Recognition of doctoral degrees in science (art) acquired abroad

• An application to conduct an academic recognition of a foreign qualification (form).
• A document (diploma) certifying the foreign qualification, or its copy authenticated in an established manner. 
• A supplement to the document (diploma) certifying the foreign qualification, or its copy authenticated in an established manner.*
• A list of scientific publications.
• A personal identity document (e.g. passport) or its copy produced in an established procedure (the authorised person shall additionally submit a Power of Attorney authenticated in an established manner).
• A document certifying a change in the name and/or last name, or its copy authenticated in an established manner, in case the diploma was issued under a different name and/or the last name.
• The Research Council may request you to provide other documents required for an objective evaluation of the foreign qualification (e.g., an electronic version of the doctoral thesis).

*If the supplement is not issued, please provide an official description of the current doctoral degree regulations for the educational institution awarding the degree

• Send by mail (Gedimino pr.  3, LT-01103, Vilnius, Republic of Lithuania) – the original copy of the application, and copies of other documents authenticated by a notary and another relevant authority in an established manner. 
• Submit in person at the Research Council (room 218, phone +370 645 97193) by filing the original application to the respective employee, and, showing the originals of other documents in case their copies are not available.
• The documents may also be submitted via the authorised person holding the Power of Attorney signed by the applicant.

• The documents must be submitted in the original language. Where the documents were issued in other than Russian or English languages, they shall be accompanied by a notarised translation of the documents into the Lithuanian, Russian or English languages.
• Where the application is incomplete or not signed, or the other principal documents required for the recognition have not been submitted, the application shall not be considered.
• The responsibility for the submission of truthful, correct and clear information about the foreign qualification lies with the applicant.

The evaluation of the qualification acquired abroad shall be completed within 1 month from the submission of all documents, including the additional ones. In case some additional information must be collected about the education requiring replies from respective institutions, the process of the recognition of the qualification may take longer than 1 month, however, in no case longer than 3 months of the submission of the documents.

Since 2019, the automatic recognition of qualifications related to higher education issued in the Republic of Latvia and the Republic of Estonia is regulated by Agreement among the Government of the Republic of Estonia, the Government of the Republic of Latvia and the Government of the Republic of Lithuania on the automatic recognition of qualifications concerning higher education. The agreement provisions that the qualifications (doctorate in science (art)) obtained in the Republics of Latvia and Estonia must be accepted in the same manner and without any additional requirements as qualifications of the same level obtained in Lithuania.

This agreement is valid for qualifications obtained since 7th January 2019 in the Republics of Latvia and Estonia. Qualifications obtained before the mentioned date are nostrified in the usual manner.

Documents are accepted and consultations on related matters are provided by political analyst Asta Ščėsnaitė-Jerdiakova. Phone: +370 645 97 193, e-mail: [email protected].