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Overseas qualifications
Your degree is real. Will the UK count it?
Your degree is real money. In the UK, though, it's foreign money, and everyone you hand it to wants to know what it's worth here. Here is who decides whether it counts, where to change it into UK terms, and how to avoid buying the wrong receipt.
A banknote nobody here has seen
The online form asks for your highest qualification, and the drop-down offers a bachelor's, a master's or a doctorate. Your certificate says Licenciatura, or Diplom, or BTech. Which do you pick?
It's like handing a shopkeeper a banknote from home. It's genuine and it's worth something, but they've never seen one before, so they don't know what to give you for it.
So is your qualification recognised in the UK? It depends who's asking: no single counter decides for everyone.
UK ENIC, the bureau de change we'll visit shortly, says its statements are not legal documents and should be treated as guidance: the final decision is the employer's or the institution's. Regulators and the Home Office run counters of their own, so decide where you'll spend your money before you change it.
How to check if your university is recognised: ask where it's based
A bureau de change only takes notes that are legal tender where they were printed. UK ENIC works the same way: it weighs the status of the qualification and its awarding body when it compares yours.
Recognition starts where your university is based. Check that country's official list, which may not be your home country's. The ENIC-NARIC networks say the most straightforward check is the list of recognised or accredited institutions published by the official authority there.
Search that list for your university's exact name, in its own language.
Not sure where it is? Each member country's page on the ENIC-NARIC site points to its official list. In some countries the programme needs its own accreditation too, so check the course as well.
Then run the name through our search of official government warning lists. For the full check, see how foreign degrees get checked.
Studied abroad for a degree a UK university awarded? GOV.UK notes that not every college that teaches degrees can award them. If a recognised UK body awarded yours, it's a UK degree and needs no Statement, though a regulator still decides for its own profession.
Which receipt do you need?
| You want to | Who decides, and the receipt it takes |
|---|---|
| Work in a job that isn't regulated | The employer. A Statement of Comparability, if it wants one. |
| Study at a UK university | Its admissions office. Whatever it asks for, so ask before you buy anything. |
| Work in a regulated profession | The regulator. Registration through its own route, which may include a test. |
| Use your degree in a visa application | The Home Office. An Ecctis assessment through the Qualification and Language Service. |
Applying for a visa? A UK ENIC Statement won't do: UK ENIC says it isn't suitable for proving English to the Home Office, and the Home Office's service for evidencing an overseas qualification is the Qualification and Language Service.
Planning to study? Our admissions service helps working adults apply to accredited universities, though each university decides who it admits.
The bureau de change: a UK ENIC Statement of Comparability
UK ENIC, once called UK NARIC, is the UK's national information centre for international qualifications, managed by Ecctis for the Department for Education. It's where GOV.UK sends you to compare a non-UK qualification with UK ones, and it charges a fee.
Its Statement of Comparability is the exchange receipt. UK ENIC says it gives international qualifications context when you apply for jobs, studies or professional registration.
Reading your exchange rate
A Statement shows the rate in two parts. For a degree comparable to a UK ordinary bachelor's, the block might look like this (an illustration):
| UK Framework levels | RQF Level 6 / SCQF Level 9 / CQFW Level 6 |
| Comparable UK qualifications | Bachelor (Ordinary) degree |
RQF covers England and Northern Ireland, CQFW is Wales's, and Scotland's SCQF runs on a longer scale, so an ordinary degree sits at 9 and an honours degree at 10.
The second row is the one to quote. GOV.UK's list of qualification levels puts both ordinary and honours degrees at level 6, master's at 7 and doctorates at 8.
The Statement doesn't comment on grades, so it can't turn your result into a "First".
Counters with their own rules: regulators and the Home Office
The regulator
For a regulated profession, the regulator decides whether your training counts. GOV.UK's Regulated Professions Register tells you whether yours is regulated, and by whom.
