Recognition of a certificate or other document, or confirmation of education or entitlement to continue education obtained in a foreign education system

The authorities competent to conduct the procedure for recognizing a certificate or other document or to confirm education or entitlement to continue education obtained in a foreign education system are - in the case of recognition of secondary school-leaving certificates and matriculation certificates - voivodship school superintendent offices competent for the place of residence of the applicant for the recognition of the document, or if it doesn’t exist, competent for the place of establishment of the institution in which the applicant intends to submit the certificate.

 

Educational superintendents' addresses.

 

Information from the Krakow education superintendent office:

Recognition or nostrification of a certificate issued abroad

Confirmation of education or entitlement to continue education obtained abroad

 

Secondary education and the right to apply for admission to studies are confirmed in the Republic of Poland by:

• certificates and other documents issued by a school or an educational institution operating in the education system of a Member State of the European Union, a member state of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a member state of the European Free Trade Agreement (EFTA) - parties to the agreement on the European Economic Area, entitling to apply for admission to higher education in these countries,

  This applies to secondary school-leaving certificates obtained in the following countries*: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, the Netherlands, Spain, Ireland, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Canada, South Korea, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia , Malta, Mexico, Germany, Norway, New Zealand, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Sweden, Turkey, the USA, Hungary, the United Kingdom, Italy.

  * - If the certificate does not contain information about the entitlements obtained to continue education at the appropriate level in the country in whose education system the certificate was issued, including the entitlements to apply for admission to higher education and the scope of the entitlements, a separate document should be provided along with the certificate, which can be issued by:

  • the school or educational institution that issued the certificate, or

  • the education authorities of the country on whose territory or in the education system of which the certificate was issued.

• IB diplomas (International Baccalaureate) issued by the International Baccalaureate Organization in Geneva,

• EB diplomas (European Baccalaureate) issued by the European Schools in accordance with the Convention on the Statute of the European Schools, drawn up in Luxembourg on June 21, 1994 (Journal of Laws of 2005 No. 3, item 10),

• certificates covered by international agreements (list of agreements).

 

The certificates listed above are recognized in Poland by law.

Legal acts:

Order of the Minister of National Education of 25 March 2015 on the procedure for recognizing a certificate or other document, or confirming education or the right to continue education obtained in a foreign education system