universidad Azteca. Universidad Azteca will grant credit for current professional licenses or certificates that have been evaluated and approved for credit by the University´s Academic Council.

Students who have earned one of the licenses or certificates listed must submit notarized copies of the license or certificate and current renewal card (if appropriate) in order to receive credit. In addition, for health-related certifications and licenses, a transcript of the course completed must be issued by the hospital or agency through which they were completed.

Earn credit through workplace learning and Corporate and Business Training Courses

Credit for Courses You’ve Taken at Work

Universidad Azteca recognizes that many adults have acquired knowledge through their everyday work activities and from courses, classes, and seminars completed in the workplace. As a result, you may be eligible for college credit for courses you have taken at work. Universidad Azteca awards credit for employer, union, or professional association courses. Students may be able to earn credit for courses taken at their workplace or through union or professional associations.

Earn credit through credit recommendation

The purpose of Credit Recommendation is to help people obtain academic credit for learning acquired outside the sponsorship of colleges and universities by evaluation and credit recommendations for formal educational programmes and courses sponsored by non-collegiate organizations who are non degree granting and who offer courses to their employees, members, or customers. These non-collegiate organizations include business and industry, labour unions, professional and voluntary associations, and government agencies. The credit recommendations are intended to awarding credit to persons who have successfully completed non-collegiate sponsored instruction. In this way, students will be assisted in receiving academic credit for learning gained through such instruction.

The recommendation is based on the proposition that it is sound educational practice for colleges and universities to grant academic credit for quality educational programmes conducted by non-collegiate organizations, provided that the courses are appropriate to an individual’s educational programme.

Recognition of Transfer Credits.

Master of Advanced Studies (Recognition of Transfer Credits)

Executive Master of Business Administration
(Recognition of Transfer Credits)

Degree requirements for the Master of Advanced Studies or the Executive MBA: At least a professional qualification at level 5, 6 or 7 of the European Qualifications Framework as entry requirement, plus academic documented 60 ECTS credits earned.

At Universidad Azteca, applicants may earn up to 100% of the credits required for the Master of Advanced Studies degree through Validation of transfer of credits options.

For the learning that can be recognised credentials and certificates of previously passed tests offer a much less complicated evaluation than is possible with portfolio validation of prior learning.

Candidates who have earned enough credits in prior course-work leading to any degree can transfer their degrees from a variety of sources into one degree awarded by Universidad Azteca in the Advanced Studies area.

This programme is different from the Professional Certification (Professional Studies) and the Validation of Prior Learning (Individual Studies) because it is based entirely on the recognition of transfer credits already earned at the postsecondary level.

Applicants must submit their complete educational and professional portfolio, particularly the acacemic credentials, transcript and student records, demonstrating the acquired skills and knowledge.

An evaluation report by an independent Professional, Statutory, Regulatory or Supporting Body or a credential evaluator service will support the application. We consult students on such independent service providers.

Universidad Azteca conducts an evaluation and issues a ruling on admission or rejection, or admission on conditions to successfully complete certain coursework.

Candidates who are admitted will be invited to a diagnostic online-examination of the degree requirements.

These ad eundem degrees are earned degrees, not honorary, because they recognise formal and professional learning and qualification.

Universidad Azteca particularly accepts the following credentials:

Transcripts, student records and certificates of study issued by an awarding institution, whereby, the awarding institution is one of the following

– a nationally recognised IAU listed university;

– a nationally recognised and accredited institution of postsecondary education;

– a state approved or lisensed institution of postsecondary education with degree awarding powers;

– an institution of postsecondary education with institutional accreditation by an accrediting agency recognised or listed by any government authority or board in charge of recognising accrediting agencies, or listed and recognised by CHEA, ENQA or INQAAHE;

– an institution of postsecondary education offering programmes with programmatic accreditation by an accrediting agency recognised or listed by any government authority or board in charge of recognising accrediting agencies, or listed and recognised by CHEA, ENQA or INQAAHE;

or the credential subject to validation is

– any certificate of partial studies that has already been evaluated and recognised by an officially recognised credentials evaluation service, e.g. NACES, NARIC, OFQUAL or Professional and Regulatory Bodies. (E.g. course by course evaluation)

Universidad Azteca applies the ECTS system as credits based system, whereby, we use the comparison of full study year credits instead of hours, because the various international definitions of “hours” make it impossible to compare the systems as the following example demonstrates:

One Mexican (SATCA & Acuerdo 279) credit is defined as 16 hours, meaning only lecturing hours, not including learning hours of studying, assignments and examinations workload. (Notice: SATCA requires 50 hours of practice for one credit). One full study years in Mexico requires 1,200 (lecturing) hours.

One European ECTS credit is defined as a workload of 25-28 hours on part of the student. One full study year in Europe requires 1,500 to 1,800 hours of workload. That includes lecturing hours plus all the independent learning, assignments and examinations on part of student.

