The recognition of a foreign school certificate or other document is a procedure by which the qualification obtained abroad is equated with the corresponding, valid public document of the Republic of Serbia, which gives you the right to continue your education and/or exercise the right to employment. The procedure of professional recognition is carried out by ENIC/NARIC ЦЕНТАР as an organizational unit of the Qualifications Agency. The Ministry of Education of the Republic of Serbia is responsible for the records of foreign institutions.
You have the right to have a foreign school certificate recognized if you are:
The following are subject to the recognition procedure:
A pupil who has completed primary education or one of the last two grades of primary education abroad or who has completed a foreign primary school or one of the last two grades in a foreign primary school in the Republic of Serbia, upon recognition of the foreign school certificate, is enrolled in the first grade of secondary school in addition to a number of pupils assigned for enrolment. Recognition of foreign school certificates is performed at the Qualifications Agency.
As a parent, i.e. pupil’s legal representative, you submit a written request to the district commission for enrolling a pupil in a secondary school of the school administration in the territory of which the secondary school is located. The directory of all school administrations can be found here.
You submit the request to the competent school administration by filling out the form. In the request, at least five preferred choices (schools and educational profiles/gymnasium profiles) are stated. A photocopy of the decision on the recognized foreign school certificate is attached to the request. If the procedure for the recognition of a foreign school certificate has not been completed, it is necessary to submit a confirmation of the submitted documentation for the recognition of a foreign school certificate, and later supplement the documentation with a decision.
The district commission for enrolling pupils in secondary schools carries out an even distribution of candidates by school. In order to enrol in specific educational profile, it is necessary to fulfil certain health conditions, which is why, when enrolling in school, it is also necessary to attach a corresponding health certificate from the relevant healthcare institution. A pupil who submitted a request for the recognition of a foreign school certificate of primary education can be conditionally enrolled in the next grade, if the procedure is not completed by the beginning of the school year.
In order to enrol in certain schools, it is necessary for the pupil to pass an entrance exam. Entrance exams are taken for music, ballet and fine arts educational profiles, i.e. for enrolment in classes for students with exceptional abilities as well as in schools where part of the teaching is conducted in a foreign language.
Exceptionally, a pupil who completed the last two grades of primary education abroad or in a foreign school in the Republic of Serbia, after recognition of the foreign school certificate, can enrol in a school where part of the teaching is conducted in the language in which they completed the last two grades of primary education, if the number of students in the class after the assignment is less than 30.
You can find the dates of registration and entrance exams in the Activity Calendar of the Ministry of Education.
The Ministry of Education publishes the Competition for enrolling pupils in the first grade of secondary schools for the following school year no later than the beginning of May.
If the pupil completed the previous grade of secondary education abroad or in a foreign school in the Republic of Serbia, they are enrolled in the next grade of secondary school after recognition of the foreign school certificate. The recognition of the corresponding grade of the educational profile or gymnasium profile on the basis of a foreign school certificate is carried out at the Qualifications Agency.
The decision may also contain a list of exams from previous grades that the pupil needs to pass in order to enrol in the next grade.
As a parent, i.e. pupil’s legal representative, before the beginning of the school year, you submit a written request for enrolment to the director of the school that the pupil enrols. A photocopy of the decision on the recognized foreign school certificate is attached to the request. If all classes of that grade of educational profile/gymnasium profile are filled, the director can reject the enrolment request. In that case, you need to make a written request to the director of another school.
If you need recognition of a secondary education diploma, you need to contact the Qualifications Agency. You can find all the information on their website, and you can submit a request to the Agency in person, by mail or online.
Along with the completed request, which you can find here, the following documents must be submitted:
1. Original final report card (or certified copy thereof) of the last completed secondary school year, i.e. certificate/diploma of completed secondary school (or certified copy thereof), which must be certified with a stamp/seal by the competent authority in the country where the document was issued.
2. Certified translation of the final report card of the last completed grade by a certified court interpreter in the Republic of Serbia for:
3. Evidence of all previously completed grades in the Republic of Serbia or abroad (scanned final report cards/certificates of all previously completed grades or one photocopy each, in case the request is not submitted via electronic form).
4. Proof of payment of the fee for the costs of the procedure for the recognition of a foreign school certificate for secondary education in favour of the Qualifications Agency. You can find an example of a completed payment slip here.
Instructions for initiating the procedure for recognition of foreign secondary school certificates can be found here.
Types of recognition of foreign higher education documents:
If you have obtained higher education abroad and wish to continue your education in the Republic of Serbia, you need to contact the university and faculty that you wish to enrol in order to obtain information regarding the recognition of your diploma. We recommend that you contact the competent secretariat or the administration for postgraduate studies of the specific higher education institution you wish to enrol.
Instructions for initiating the procedure for the recognition of foreign higher education documents can be found here These instructions refer to the procedure for professional recognition of foreign higher education documents. Professional recognition is carried out based on the previously performed evaluation of the foreign study program, in accordance with the Law on the National Framework of Qualifications of the Republic of Serbia and the law governing higher education. The interested person submits the request for professional recognition to the Agency exclusively electronically on the Agency's portal.
The procedure for professional recognition of foreign higher education documents consists of three steps:
If you need the recognition of the level of your professional qualification for the purpose of employment in the Republic of Serbia, you need to contact the Qualifications Agency. You submit the request electronically through their platform, and the procedure takes an average of 8 days for the largest number of world faculties. You can find other information about the procedure, required documentation and fees on the Agency's website.
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