Secondary School Leaving Certificate recognition

Secondary School Leaving Certificate recognition in Poland

I - Which diplomas are not subject to recognition?

Recognition of a secondary school leaving certificate/ high school diploma in order to continue education on undergraduate or graduate is not required in case of:

1. Secondary school leaving certificate / high school diploma or other documents issued by schools operating in educational systems within:

• EU member countries
• OECD member countries
• EFTA member countries,

which allow access to higher education institutions in those countries (at present: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Canada, South Korea, Lichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, Mexico, Germany, Norway, New Zealand, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Sweden, Turkey, USA, Hungary, Great Britain, Italy).

2. IB diplomas (International Baccalaureate) issued by the International Baccalaureate Organization in Geneva.

3. EB diplomas (European Baccalaureate) issued by European Schools in accordance with the Convention drawn up in Luxembourg on 21 June 1994.

4. Certificates issued in countries which Poland has signed bilateral agreements with concerning the recognition of education (Austria, Belarus, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Libya, Lithuania, Slovakia). The list of bilateral agreements can be found at:

https://www.gov.pl/web/edukacja/recognition-of-foreign-school-certificates-and-diplomas-in-poland 

If a certificate or other document qualifies the holder to apply for admission to only certain departments (in certain fields of study) in the country of issuance, also in Poland they can apply to the same or similar departments.

II - Which diplomas are subject to recognition?

All other diplomas which are not mentioned in points 1-4 above.

Documents that must be submitted for recognition of a certificate

Please make sure you bring all below mentioned original documents when you arrive to Poland. The DEADLINE for recognition is end of WINTER SEMESTER of the 1st year!

1. Application for recognition of a secondary school leaving certificate.

2. Original certificate or its duplicate legalized/ or Apostillised by:

1) The Polish consul in the country where the certificate was issued or in the country in which the educational system the school operates;

2) An embassy or consulate of the country where the certificate was issued or in the country in which the educational system the school operates located in Poland or in other EU, EFTA or OECD countries;

3) If a certificate was issued by a country – party to the Hague Convention of 05 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement for Legalization for For eign Public Documents, an original certificate, its duplicate or a notarial copy with an Apostille placed on it or attached to any of those documents must be submitted.

How to Aspostillise / legalize your certificate? - please follow this LINK.

3. If there is no information on the certificate about the course of education the following documents must be attached:

1) a transcript of grades obtained during the final exam which enables completion of school or a certain level of education;

2) a list of subjects taught with grades;

3) information about the number of years studied, grading scale;

4) information concerning the right to continue education at any type of the university within the country in which educational system the school operates, including the right to apply to higher education institution and the scope of rights appertaining;

5) information concerning curriculum of studies-description of subjects taught in high school (its content)

The aforementioned documents should be issued or certified by the school or educational institution which issued the certificate or they should be certified by educational authorities of the country which issued the certificate or in which system of education the school operates.

4. Sworn translation into Polish of all documents presented in a foreign language. Translation can be made by either:

1) Polish sworn translator (whose name appear on the list of sworn translators at the Polish Ministry of Justice);

2) Polish consul in the country where the certificate was issued;

3) An embassy or consulate of the country which issued the certificate or in which the educational system the school operates located on the territory of Poland;

5. A copy of an ID document (National ID card or passport).

Kuratorium Oświaty w Szczecinie (Education Office in Szczecin) - local body that is responsible for recognition of foreign secondary school leaving certificates.

SUMMARY

In order to initiate the recognition procedure, the following paperwork must be submitted to Kuratorium Oświaty:

1. ORIGINAL native documents:

• secondary school leaving certificate
• legalized secondary school leaving certificate
• eligibility declaration
• (photocopy) of your passport
• original complete Wniosek - do not forget to sign it!
• secondary school transcripts (if applicable)

2. ORIGINAL Polish sworn translations of the native documents listed in point 1.

Translation should be done by a translator sworn to the Polish Ministry of Justice, or sworn to  the  member state of the EU, or sworn to the member state of EFTA or sworn to the member state of  OECD. In other words, you may have it translated in any country which is a member of either EU, EFTA or OECD, or have them translated here in Szczecin by a local translator.

!!! Remember to translate your documents from the native language, not from the translation!!

"Język" means 'language' and this is where you choose the language you seek a translator of. For example: angielski (English), arabski (Arabic), pendżabi (Punjabi), paszto (Pashto), etc.

3. Once you have a set of all documents from points 1 and 2, then you deliver them to Kuratorium Oświaty in Szczecin.
The address is:

ul. Wały Chrobrego 4
70-502 Szczecin

(the entrance is on ul. Szczerbcowa)
room 24 (first floor)

http://www.kuratorium.szczecin.pl/pl/zalatwianie-spraw/nostryfikacja/

4. You are advised to have a Polish speaking person with you. You may either hire a translator or ask a fellow student to help you.

Please keep in mind that Kuratorium will not issue you the decision overnight so please make sure that you deliver your documents as early as possible as the whole administrative procedure concerning recognition takes about 2-4 weeks.

5. Once you are done and receive the decision, please deliver the original to the Dean's Office so we can take a certified copy of it. Some of your original documents mentioned in point 1 are in your file so you may pick them up during our regular opening hours.