In 1985, Brookdale Community College from Lincroft, New Jersey, began offering first and second year college courses in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Students were fully registered on the main campus in New Jersey and the program was accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. Between 1985 and 2005, more than 1,700 students completed their first two years of U.S. college studies in Ecuador and transferred to colleges and universities in the United States. In addition, students were also transferred to universities in France, Germany, England, Switzerland, Spain, Argentina, New Zealand, Australia, and Mexico.
In 2006, our program was transferred to Broward Community College in Fort Lauderdale, FL. In July 2008, the name was changed to Broward College when our home campus changed from a community college to a full four-year degree granting institution accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in Atlanta, GA.
BCE is the only college or university program in Ecuador that offers fully accredited U.S. courses. In other words, all credits earned at Broward in Ecuador all fully transferable to colleges and universities in the United States. In 2007, BCE opened a branch campus at the Academia Cotopaxi in Quito, Ecuador.
It is the mission of Broward College Ecuador to provide the highest quality education and services that are affordable and accessible to all students. As the ONLY U.S. accredited institution of higher education in Ecuador, we are committed to the highest standards of academic integrity and compliance with all the requirements of the accrediting organization, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, in Atlanta, Georgia.
In the United States, the main difference between a "college" and a "university" is the size of the institution. This is not always true, but it's a good place to start in order to understand the system of higher education in the U.S.
The other major difference is the availability and quantity of post-graduate degrees; for example, a university offers such degrees as master’s and doctorates as compared to the more limited degrees that a college might offer. However, there is no difference between the undergraduate degree (B.A. or B.S.) earned at a college or earned at a university.
Although there is no guarantee of transferring into a particular university, most U.S. universities welcome international students that have graduated from two year Associate Degree programs such as the one we offer at Broward College, Ecuador.
From Broward College in Ecuador, students have transferred to the University of Florida, Florida State, Florida International, Florida Atlantic, Harvard, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Princeton, Rutgers, Purdue, Universities of Texas, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, South Carolina, North Carolina, Massachusetts, California, University of California - Berkeley, University of Pennsylvania, and many other top universities in the United States and Canada.
In the United States accreditation status is provided by accrediting bodies. These are private, independent, non-governmental organizations that have been created specifically to review higher education institutions and programs. These accrediting bodies are reviewed for quality by entities such as the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) or the United States Department of Education (USDE).
The accreditation process ensures the review of a school's faculty, recruiting practices, admissions procedures, course content, and more. Influenced and affected by the role of accreditation teams, schools are accountable for continually working to improve the quality and results of the education they provide.