A professional licence usually can't get a Statement, UK ENIC says, unless it was recognised at an educational level when awarded.
| Profession and who decides | Their route |
|---|---|
| Nurse or midwife Nursing and Midwifery Council | Test of Competence, then registration |
| Solicitor, England and Wales Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) | Qualified lawyers route through the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE): SQE1, then SQE2 or an exemption |
| Teacher, England Department for Education | QTS routes for teachers trained abroad |
| Physiotherapist, paramedic or other HCPC profession Health and Care Professions Council | International application route |
Overseas law degree, but not a qualified lawyer? The SRA's SQE route asks for a degree or equivalent level 6 qualification, and it checks international degrees through its own validation service, not a Statement.
Some professions have a different regulator in each UK nation. GOV.UK gives social workers as an example, so check the one where you'll work.
The Home Office
If your overseas degree is evidence in a visa application, the Home Office takes one receipt: an assessment from the Qualification and Language Service, which Ecctis provides on its behalf. That service's online checker, and the GOV.UK page for your own visa, tell you which one you need.
GOV.UK's Skilled Worker visa page shows how it works: if your degree was taught in English and not awarded by a UK institution, "you'll need to apply for an assessment from Ecctis".
Ecctis is behind both UK ENIC and this service, so it's easy to order the wrong one.
Before you pay for any receipt
- Ask your counter, in writing, which document it accepts, using the message below. Its answer beats any guide.
- Check you're eligible. The Statement covers qualifications recognised nationally at a set level. UK ENIC says the fee covers that eligibility check and isn't refundable once it starts reviewing your application.
- Gather official papers from the awarding institution, using UK ENIC's list of documents you will need.
Copy and send to your counter:
"My degree is from [country]. Which document do you need to assess it: a UK ENIC Statement of Comparability, or something else?"
Watch for a fake bureau. UK ENIC says: "We will never call you to ask for additional payments." Payment requests come through your registered account. If a caller offers to speed things up for a fee, hang up and log in yourself.
Spend it: the line for your CV
Once you have a Statement, put the comparison beside the degree in the Statement's own words, and show the Statement with your original certificate, as UK ENIC advises. Don't round it up.
You buy it once: a Statement has no expiry date, and employers, universities and professional bodies can verify it. If you think the comparison is wrong, ask UK ENIC for a reassessment instead.
[Degree title], [university], [country]. UK ENIC Statement of Comparability: comparable to [UK qualification], [UK framework level, as worded on the Statement].
Filled in for the made-up Zultania degree:
Bachelor of Arts, University of Zultania, Zultania. UK ENIC Statement of Comparability: comparable to a Bachelor (Ordinary) degree, RQF Level 6 / SCQF Level 9 / CQFW Level 6.
And back to that drop-down: pick the level your Statement names, so a Bachelor (Ordinary) degree is a bachelor's. Until then, if the form has an "other" option or a free-text box, use it for the original title and country instead of guessing.
Sources
- UK ENIC: Statement of Comparability: contents, eligibility, fee, and when it isn't suitable, with a sample
- ENIC-NARIC: Recognised higher education institutions: the official list where the institution is based
- UK ENIC: How we check your qualifications: statements as guidance
- UK ENIC: Documents you will need and After you have applied: expiry, verification, reassessment and payment calls
- About UK ENIC and the Qualification and Language Service: and its online checker
- SCQF Partnership: Interactive framework: Scottish degree levels
- nidirect: Qualifications, what the different levels mean: RQF for England and Northern Ireland, CQFW for Wales, SCQF for Scotland
- SRA: Qualified lawyers and the SQE route: and its degree validation
- GOV.UK: Qualified teacher status and the HCPC's list of professions
- GOV.UK: What qualification levels mean, including other countries, and Check if your university or college can award a degree
- GOV.UK: Check which professions are regulated in the UK
- GOV.UK: Skilled Worker visa, knowledge of English
Want a degree that holds up? Our admissions service helps working adults apply to university in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia, choosing only universities that are officially recognised. If no university on your shortlist offers you a place, we refund our fee in full.