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Publication date: 22.04.2024
Legal analysis of the situation
"RECOGNITION IN UKRAINE OF FOREIGN DOCUMENTS ON HIGHER EDUCATION"
Legal analysis of the situation, as well as analysis of the situation by a lawyer - in accordance with the second part of Article 19 of the Constitution of Ukraine, state authorities and local self-government bodies, their officials are obliged to act only on the basis, within the limits of their powers and in the manner provided for by the Constitution and laws of Ukraine .
Recognition of foreign documents on higher education in Ukraine is carried out in accordance with the Convention on the Recognition of Higher Education Qualifications in the European Region, ratified by the Law of Ukraine On the Ratification of the Convention on the Recognition of Higher Education Qualifications in the European Region No. 1273-XIV dated 03.12.1999 (hereinafter - the Convention) and international agreements on mutual recognition and equivalence of documents on education and academic titles.
According to the content of Article 5 of Section 6 of the Convention, each party may stipulate the recognition of higher education qualifications awarded by foreign educational institutions operating on its territory by specific requirements of national legislation or separate agreements concluded with the party to which such institutions belong.
Social relations that arise in the process of realizing the constitutional right of a person to education, the rights and obligations of individuals and legal entities participating in the realization of this right, as well as determining the competence of state bodies and local self-government bodies in the field of education are regulated by the Law of Ukraine dated 05.09 .2017 No. 2145-VIII "On Education" (hereinafter - Law No. 2145-VIII).Part three of Article 82 of Law No. 2145-VIII establishes that the central executive body in the field of education and science carries out work related to establishing the equivalence of certificates and diplomas with international recognition of educational courses, qualifications, academic titles and scientific degrees, except for the cases provided special laws.
In accordance with paragraph 17 of the first part of Article 13 of the Law of Ukraine "On Higher Education", the central executive body in the field of education and science approves, in agreement with the National Agency for Quality Assurance of Higher Education, the procedure for recognizing degrees of higher education and scientific degrees obtained in foreign institutions of higher education and carries out the procedure for their recognition, except for the cases provided for by this Law.
For the recognition of educational documents issued by educational institutions of the Russian Federation, the Agreement between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Government of the Russian Federation dated 05.26.2000 (hereinafter referred to as the Agreement) between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Government of the Russian Federation was applied. However, 03.24. 2024 it became invalid.
The procedure for recognition of higher education degrees obtained in foreign higher education institutions in Ukraine is determined by the Procedure for recognition of higher education degrees obtained in foreign higher education institutions, approved by Order of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports No. 504 dated 05.05.2015 (hereinafter - Order No. 504).
In accordance with subsection 2 of paragraph 1 of section II of Order No. 504, the procedure for recognition of Documents in Ukraine is carried out by such competent bodies of the Ministry of Education and Culture - for the purpose of employment and/or continuing education of the owner of the Document on the territory of Ukraine.The decision of the Ministry of Education and Culture confirms the right of the holder of the Document to continue studying and/or employment in Ukraine, for which a Certificate is issued.
Clause 2 of Chapter V of Order No. 504 specifies that the procedure for Document recognition, except for the cases specified in Clause 3 of this Chapter, consists of: 1) verification of the authenticity of the Document and its annex; 2) confirmation of the status of the educational institution and/or the Program, based on the results of which the Document was issued; 3) evaluation of the qualification or period of study specified in the Document, and establishment of equivalence to an educational or educational-professional degree in Ukraine, academic and/or professional rights.
Therefore, recognition of a document on higher education obtained abroad is possible if such a document meets the requirements of Order No. 504.
Pursuant to clause 4 of Chapter V of Order No. 504, the authenticity check is carried out in one of the following ways:
1) verification of the presence of an Apostille stamp, if it confirms the authenticity of the document in the country of origin of the Document, and verification of the details of the Apostille in the relevant register, if available;
2) checking in the register of educational documents, if such a register has been implemented by the country of origin of the Document or the educational institution that issued it;
3) sending a request for additional information about the authenticity of the issuance of the submitted documents to the relevant official bodies and/or educational institutions of other states.
