The study was conducted to determine whether a non-governmental Foreign Credential Evaluation Service (FCES) should be established and if so, what services it would provide, what the demand for these services would be, and what financial resources it would require. A survey of admissions officers at 223 educational institutions and representatives of 38 agencies (federal government, private, and state teacher certification and nursing licensing boards) revealed that there is a continuing need for a central agency to evaluate credentials of foreign students and professionals. The evaluative reports provided by the FCES of the US Office of Education are authoritative and up-to-date, but are considered as somewhat general in nature. If this Service were to be discontinued, it was felt that a new independent agency should replace it. The new FCES would speed up the delivery of more detailed reports which would include: number of a student's years of formal education, quality of academic work in terms of his country's rating system and of the US grading scale, number of credit hours in major field and in all subjects, US equivalence for foreign certificates and degrees, and other items. No consensus was reached on the organizational structure of a new FCES but outside funds would be needed for its first 5 years, after which it would be entirely self-supporting. The report contains recommendations on staffing, budget, fees and billing arrangements, and 56 illustrative tables. (WM)