Rules for assessing foreign education in the admissions procedure

Rector’s Directive 2/2019

Validity from: April 15, 2019 Validity until: untill recalled

Annotation:

This Rector’s Directive regulates the rules for the assessment of foreign secondary and higher education within the admission procedure for study programmes implemented at the Prague University of Economics and Business.

Article 1

Introductory provisions

  • This Directive lays down the rules for assessing prior education as a condition for admission to study in a study programme implemented by the VŠE or its faculties for an applicant who has obtained a foreign secondary or higher education, with the exception of paragraph 3.
  • A foreign secondary education is considered to be an education which the applicant has obtained by completing studies in a secondary education programme in a foreign secondary school, an international secondary school, a European school operating under the Convention on the Statute of the European Schools or a school in which the Ministry has authorized the fulfilment of compulsory school attendance under the Education Act. A foreign higher education qualifies as an education which the applicant has obtained by completing a higher education programme at a foreign higher education institution.
  • This Directive does not apply to an applicant who provides evidence of foreign education
    1. proof of general recognition of the equivalence or validity of a foreign document pursuant to Section 48(4)(a) or (5)(a) of Act No. 111/1998 Coll., on Higher Education Institutions, as amended (hereinafter referred to as “the Act”),
    2. proof of the award of the European Baccalaureate as referred to in Article 48(4)(b),
    3. proof of the award of the International Baccalaureate issued by an International Baccalaureate World School authorized by the Swiss International Baccalaureate Foundation or affiliated to an International Baccalaureate World School Association recognized by the Swiss International Baccalaureate Foundation; or
    4. a foreign document of foreign education pursuant to Section 48(4)(d) and (5)(b) if it is automatically equivalent in the Czech Republic pursuant to its international obligations without further official procedure (see Annex 1). If these documents are not in the Czech or English language, the faculty may require a certified translation into Czech or English.
  • For documents proving the acquisition of the equivalent of the Czech matriculation in Germany (Zeugnis der Allgemeinen Hochschulreife) and the recognition of German higher education qualifications (diplomas), the fulfilment of the condition of attainment of prior education is assessed in accordance with this Directive. The international agreement between the Government of the Czech Republic and the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany1 stipulates that the result of such an assessment shall always be positive.
  • The right to independently assess an applicant’s foreign secondary and higher education in the admissions procedure pursuant to Section 48(4) and (5) of the Act derives for the Prague University of Economics and Business from Section 48(6) of the Act because it has been granted institutional accreditation.

Article 2
Assessment process

  • The process of assessing foreign education in terms of fulfilling the admission requirement for study in the context of a given admission procedure is initiated by the faculty at which the applicant with the previous education referred to in Article 1 has duly submitted an application for study in the Integrated Study and Information System (InSIS).
  • The faculty will initiate the assessment of previous education no later than one week after the deadline for submitting the application for study on its own initiative or within 14 days of receiving the applicant’s request to initiate the assessment via the InSIS Contact Centre.
  • The foreign education assessment process is recorded in InSIS. The required documents according to Article 3 are entered into InSIS if the applicant has an electronic version of them with an electronic signature or seal, or they are sent to the Legal Department of the Prague University of Economics and Business.
  • With the submission of the application, the applicant is required to pay the fee as set out in Article 4. If the application is incomplete or the applicant has not paid the fee, the VŠE will invite the applicant to complete the application or pay the fee. Failure to do so will result in no assessment of the foreign education under this Directive and the applicant may only fulfil the conditions set out in Article 48(1) or (3) of the Act by submitting the documents referred to in Article 1(3)
  • If an applicant submits more than one application for study, the application for foreign education assessment is made only once and the result of the assessment is valid for all study programmes of the same type for which the applicant is applying.
  • Foreign education as a condition for admission to a study programme implemented by the VŠE or its faculties is assessed by the Legal Department of the VŠE.
  • Within a reasonable period of time, the VŠE informs the applicant of the result of the assessment of the foreign education in of admission to study via InSIS. No separate decision is issued on the result of the assessment; the result of the assessment is only the basis for the decision on admission to study at the faculty to which the student has applied. A positive result of the assessment of foreign education is not a proof of general recognition of the equivalence or validity of a foreign document of secondary education in the Czech Republic obtained under the Education Act or under previous legislation, nor is it a recognition of the equivalence of foreign higher education and qualifications within the meaning of Section 89 et seq. of the Act.
  • If the VŠE has doubts about the sufficiency of the level, extent or content of the applicant’s previous foreign education as evidenced by the foreign document, the result of the assessment is negative. The VŠE shall notify the applicant of this result and invite the applicant to prove his/her education in the manner referred to in Section 48(4)(a) or (5)(a) of the Act. If the applicant subsequently fails to prove his or her education in this way, he or she has not demonstrated that he or she has attained secondary education with a matriculation examination pursuant to Section 48(1) of the Act or higher education pursuant to Section 48(1) or (3) of the Act, and the faculty shall issue a decision on non-admission to study.
  • The faculty may, in the event that the applicant applies for a visa and in other justified cases, issue a certificate of positive assessment of foreign education in terms of meeting the admission requirement for study upon the applicant’s request.
  • The Rector may cancel the result of the foreign education assessment and order a new assessment or make it mandatory to provide evidence of the prior learning requirement under section 48(4)(a) or (5)(a) of the Act if the foreign education assessment was granted in contravention of the Act or this Directive. The decision to admit to study issued earlier shall remain unaffected.
  • In the event that a student has been admitted to study whose application for assessment of foreign education contained falsified documents, the dean will decide, pursuant to Section 67 of the Act, to exclude the student from study.

