Recognition of Foreign Higher Education in the Czech Republic, MŠMT ČR

Legislations Governing the Recognition of Foreign Higher Education Qualifications

* Act. No. 111/1998 Coll. on Higher Education Institutions and on Amendment to Other Acts, as amended - § 89, § 90, § 90a, § 106

* Act No. 500/2004 Coll. on Administrative Procedure

* International Agreements on the recognition of documents on education

* International Agreements on the authentication of public documents

 Authorities Governing the Recognition of Foreign Education

-         Public higher education institution providing degree programmes of corresponding/similar content. Relevant universities may be found e.g. here (Czech only).

-         Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports – entitled to make decisions in disputable situations

-         Ministry of Defence – entitled to make decisions regarding military-related education

-         Ministry of the Interior – entitled to make decisions regarding education in the area of security forces

Application Submission

Graduates of Bachelor’s, Master’s degree programmes and/or doctoral degree programme graduates from foreign universities wishing to obtain recognition of their foreign diplomas are required to submit a written Application along with other documents to the Rector’s Office of a public university.

The attachments submitted along with the Application:

-        Legally attested copy of a Diploma or similar proof of completion of studies issued by a foreign university

-        Legally attested copy of a Diploma Supplement or copy of a list of completed courses

-        Certified translations of both documents into Czech or English (documents issued in English are exempt from this clause)

-        Certified written power of attorney, if submitted by a person other than the graduate

-        Ruling on grant refugee status, if submitted by person who has been granted this status

Payment of an administrative fee

In accordance with the provisions of section 90a of the amended Higher Education Act (in force as of 1 September 2016), a fee of CZK 3000 is hereby introduced for acts associated with proceedings regarding the submission of an application for the recognition of foreign higher education and qualifications to a public higher education institution.

a) The administrative fee must be paid to a public higher education institution when an application for the recognition of foreign higher education and qualification is submitted to a public higher education.

b) The administrative fee is collected as according to the Act n. 634/2004 when an application for the recognition of foreign higher education and qualification is submitted to Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, Ministry of Interior or Ministry of Defense.

When the application is submitted to one of the competent Ministries, the applicant will receive information on fee payment.

If the Ministry decides that the competent authority is one of a higher education institution, the application fee will be collected by the competent higher education institution.

The administrative fee does not apply to ongoing proceedings initiated before 1 September 2016.

Beneficiaries of International Protection

In the Czech republic recognition of foreign higher education of beneficiaries of international protection is treated by the Act. No. 111/1998 Coll. on Higher Education Institutions and on Amendment to Other Acts. According to this legislation beneficiaries of international protection are treated in the same way as nationals. For the recognition of foreign higher education in the Czech republic may apply any graduate. In the process of recognition the permanent address, nationality or temporary address of the applicant are not decisive while making the final decision of recognition.

According to the Act. No. 111/1998 Coll. on Higher Education Institutions and on Amendment to Other Acts beneficiaries of international protection may replace missing document necessary for the recognition process by a personal statement. 

Verification of Signatures and Stamps on Original Educational Documents

The verification procedure is subdivided into three groups:

The first group complies with obligations arising from bilateral legal aid contracts, the second group complies with obligations arising from multilateral contracts of simplification of certifying foreign official documents, and the third group concerns recognition of documents issued in states that did not signed any specific multirateral/bilateral agreements concerning verification of documents.

1. Bilateral legal aid contracts

Enable presenting official documents (diplomas and other education documents) issued in a contracting state to the organs of other contracting state without other certifying Signatures states.doc 

2. Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents

Defines a unified form of document recognition by so-called Apostila http://www.hcch.net/index_en.php?act=conventions.text&cid=41

3. Other states

The authenticity of signatures and stamps on document originals is verified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the state of the university that has issued the diploma.

Application Processing Time

According to Act No. 500/2004 Coll. and the Code of Administrative Procedure the procedure of Recognition of Foreign Higher Education is to be proceeded within a period of 30 days (60 days in complex cases). These periods exclude the time during which the procedure can get interrupted (see the Administrative Procedure Code).