If in the country of origin of the Document there is an officially approved standard for the preparation of education documents, an analysis of the compliance of the submitted Document with such a standard is carried out.
In accordance with the provisions of Chapter VI of Order No. 504, degrees of higher education awarded by educational institutions must be recognized by the competent authorities, if there is no significant difference between the foreign qualification, the recognition of which the Applicant requests, and the corresponding qualification in Ukraine, except for the cases specified in paragraph 2 of this section .
On the basis of the conclusion, the competent body makes one of the following decisions, which is drawn up in accordance with the procedure established by law: on the recognition of the Document, on the basis of which the Certificate is issued to the Applicant; on the refusal to recognize the submitted Document, about which the Applicant is sent a corresponding message indicating the grounds for making such a decision.According to paragraph 2 of Chapter VI of Order No. 504, the decision to refuse recognition of the submitted Document is made if: 1) the documents were issued by educational institutions that are not officially recognized in the education system of the state in which they operate; 2) documents issued by branches of educational institutions, if such branches are not officially recognized in the education system of the state on the territory of which they conduct the educational activities of this branch, if this is provided for by the legislation of a foreign country; 3) the documents do not contain information about their holder obtaining a degree of higher education, professional specialization or professional retraining, as well as about the periods of study for which he is granted academic and/or professional rights (continuation of education and/or employment by profession); 4) documents illegally issued by an educational institution of another state; 5) documents are not authentic; 6) documents issued based on the results of studies for a period of less than one academic year of study; 7) documents issued based on the results of studies, during which the total number of study credits earned is less than 30 credits of the European Credit Transport and Accumulation System (ECTS) (or their equivalent number of academic hours); 8) the documents do not meet the officially approved standard for the preparation of documents about education, if such a standard is adopted in the state in which the educational institution operates; 9) documents issued as a result of studying under the Program, which cannot be correlated with any degree of higher education, professional specialization, direction of training (specialty, qualification) of the education system of Ukraine; 10) documents are not recognized in the state to which the educational institution belongs; 11) the documents do not contain complete information about the content of the curriculum, which makes it impossible to establish the equivalence of the degrees of higher education, professional specialization or professional retraining awarded according to these documents in the education system of Ukraine; 12) it is established that the document on education was obtained on the basis of an inauthentic document on the priest 13) it is established that the educational document was obtained on the basis of a previous educational document that did not grant its holder the relevant academic rights (unless otherwise provided by the legislation of the country of origin of the educational document).
Diplomas and other educational documents issued in the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts and Crimean Autonomous Republic are not recognized and have no legal force either in Ukraine or in other countries of the world. This is stated in the official clarification of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (hereinafter referred to as the Ministry of Education and Science) dated October 9, 2018.
At the same time, the Law of Ukraine (hereinafter - Law) "On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine Regarding the Recognition of Education Results of Persons Who Lived in the Temporarily Occupied Territory of Ukraine" dated 11/21/2023 No. 3482-IX (entered into force on 03/24/2024) amended some legislative acts, in particular in the Law on Education.
Article 40-1 of the ZU "On Education" defines "Persons who lived in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine have the right to have the results of their studies obtained in such territory recognized in authorized institutions, except for cases specified by law: at the levels of professional (professional and technical ) of education, professional pre-higher education, higher education - in the order determined by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine".
Legal opinion: as of 04/22/2024, there is no such order.
Employees of the higher education department of the Ministry of Education and Culture, in an oral conversation, said that as of April 2022, TOT diplomas cannot be confirmed and are not recognized.
General analysis of the situation by a lawyer gives reasons to wait for the approval of the executive body of the executive power of the relevant procedure, which will include a mechanism for recognizing the results of training.
