Procedure for the recognition of foreign educatioal qualification

With the aim of the implementation of the state strategic course of integration of the national education into the international educational environment, facilitation of academic mobility as the method of spreading the intellectual educational values, the Government of Ukraine ratified in 2000 the Convention on Recognition of Qualifications of Higher Education in the European Region (Lisbon, 11 March 1997).

Therefore, the state system of official assessment of foreign certificates on education is regulated by the provisions of the above mentioned document, and by the Recommendations of the Second Session of the Committee of the Lisbon Convention Committee on Recognition (Riga, 6 July 2001), the member of which is the representative of Ukraine - head of the department of licensing and accreditation of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, Mr. Volodymyr Ivanovych Domnich.

Efficient (clear, specific, exceptional, preferential, simplified, automatic) principles and criteria of the assessment of foreign qualifications were included in the contents of the most bilateral international agreements on the mutual recognition and equivalency of documents on education and academic ranks, pursuant to which the determination of equality is mainly guaranteed for those specimen of documents, which are officially approved (adopted) by the governments.

Therefore, the process of the mutual recognition of the educational qualifications is regulated by Ukraine with 14 states, including: the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Republic of Belarus, the Hungarian Republic, the People's Republic of China, Romania, the Slovak Republic, the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Bulgaria, the Republic of Moldova, Turkmenistan, the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The procedures for the recognition of foreign educational qualifications shall be performed by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, namely, by the department of licensing and accreditation, where applicants or their authorized persons shall submit their documents on education to for the recognition.

All documents submitted for the consideration in order to recognize educational qualifications shall be accepted, provided that they have been legalized by bodies of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and accompanied with their notarized copies and translation.

Pretenders' applications for the recognition shall be considered on the individual basis within a period not exceeding four months from the date of the receipt of all necessary information.

The list of documents to be submitted for the recognition of educational qualifications shall include: 

• personal application of a pretender for the recognition, that should specify the purpose of the recognition, as well as awareness of the procedures for the process of recognition; 
• original and copy of the document on education; 
• original and copy of the appendix to the document on education specifying the list of subjects with the total number of study hours, final grade, list of practical works, term and graduate papers, other components of the educational process; 
• translation of the said documents into the state language; 
• receipt on the payment of the value of the procedure for the recognition of educational qualifications.

In addition to the aforementioned documents, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine shall obtain on demand from the competent authority the information on the status of the educational institution, that gave the qualification, and, if necessary, regarding the authenticity of the issuance of documents.

When assessing the foreign qualifications, the priority shall be given to the results of education, quality of the syllabus, and duration of the education. It is supposed, that at least 75% of the professionally related subjects from the program of training of the foreign qualification should concur, by the list and scope of the study hours, with the state standards of the contents and scope of the educational and professional training applicable in Ukraine. It shall be deemed possible to recognize the foreign qualification as equitable with the national one, however not that applied by a pretender, but the mostly close by the contents of the syllabus.

For the acknowledgement of its decision on recognition, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine shall issue a document in the form to be determined by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine.

In the event of a negative decision, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine shall notify the applicants for recognition of the reasons of the denial to recognize the educational qualifications, and shall provide the information regarding measures to be taken by them in order to receive such recognition later.

Decision of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine on the denial to recognize foreign qualifications may be challenged pursuant to the procedures provided for by applicable legislation.