Recognition of foreign degrees and diplomas

Recognition of foreign degrees and diplomas

A new regime for the national recognition of academic degrees and diplomas of non-degree courses granted by foreign higher education institutions came into force on January 1st, 2019, approved by the Decree-Law no. 66/2018 of August 16th and regulated by Directive no.33/2020 of January 25th, amended by Directive no.43/2020 of February 14th.

What is a RECOGNITION?

RECOGNITION is the act by which a foreign academic degree or higher education diploma is granted all of the rights inherent to the holding of the corresponding Portuguese academic degree or higher education diploma.

This information does not dismiss the consultation of the applicable legal diplomas.

Types of recognition

Currently, there are three types of recognition:

    • Is the act that allows to recognise by comparability, in an individualized way, a foreign higher education degree or diploma as having a level corresponding to a Portuguese academic degree or higher education diploma, in the Nursing area (bachelor or master).
    • This recognition can be done with or without a final grade;
    • The approval of the request is subject to the application of requirements approved by the jury of level recognition and specific recognition of foreign degrees and diplomas at ESEP.

    Bachelor degree (Licenciado) – requisites

    • Hold a higher level Course corresponding to a first cycle/level of studies of higher education in the country of origin.
    • The name of the Course that conferred the respective degree must have the exact term “Enfermagem” in its official translation.
    • The study cycle must have more than 180 credits or 4,500 hours and a normal duration of more than 6 curricular semesters.

    Master’s degree (Mestre) – requisites

    • Hold a higher level post-graduate Course or integrating first and second study cycles
    • The name of the Course that conferred the respective degree must have the exact term “Enfermagem” in its official translation.
    • The study cycle must have more than 90 credits or 2,250 hours and a normal duration of more than 3 curricular semesters.
    • The study cycle must be organized as follows:
    • Curricular part for the completion of a specialization course, composed by an organized set of curricular units, corresponding to a minimum of 50% of the total number of credits of the study cycle.
    • Scientific dissertation or a project work, original and specially produced for this purpose, or a professional traineeship with a final report, corresponding to a minimum of 30 credits or 750 hours of student work.
  • Is the act that allows the recognition of a degree or diploma from a foreign higher education institution that is identical to a Portuguese academic degree or higher education diploma, through a casuistic analysis of the level, duration, and programmatic content, in a specific area of formation, branch of knowledge or speciality. At the ESEP this is applicable in the Nursing area (bachelor or master).
  • In this recognition, a final grade on the Portuguese scale is always assigned
  • This recognition will only consider a study plan.
  • The approval of the request is subject to the application of requirements approved by the jury of level recognition and specific recognition of foreign degrees and diplomas at ESEP.

Bachelor degree (Licenciado) – requisites

  • The name of the Course that conferred the respective degree must have the exact term “Enfermagem” in its official translation.
  • The minimum duration of the course must be four full time academic years.
  • Each academic year should have a minimum duration of 36 weeks of teaching activities (this does not determine exclusion, provided that the minimum duration of the course is identified).
  • The total workload of the course must include a minimum of contact hours equal to the ESEP bachelor course (licenciatura), 4,605 hours.
  • The study plan should include, in an articulated manner, a theoretical teaching component and a clinical teaching component.
  • The course contents must be similar to the contents included in the ESEP nursing bachelor course (licenciatura).
  • The duration of the theoretical teaching should be, at least, one third of the total workload of the bachelor course (licenciatura) at ESEP.
  • The duration of the clinical teaching should be, at least, half of the total workload of the bachelor course (licenciatura) at ESEP.

Master’s degree (Mestre) – requisites (in one of the specialities taught at ESEP)

  • Higher level post-graduate Course or integrating first and second study cycles
  • The name of the Course that conferred the respective degree must have the exact term “Enfermagem” in its official translation.
  • The minimum duration of the course must be three full time semesters, except for Master in Maternal Health and Obstetric Nursing, which must have a minimum of four semesters.
  • Each academic year should have a minimum duration of 36 weeks of teaching activities (this does not determine exclusion, provided that the minimum duration of the course is identified).
  • The study cycle must total more than 90 credits or 2,250 hours, except for the Master in Maternal Health and Obstetric Nursing, which must have e minimum of 3,000 hours.
  • The study plan should include, in an articulated manner, a theoretical teaching component and a clinical teaching component.
  • The course contents must be similar to the contents included in the ESEP nursing master course (mestrado), in one of the taught specialities at ESEP.
  • The duration of the theoretical teaching should be between one and two thirds of the total workload of the course.
  • The duration of the clinical teaching should be between half and two thirds of the total workload of the course.