Applicants have the right to appeal within 15 days from receipt of the decision.  The applicant submits appeal to the university that has issued the contested decision. The Rector of the public university shall either grant the application in full extent by means of a reconsideration process, or pass the matter to the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports to make the decision.

Recognition of Education Obtained in Countries with Bilateral Agreements (Germany, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia)

Agreement between the Government of the Czech Republic and the Government of the Republic of Hungary on the mutual recognition of educational documents and documents relevant to academic degrees and titles issued in the Republic and Hungary (Budapest, 6 May 2004, published under No. 92/2005 Coll. of International Treaties).

Agreement between the Government of the Czech Republic and the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany on the mutual recognition of higher education documents (Prague, 23 March 2007, No. 60/2008 Coll. of International Treaties).

Agreement between the Government of the Czech Republic and the Government of the Republic of Poland on the mutual recognition of educational documents and documents relevant to academic degrees and titles issued in the Republic of Poland (Prague, 16 January 2006, No. 104/2006 Coll. of International Treaties).

Agreement between the Government of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and the Federal Assembly (Skupština) of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on the mutual recognition of educational documents and documents relevant to academic degrees and titles issued in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Belgrade, 12 September 1989, No. 89/1991 Coll. of International Treaties) – applicable only to Slovenia.

Diplomas issued by the above mentioned countries are valid in the Czech Republic; no certificate of recognition of foreign higher education is required.

Where appropriate, (e.g. applications for admission to further university studies, academic qualification certificates for employers in case of unregulated professions, etc) students are encouraged to submit both certified copies of educational documents and their official translations into Czech.

If necessary, students may refer to the relevant authority governing the recognition of foreign higher education qualifications, i.e. public higher education institutions providing degree programmes of corresponding/similar content. Relevant universities may be found e.g. here (Czech only).

Recognition of Education Obtained in the Slovak Republic

In accordance with an agreement (Czech only) concluded between the governments of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic on mutual recognition of educational documents issued in the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic (Prague, 23 March 2001, No. 33/2001 Coll. of International Treaties), the Czech Republic will automatically (i.e. with no further action) consider all higher education diplomas issued in the Slovak Republic in the period from 1 January 1993 to 22 March 2001 as equivalent to higher education diplomas awarded during this period of time in the Czech Republic.

Given the similarity of both higher education systems and the fact that both countries remain in close contact – in terms of education as well as in other areas – the same guidelines apply to diplomas issued even after 22 March 2001. Moreover, Czech universities and employers generally recognize documents issued by Slovak universities automatically, i.e. with no certificate of equivalence required.

Document holders may, however, submit Recognition of Foreign Higher Education Qualifications application (if so required by a university or employer) to a public higher education institution in the Czech Republic implementing a similar curriculum. In such cases, the procedure indicated in the general information section on the recognition of foreign higher education remains fully valid. Due to the similarity of the two languages, no official translation into Czech is required.

Useful Contacts

Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports

Department of Higher Education, Karmelitská 7, 118 12 Praha 1
tel. +420 234 811 111, fax +420 234 811 790, http://www.msmt.cz/index.php?lchan=1&lred=1

Ministry of Defence

Personnel Department, nám. Svobody 471, 160 01 Praha 6 – Dejvice
tel. +420 979 201 111, +420 973 212 238, http:/ / www.army.cz

Ministry of the Interior

Education and Police Schools Administration Department, P. O. BOX 21/OV, Nad Štolou 3, 170 34 Praha 7
tel. +420 974 832 746, +420 974 832 687, fax +420 974 833 518, e-mail: ov@mvcrcz, http:/ / www.mvcr.cz

List of Court Interpreters

The list is available at the Ministry of Justice website (Czech only) http:/ / www.justice.cz – cf. other experts and interpreters. A list of notaries is available at the Notaries Chamber of the Czech Republic website ( http:/ / www.nkcr.cz).