The private (programmatically-accredited) international undergraduate or (post)graduate certificates, diplomas and degrees, including the degrees of Associate, Bachelor, Master and Doctor, are awarded by the school's HQ in Switzerland upon successful completion of a study program and based on the recommendation of the academic council and of faculty of the local campuses where credits were earned. The school's HQ is split between Zurich and Geneva. Our career-oriented programs and courses are based on the European higher education guidelines as outlined in the Bologna agreements and are fully compatible with the established European and American educational systems. Compatibility is evaluated through programmatic accreditation from the European Council for Business Education (ECBE) and from the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP), and through cooperation agreements with our European and American academic partners. Our local campuses do not award their own certificates and degrees, and only provide educational services under supervision from the school’s main campus. While our local campuses having obtained various certification labels, and while several of our study programs having obtained various programmatic accreditations from various reputable certification and accreditation organizations, our study programs do not strictly follow local educational models, and the local campuses of the school and our study programs are not registered with or recognized by the relevant local Ministry of Education, or accredited by the relevant local accreditation authorities. The United International Business School (UIBS) and the United School for Liberal Studies (UnitedSLS) are independent private education institutions offering non-regulated education. The local campuses therefore remain unaffiliated with and operate independently from the relevant local Ministry of Education. Our school also does not hold US-regional accreditation, and the degrees awarded by the school’s headquarters are not regulated under the Swiss Higher Education Act of September 2011. Our study programs are considered as non-regulated education under a constitutional freedom to organize education, and the private certificates and degrees awarded by the school may therefore not provide access to government employment, regulated professions , or further studies at other or public institutions. Our private certificates and degrees may not be considered to hold the same value, but also not necessarily a lower value, as a certificate and degree awarded by a locally registered and/or accredited higher education institution that follows the national or regional educational model. We believe that the value of an education is largely defined by its match with the expectations of the student pursuing the education and the practical use of the education in today’s open economy.

In cooperation with Dublin Business School (DBS), undergraduate students from across the UIBS campus network seeking European state-recognized degrees can transfer to or continue at DBS to earn a Bachelor or Master degree.

In cooperation with Pearson, undergraduate students from across the UIBS campus network enrolled in the HNC and/or HND programs and seeking European state-recognized degrees can transfer to or continue at certain UK universities to earn a Bachelor degree.

Degrees awarded by our academic partners may not automatically be recognized by the relevant education authorities in the destination country of the student either, and may also not provide access to government employment, regulated professions, or further education at other or public universities.

Admission requirements for study programs are set by each institution independently. While many of our students who earned one of our private (programmatically-accredited) degrees have continued their education at other institutions around the world, it should be noted that public institutions may not consider students with qualifications from private institutions such as ours, and that institutions with academically oriented study programs may not consider students who graduated from professionally oriented study programs, such as ours. It is therefore important to decide on an institution and study program for further education based on its compatibility with your current or former institution and study program. Our first recommendation is to consider study programs organized by our academic partners. Our second recommendation is to consider the (accredited) member institutions of the accreditation organizations whose quality standards we follow to maximize compatibility. Students who earned an American regionally-accredited degree or a European state-recognized degree from one of our academic partners may have additional further education opportunities available to them.

Furthermore, the “European Area of Recognition Manual”, that provides information about “practical guidelines for fair recognition of qualifications”, as developed by experts from various ENIC’s and NARIC’s under the European Area of Recognition project, recognizes that institutions that are not specifically following a national higher education system may still be offering legitimate study programs and qualifications. The evaluation flowchart in the manual prescribes that the responsible admissions officer should conduct research into the legitimacy of the institution and the qualification through, among others, information obtained from the applicant and from third-party quality assurance organizations. Upon confirming the legitimacy, recognition of the qualification should be considered for admission.