Article 3
Documents required for the assessment of foreign education

 

  • The applicant whose assessment of foreign secondary education is in question shall submit
  1. an officially certified copy of a foreign secondary education document,
  2. a certificate from the relevant foreign secondary school or other competent foreign authority stating that a graduate of the secondary education programme of the foreign secondary school in question is entitled to apply for admission to a bachelor’s degree programme in that foreign country.
  • If necessary, the VŠE may also ask the applicant whose foreign secondary education it is assessing to provide the following documents
  1. additional information on the content and scope of study abroad in secondary education,
  2. additional information that the study programme was carried out by an institution authorised to provide education comparable to secondary education under the Education Act.
  • The applicant whose assessment of foreign higher education is in question shall submit
  1. an officially certified copy of a diploma, certificate or similar evidence of graduation issued by a foreign university,
  2. a certified copy of the Diploma Supplement or Transcript of Record.
  • If necessary, the VŠE may also ask the applicant whose foreign higher education is being assessed to provide the following documents
    a) additional information on the content and scope of the foreign higher education,
    b) confirmation from the competent foreign authority that the foreign higher education institution was part of the higher education system in that foreign country at the time of the applicant’s studies and was authorised to provide higher education in the foreign study programme in that country (certificate of accreditation).
  • If the documents required for the assessment of foreign education are not in Czech or English, the applicant must also attach a certified translation into Czech or English.

Article 4
Fee for the assessment of foreign education

 

  • The VŠE charges a fee for the assessment of foreign education in accordance with Section 48(7) of the Act, regardless of the outcome of the assessment.
  • The fee for the assessment of foreign education for a given academic year shall be set by order of the Rector.
  • The fee is payable with the submission of the application for foreign education assessment by credit card to the account of the VŠE.
  1. Agreement between the Government of the Czech Republic and the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany on mutual recognition of the equivalence of documents of education in the field of higher education (Prague, 23 March 2007, published under No. 60/2008 Coll.

 

 

Annex 1: List of automatically equivalent foreign education documents

Foreign secondary education documents are automatically equivalent in the Czech Republic under its international obligations without further official procedure in the following cases.

In the event that an international treaty provides for the equivalence of foreign educational documents, the faculty verifies whether the document was obtained by completing studies in a secondary education programme at a foreign secondary school operating under the legislation of a foreign state, or whether the foreign higher education institution is authorised to provide higher education in that foreign state.

Slovakia

According to the Treaty between the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic on the mutual recognition of equivalence of documents of education issued in the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic (Prague, 28 November 2013, published under No. 23/2015 Coll., in force since 28 March 2015), documents are considered equivalent

  1. proof of having obtained the equivalent of the Czech baccalaureate in Slovakia,
  2. a higher education diploma issued after 1 January 1993; automatic equivalence does not apply to Slovak documents of higher education issued after 28 March 2015 obtained at higher education institutions in the Slovak Republic by completing higher education studies conducted outside the territory of the Slovak Republic. For these documents, the procedure shall be in accordance with Section 48(5)(c) of the Act.

Poland

According to the Agreement between the Government of the Czech Republic and the Government of the Republic of Poland on the mutual recognition of parts of studies, equivalence of documents of education and documents of scientific degrees and titles issued in the Czech Republic and the Republic of Poland (Prague, 16 January 2006, published under No. 104/2006 Coll.), the following documents are considered equivalent

  1. proof of having obtained the equivalent of a Czech high school diploma in Poland (swiadectwo dojrzalosci),
  2. a diploma certifying the graduation from an accredited study programme of a specific higher education degree with its Czech equivalent.

Hungary

According to the Agreement between the Government of the Czech Republic and the Government of the Republic of Hungary on the mutual recognition of equivalence of documents of education and evidence of academic ranks and titles issued in the Czech Republic and the Republic of Hungary (Budapest, 6 May 2004, published under No. 92/2005 Coll.), the following documents are considered equivalent

  1. proof of having obtained the equivalent of the Czech baccalaureate in Hungary (érettségi bizonyítvány),
  2. State-recognised diplomas – i.e. documents certifying completion of studies in bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programmes.

Slovenia

According to the Agreement between the Government of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and the Federal Executive Council of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on the mutual recognition of the equivalence of documents on education and documents on scientific degrees and titles issued in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Belgrade, 12 September 1989, published under No 89/1991 Coll.), the documents shall be considered equivalent

  1. proof of having obtained the equivalent of the Czech baccalaureate in Slovenia,
  2. diplomas issued after the completion of higher education studies, which confirm the acquisition of higher education to the extent required for admission to the education of researchers, i.e. diplomas issued after the completion of master’s degree programmes. Diplomas awarded after completion of bachelor’s degree programmes are not subject to automatic equivalence.

 

CHANGE LIST:  
Change number Parties on which the prescription is changed Subject of the amendment – title of the amendment Validity from:
1 4 Article 4.2 – Adjustment of the fee for the assessment of foreign education 1.12.2020
2 2-4 Article 2 – Initiation of the university-initiated assessment and its progress in InSIS

Article 3 – Removal of a mandatory request for assessment

 1.12.2024
3 2-4 Art. 1.3 – International Baccalaureate according to the amended law

Article 3.4 – Certificate of accreditation according to the amendment to the Act

 date of signing