Each of the envisaged forms of recognition can only be requested once for the same academic degree or foreign higher education diploma, except when refusal is due to the fact that ESEP does not confer the degree or diploma in the area of training/speciality/knowledge branch related to the request. Withdrawal does not prejudice the submission of a new request to the same institution or another one; however, it does not entitle the owner to a refund of the fees paid.

Documentation

Required documents for all types of recognition

  • Copy of the Diploma or document issued by the foreign higher education institution proving the title of the degree or diploma for which recognition is required, authenticated by the competent authorities for this purpose (recognised by the local Portuguese consular official or legalised by the Apostille system under the Hague Convention); (1) (4)​
  • A simple copy of the document issued by the foreign higher education institution indicating the degree or diploma registration number, in case of foreign higher education institutions that have centralized registers which can be publicly accessed through a unique identifier. (1) (4)
  • Diploma or certificate issued by the foreign higher education institution, in the original version, proving the title of the degree or diploma for which recognition is required; (1) (4)​
  • Whenever a final classification on the Portuguese classification scale is required, submission is required for the document(s) issued by the foreign higher education institution indicating the final classification awarded to the academic degree or diploma for which recognition is requested and the foreign final classification scale showing the minimum classification corresponding to the approval on that scale and the maximum classification.
  • Proof of payment of the fees due for the recognition request (upon request).

Specific recognition or level recognition requests (where there is no previous decision -see list- on the identical degree or diploma) requires the following documents:

  • Document issued by the foreign higher education institution containing the curricular units in which the applicant obtained approval, and which led to the degree or diploma to which recognition is being sought, as well as the corresponding syllabus content, the duration of the   degree and its final grade. (1) (4)
  • When it is a degree corresponding to the master level, a digital or scanned copy of the dissertation defended or the project work, or the internship report, followed by the Declaration of authorisation for deposit. (2) (3)

(1) When these documents are written in a foreign language other than Spanish, French, and English, it is mandatory to present a translation to Portuguese duly certified by the competent authorities for that purpose;

(2) When these documents are written in any foreign language the competent authority for the recognition may ask for a translation to Portuguese duly certified by the competent authorities for that purpose;

(3) These documents are dismissed in situations where there were no thesis presentations, project work, internship report, dissertation, research work, artistic work, or achievements to obtain the academic degree in question. The applicant shall prove this situation through a document issued by the corresponding foreign higher education institution confirming that in order to complete the degree, there was no submission of those elements.)

(4) These documents and the others, issued by the foreign higher education institutions, can be submitted digitally as long as their authenticity is unequivocal, they are in a non-editable format, and bear an electronic signature issued by the competent authorities of that institution

Note: Any missing elements on the applications can be delivered within 30 working days.

Submission of the request

The request for recognition is submitted through an online form, and the electronic submission of the requested documents, according to the type of recognition, is also required in a digital and non-editable format (pdf).

Fees

The request for recognition implies the prior payment of the corresponding fees. Only after the payment has been made and the proof of payment has been added to the online submission will the request advance to the final decision.

Payment must be made by bank transfer.

IBAN: PT50 0781 0112 0000 0008 3970 3

The Jury for the recognition of level recognition or specific recognition for bachelor (licenciado) and master (mestre) degrees

As voting members:

  • Natália de Jesus Barbosa Machado – Vice-President of the ESEP, who presides;
  • Manuela Josefa da Rocha Teixeira – Coordinating Professor;
  • Laura Maria de Almeida dos Reis – Coordinating Professor;

As substitute voting members:

  • Maria Henriqueta Jesus Figueiredo – Coordinating Professor;
  • Maria Margarida da Silva Reis dos Santos Ferreira – Coordinating Professor;

More information

For more information and clarifications, please contact the Sistemas de Informação e Gestão Académica (Information Systems and Academic Management Service) (SIGA) through the following channels:
SIGA – Academic Management

Questions in the registration process

academica@esenf.pt

SIGA – Information Systems

Technical questions about the application platform

informatica@esenf.pt