Education in Czech Republic

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, § 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 regarding education obtained in countries with bilateral international treaties (Hungary, Germany, Poland, and Slovenia) and 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 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

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.

The process of recognition for beneficiaries of international protection is free of charge.

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

Defines a unified form of document recognition by so-called Apostila

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.