One US semester or credit hour is defined as 16 hours of lecture or practice, even not reflecting the underlying workload of the student. One full study year in the US requires 480 (lecture or practice) hours.

If we take the different hours and simply compare them – as some evaluators and regulators in some countries do – it would mean the following:

A four years Bachelor in the USA usually comprises 120 US credits. That means one full study year is 30 credits in the USA. Or in hours it implies that a four years US-style Bachelor with 120 credits reflects 1,920 hours.

In Mexico a four year Licenciado degree requires 300 creditos, implying that one full study year requires 75 creditos. In hours that would mean that a four years Licenciado corresponds with 4,800 hours.

In Europe a four years graduate degree requires 240 ECTS credits, implying that one full study year requires 60 ECTS credits. In hours that would mean that a European-style four years graduate diploma corresponds with 6,000 to 7,200 hours.

It would imply that 4 study years in the USA would be equal to 1,5 study years in Mexico and equal to a little more than 1 study year in Europe.

Therefore, Universidad Azteca applies the correspondence of credits based on the full study years, as follows:

Principle of Reciprocity – One full study year of higher education is comparable in USA, Europe and Mexico:

30 US credits = 60 ECTS credits = 75 Mexican creditos

This process recognises credits earned in courses taught at university; learning which can be documented by certificates, letters of examination, CEU (Continuing Education Unit) transcripts, it accepts learning achieved in coursework with any accredited college or university or recognised learning programme, which can be documented.

Earn credit by Credit Transfer

Credits accepted through transfer by Universidad Azteca may come only from regionally accredited colleges and universities. The following include the college-level educational experiences that Universidad Azteca may accept for credit through transfer:

Accredited Colleges and Universitie

Credits earned at a college or university that is accredited or a candidate for accreditation by an institutional accrediting body may be transferred to Universidad Azteca regardless of the number of institutions attended. Universidad Azteca does not transfer courses with no pass grades.

Students may be required to provide course descriptions, or a copy of the catalogue from the institution where the courses were taken, to enable course-by-course evaluations when determining if such courses can be accepted toward the degree requirements of Universidad Azteca degrees. If descriptions are needed, these should be requested from the registrar of the college(s) where the courses were completed. An official transcript from each institution to be evaluated must be submitted. Universidad Azteca will not accept credits listed as “transfer” on an institution’s transcript.

Universidad Azteca will accept credits from foreign colleges that are recognized by the educational authority of that country, and listed in one of the publications including recognized colleges and universities.

Acceptance of Credits from Graduate Programmes

Universidad Azteca will accept credits of graduate work to apply to a programme.

Demonstration of Currency

Because of the rapid changes occurring in technological and business fields today, it is important for today’s college graduates to maintain up-to-date knowledge in their field. Therefore, it may be necessary for students to “demonstrate currency” in order to transfer credits previously earned at other accredited colleges and universities.

Demonstration of Currency refers to the transfer of credits. If the credits you wish to transfer to the University are over 10 years old at the time of application to the University, you will need to demonstrate currency for these courses. You can validate these transfer credits by completing an oral conference with a faculty consultant covering contemporary developments in the subject at hand. You must be enrolled in the University to complete this procedure.

Validation of Prior Learning.

Master of Individual Studies (Validation of Prior Learning)

Degree requirements for the Master of Individual Studies: At least a professional qualification at level 5 or 6 of the European Qualifications Framework or an equivalent professional background of at least five years as entry requirement, plus an accepted portfolio validation of prior learning equal to 60 ECTS credits or a qualification at level 7.

At Universidad Azteca, applicants may earn up to 100% of the credits required for the Master of Individual Studies degree through Validation of Prior Learning Portfolios and other transfer of credits options.

To begin the Prior Learning Assessment Portfolio process, applicants must first consult with a member of the Admission Team, who can help applicants decide if portfolio development and submission is right for the applicant.

The applicant must submit

a complete portfolio demonstrating which skills and knowledge have been acquired by professional or individual learning and experience, including transfer credits from higher education course-work and partial studies; or

a recognition or validation report of prior learning assessment in line with national regulations applicable in the country of award, indicating the corresponding NVQ level or credits earned.

Applicants submit their complete educational and professional portfolio, demonstrating the acquired skills and knowledge, for the purpose of evaluation.

An evaluation report by an independent Professional, Statutory, Regulatory or Supporting Body or a credential evaluator service will support the application. We consult students on such independent evaluation of prior learning service providers.

Universidad Azteca conducts an evaluation and issues a ruling on admission or rejection, or admission on conditions to successfully complete certain coursework.

Candidates who are admitted will be invited to a diagnostic online-examination of the degree requirements.

These ad eundem degrees are earned degrees, not honorary, because they recognise formal and professional learning and qualification.

The CHEA glossary of key terms defines:

Accreditation of Prior Learning: (U.K.) A process by which individuals can claim and gain credit toward qualifications based on their prior learning and sometimes experience (often called experiential learning). Credit to be given where there is evidence that the experience or learning has resulted in the student achieving the appropriate and clearly expressed learning outcomes.

