Recognition of diplomas

In Portugal there are two main legal diplomas on recognition of foreign higher education qualifications:

• The registry/recognition of degrees is regulated by the Decree-Law nr. 341/2007 dated 12th October and by the Ministerial Order nr. 29/2008 dated 10th January, which establish a new regime of recognition of foreign academic degrees that present identical level, nature and objectives to those of the degrees of licenciado, mestre and doutor awarded by Portuguese higher education institutions, and therefore attributing the same legal rights as the Portuguese degrees. The list of degrees that can be registered/recognised by this system is published under decisions of the Commission for the recognition of foreign degrees. The registration of these degrees can be made at a Portuguese public higher education institution or at the Directorate General for Higher Education.
• The system of equivalence/recognition is regulated by the Decree-Law nr. 283/83 dated 21st June and by the Ministerial Order nr. 1071/83 dated 29th December. It is based on the scientific re-evaluation of work carried out in view of obtaining the foreign degree and on a casuistic assessment of the merit of the foreign higher degrees/diplomas. The equivalences awarded under this legal diploma give the degrees the same value as the Portuguese degrees. According to this legal diploma only Portuguese public higher education institutions, which have the same programme of studies or similar, are competent to decide about awarding the equivalence/recognition.

The recognition of a foreign higher education diploma under one of the above legislation, does not exclude the holder of that recognition to fulfil, for professional reasons, other conditions needed for a specific profession that is regulated by a competent authority.

The Portuguese NARIC (National Academic Recognition Information Centre) is the official national information centre for providing information about recognition of foreign qualifications for academic purposes. More information is available in the Directorate General for Higher Education’s website.