Nostrification: Secondary education recognition

1. Two forms of recognition of foreign education in the Czech Republic.
- A. Nostrification
- B. Recognition of secondary education by a university
  - An overview of universities that provide recognition of secondary education.
2. Required documents
3. Authentication of documents
4. Translation of documents into Czech

1. Two forms of recognition of foreign education in the Czech Republic.

There are two forms of recognition of foreign education in the Czech Republic.

A. Nostrification

It is done at a regional municipal office or the Prague City Hall.
Nostrification has general validity for all universities in the Czech Republic.
The nostrification procedure compares the conditions of secondary education in the home country with the standards of secondary education in the Czech Republic.
As part of the nostrification procedure, so-called nostrification examinations may be ordered in subjects with a lower number of hours taught than the standard is in equivalent Czech secondary school education (note: school attendance in the Czech Republic is 13 years).
The fee for the nostrification procedure is CZK 1,000.
Detailed information can be found on the website of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport.

B. Recognition of secondary education by a university

It is done at a university which has been granted institutional accreditation.
This recognition is only valid at the respective university and its particular faculty.
Recognition is done in accordance with the Rector's policy, the respective university's guidelines and the procedures of its particular faculty. In the context of the recognition of foreign secondary education by a university and its faculty, there is no comparison of the number of hours taught in individual subjects and no requirement of recognition examinations.
Fees are paid separately to each faculty in the admission procedure according to the conditions of the admission procedure and the faculty's fee settings.
The university/faculty may order the applicant to go through the nostrification procedure (see Nostrification).

An overview of universities that provide recognition of secondary education.

• Charles University

• The Academy of Performing Arts in Prague

• Czech Technical University in Prague

• Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

• University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice

• Masaryk University

• The University of Ostrava

• Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem

• Palacký University Olomouc

• University of Pardubice

• Tomas Bata University

• University of Veterinary Sciences Brno

• Technical University of Ostrava

• Prague University of Economics and Business

• The University of Chemistry and Technology, Prague

• Brno University of Technology

• University of West Bohemia

2. Required documents

You will need these documents for recognition of your foreign education so you must bring them with you to the Czech Republic:

Original (or 2 certified copies¹) of the secondary school leaving certificate.
The original (or 2 certified copies) of the year-end report cards (grades in each subject at the end of the school year) for the last 4 years of secondary education.
The original (or 2 certified copies) of the year-end report cards (grades in each subject at the end of the school year) for the last 4 years of secondary education.
The original (or 2 certified copies) of the list of individual subjects from each school year with the number of hours taught in each subject.

(Note: It is not possible to list a general group of subjects, e.g. "humanities". Each subject must be listed separately!)

It is best to give the number of hours per school year. This list is needed for each of the last 4 years of secondary school. If you do not have such a list from all 4 years, it is strictly required for the last 2 years of study.
A confirmation that the secondary school leaving certificate issued to you (please give the number) enables the holder to enrol and continue studying at universities in your country in undergraduate or special programmes (five-year courses without a bachelor's degree).
A certificate of national school accreditation (with attachments) issued to your school by the Ministry of Education in your country. The document is provided by the school or the education department to which your school belongs or by the Ministry of Education.
Students of private or parochial schools must also bring their school's license.

Graduates of secondary schools in Ukraine in 2020 and 2021 who were exempted from passing the State Final Attestation (ДПА) and who have a record in the attachment to the certificate that they were exempted, in addition to the above documents, must bring:

1. The External Independent Assessment Certificate (ЗНО) and a certified copy thereof.

2. The information card for the Certificate of External Independent Assessment (ЗНО) with a summary of the examination results.

3. For students of the Prague Centre: Confirmation from the "Information Image Centre" state company.

Without the above mentioned, your secondary education document cannot go through the recognition process.

3. Authentication of documents

Documents must have the appropriate level of legalisation (this varies from country to country!).

In some cases, only a lower level of legalisation (apostille) is required, i.e. the stamp of the competent authority (e.g. Ministry of Foreign Affairs or Ministry of Justice). This applies to countries that participate in the Hague Convention of 1961, e.g. Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Tajikistan. A list of all countries can be found here.
In other countries, a higher level (superlegalization) is required, i.e. an additional verification by the Czech embassy.
In some countries, there is a so-called document equivalency, where legalisation is not necessary.

Currently, document equivalency applies to the following countries, for example: Belarus, Russia, Moldova, Ukraine, Uzbekistan. Information on countries among which the recognition of equivalence of documents applies (Treaty on Legal Assistance and Legal Relations in Civil, Family and Criminal Matters) can also be found here.

If you are uncertain, please contact the Embassy of the Czech Republic in your country.

4. Translation of documents into Czech

All documents for recognition of foreign education must be translated into Czech. Please note, that translations can only be provided by a translator who is registered in the list of court translators in the Czech Republic. Translations by other translators, even certified ones, are not accepted by Czech institutions.

We will be happy to arrange the correct translation of documents into Czech for you.

Poznámky

¹	The authorities keep certified copies of the documents. However, you must bring the originals with you because some authorities require them for inspection. You can make certified copies in the Czech Republic (certification of 1 page = 30 CZK + 21% VAT, i.e. approx. 1.5 EUR).

Last change: March 17, 2023 14:55

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