Recognition of prior learning (RPL), prior learning assessment (PLA), or prior learning assessment and recognition (PLAR), describes a process used by colleges and universities around the world to evaluate learning acquired outside the classroom for the purpose of assigning academic credit. Common ways individuals have acquired college-level learning include: corporate or military training; work experience; civic activity; and independent study.

The legal framework in Mexico for recognition of non traditional individual prior learning is regulated by the ACUERDO NÚMERO 286, implementing the UNESCO Recommendations for Validation and Recognition of Prior Learning.

Universidad Azteca offers a number of assessment options that might be appropriate for students who have acquired college-level learning from prior study or experience. Universidad Azteca applies the university own standards, combining the following guidelines and frameworks: ACUERDO NÚMERO 286, the French VAE: Validation des Acquis de l’Expérience, and the Irish HETAC Standards for PLA, and the US CAEL standards. Ireland and France are countries allowing for the recognition of prior learning at all three academic levels including EQF level 8.

This process assesses learning as interdisciplinary that corresponds to the content of courses taught at university; learning which can be documented by certificates, letters of recommendation, CEU (Continuing Education Unit) transcripts, it assesses learning that corresponds to course coursework from any accredited college or university or recognised learning programme, which can be documented.

The first stage in the assessment process is the determination of whether the learning has already been evaluated as part of an assessment of prior learning programme. If it is determined that credit has already been so evaluated, applicable credit is awarded based on the prior evaluations of the corresponding evaluators and no individual assessment is conducted. Universidad Azteca accepts any official validation of prior learning conducted in accordance with the laws of the country where the validation was issued, particularly the European Validation Framework, Canadian, Australian, US (California Prior Learning Assessment & Recognition (PLAR) Manual; Excelsior College Flexible Assessment; Thomas Edison State College Assessment of Prior Learning Handbook; Empire State College Credit by Evaluation; Ohio State University Portfolio Assessment; Charter Oak State College Portfolio Assessment), and similar standards based on CAEL recommendations are accepted.

The second stage in the assessment process is the determination of whether the learning claimed by the student can be evaluated by a combination of any of the university own degrees for which Universidad Azetca awards credit.

A Prior Learning Assessment Portfolio is a collection of résumé, narrative essay, and supporting evidence which documents how prior job, volunteer, service, corporate training, or other relevant experience aligns to the learning objectives of specific academic courses or programmes. Reviewed by trained faculty member assessors and/or subject matter experts, these portfolios provide an accepted basis for awarding credit for prior university-level learning gained outside the traditional classroom—reducing the time and costs to complete a degree.

Earn credit through Portfolio Assessment

Portfolio assessment helps students define and demonstrate both their formal and informal learning in terms of college courses.

Portfolio Assessment is a flexible, efficient way of earning college credits for what you have learned outside the classroom. Universidad Azteca has already helped applicants in earning credits based on their knowledge. Moreover, these credit awards are honored by our partner universities.

Like all programmes offered by Universidad Azteca, Portfolio Assessment operates on the belief that college-level learning, no matter how it is gained, warrants credit. Therefore, nearly any area of learning can be converted into college credits as long as it is taught at a recognised or accredited college or university and you can prove your expertise in it.

A portfolio is a compilation of data assembled in an approved format to demonstrate college-level knowledge for an award of credit. Often compiled like a notebook, each portfolio generally represents one course. The portfolio you submit to Universidad Azteca will serve as proof of your expertise and the value it has in the academic world. It can include knowledge or skills gained from a wide variety of sources, but these are some of the more common ones used for Portfolio Assessment:

• Full or part-time jobs
• independent reading and study
• training programmes or in-service courses
• volunteer work
• cultural and artistic pursuits
• hobbies and recreational pastimes
• community or religious activities
• military service
• travel study
• organization memberships

Putting your portfolio together is a simple, step-by-step process:

1. Take inventory of your knowledge and skills.

2. Choose the areas for which you want to seek college credit.

3. Find course descriptions to match your learning.

4. Provide evidence of your knowledge.

5. Describe what you know and how you learned it.

6. Put it all together.

7. Submit the portfolio.

The Assessment of Your Portfolio

Each portfolio is assessed by a faculty consultant who has expertise in that particular subject. The faculty consultant will determine whether or not your knowledge of the subject is equal to a college-level grade of “pass” or better. If so, then he/she will recommend that you receive credit. You will not receive a letter grade. If your knowledge is judged to be insufficient, the faculty consultant will recommend that credit be denied. If the faculty consultant decides that more information is needed in order to make a determination, you may be asked to submit additional evidence, take an examination or be interviewed. The latter practices are often used in cases where students have acquired knowledge of a subject that cannot be documented.

There is no limit to the number of credits you may earn through portfolio assessment.

It is possible that students earn enough portfolio credits to meet their degree requirements.