Verification comes first.

An institution or program enters assessment only when all of these are true:

• It is legally established and recognized, or authorized to award the degree in question, by the competent authority where it operates.
• Its status is confirmed in at least one authoritative register, checked directly by a member of our verification desk.
• For programs: the program is delivered under that authority and has graduated at least one cohort.
• For branch campuses and franchised programs: recognition is confirmed in both the home and the host jurisdiction.

Full rules are in the Eligibility and Accreditation Verification Policy.

Accreditation counts as evidence of quality, never as a requirement, so that excellent programs in systems without such accreditors are not excluded. Professional accreditations such as AACSB, EQUIS, AMBA, ABET or EUR-ACE are recorded with each entry.

Not every accreditor is equal. We check that each accrediting body is itself recognized by a government or a recognized quality-assurance agency. Accreditation from an unrecognized body carries no weight, and claiming it is a warning sign.

Degree mills sell credentials; accreditation mills sell false legitimacy to degree mills. Both are designed to look real. We apply enhanced checks when we see:

• degrees awarded in weeks, or for "life experience" alone, with little or no assessed work;
• accreditation from bodies that no government or recognized quality-assurance agency acknowledges, often with "international" or "global" in the name;
• a flat price per degree instead of tuition per course or credit;
• no verifiable legal registration, physical address, faculty list or academic governance;
• names, crests or web addresses that imitate well-known universities;
• pressure selling, "limited time" discounts on degrees, or backdated diplomas and transcripts.

These official sources are what we use. They are free to consult.

• IAU World Higher Education Database (WHED), with UNESCO: institutions recognized by national competent bodies worldwide.
• EQAR DEQAR: external quality-assurance results for European institutions.
• ENIC-NARIC network: national recognition information centres.
• US Department of Education DAPIP and the CHEA database: accredited US institutions and recognized accreditors.
• National authorities, for example the Council for Higher Education (Israel), the TEQSA National Register (Australia) or the Office for Students (England).

Not in a register does not always mean fraudulent. Registers differ in scope and update cycles. When in doubt, ask the competent authority of the country concerned.

Companies, agencies and professional training programs offered outside academic frameworks, such as corporate academies, bootcamps and certification providers, have no registers like those of universities. They pass an equivalent gate built on evidence:

• Legal existence. A verifiable registration, a real place of business and identifiable leadership.
• Proof of activity. Products, services, programs, clients or outputs that exist and can be examined, and claims that match what can be shown.
• The people behind it. Leadership and teams whose skills, professional experience and education are consistent with what the organization offers.
• Reputation and standing. Professional recognition and standing in the field, and, for credentials, an issuing body that is what it says it is, with assessment that means what the credential claims.
• No disqualifying record. No regulatory sanctions, fraud findings, or credible and serious reports of misconduct that remain unresolved.

Organizations of questionable standing or reputation are not ranked, whatever their size, funding or visibility.

If you believe a provider is issuing fraudulent degrees, or claims a RankingLab position it does not hold, write to hi@rankinglab.org. Please include the provider's name and website, where you saw the claim, and why you are concerned.

• Reports may be taken into account in our verification work.
• We verify facts against official sources and may refer credible concerns to the competent authorities.
• We do not publish allegations. Exclusion from a ranking is not a public accusation, and we keep reporters' identities confidential unless the law requires otherwise.