Legal Acts

Foreign documents of education may be recognised in Poland according to the national legislation or on the basis of international agreements.

  • Laws on recognition of foreign degrees in Poland
  • international agreements
  • regulations on nostrification of school certificates, higher education diplomas and academic degrees

Laws on recognition of foreign degrees in Poland

 

International agreements

Bilateral agreements

Poland is a party to the following bilateral agreements on the equivalence of education:

  • Poland – Slovakia (signed in July 2005), in force since 1st February 2006
  • Poland – Czech Republic (signed in January 2006), in force since 1st November 2006

and the following bilateral agreements on the recognition of education for academic purposes:

  • Poland – Austria, signed in Vienna on 23rd January 1995
  • Poland – Germany, signed in Warsaw on 23rd July 1997
  • Poland – Lithuania, signed in Vilnius on 9th March 2005
  • Poland – Ukraine (signed in April 2005), in force since 20th June 2006
  • Poland – Belarus (signed in April 2005), in force since 12th December 2005
  • Poland – France (signed in May 2008), in force since 26th January 2009
  • Poland – Libya, signed in Tripoli on 8th September 1987 (agreement to be denounced)

 

Apart from that, Poland was bound by some bilateral and international agreements on equivalence in education which have already been denounced. Credentials issued during the effective period of these agreements can be recognised on their basis. This refers to credentials from the following countries:

  • Armenia (credentials issued before 6 August 2004)
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina (credentials issued before 1 February 2006)
  • Bulgaria (credentials issued before 24 July 2005) 
  • Croatia (credentials issued before 24 January 2006)
  • Cuba (credentials issued before 6 August 2004)
  • Estonia (credentials issued before 13 April 2006)
  • Hungary (credentials issued before 24 July 2005)
  • Kazakhstan (credentials issued before 29 September 2005)
  • Kyrgyzstan (credentials issued before 6 August 2004)
  • Latvia (credentials issued before 8 March 2006)
  • Macedonia (credentials issued before 8 February 2006)
  • Moldova (credentials issued before 6 October 2005)
  • Mongolia (credentials issued before 6 August 2004)
  • Montenegro (credentials issued before 24 January 2006)  
  • North Korea (credentials issued before 6 August 2004)
  • Romania (credentials issued before 6 August 2004)
  • Russian Federation (credentials issued before 25 September 2005)
  • Serbia (credentials issued before 24 January 2006) 
  • Slovenia (credentials issued before 24 January 2006)
  • Syria (credentials issued before 1 December 2006)
  • Uzbekistan (credentials issued before 6 August 2004)
  • Tajikistan (credentials issued before 8 December 2005)
  • Vietnam (credentials issued before 6 August 2004)

 

Also credentials from nonexistent countries such as Czechoslovakia, German Democratic Republic, USSR and Yugoslavia are recognized on the basis of the respective bilateral agreements signed with these countries.

 

International conventions

In December 2003 Poland ratified the Council of Europe/UNESCO Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education in the European Region signed in Lisbon, on 11th April 1997. The Lisbon Recognition Convention entered into force in Poland on 1st May 2004.

Until 6th August 2004, Poland was also bound by the Prague Convention signed in Prague on 7th June 1972. The Parties to the Convention were: Bulgaria, Hungary, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, German Democratic Republic, Cuba, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, and (since 1987) North Korea.

 

Regulations on nostrification:

School certificates

 

Higher education diplomas (1st, 2nd and long cycle university degrees)

 

Academic degrees

 

For more information on nostrification click here.

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