Foreign school certificates and diplomas: how recognition works for Polish universities

• The basic rule: your certificate must open the door to higher education
• Who does not need a recognition statement
• What changed in July 2025
• Applying to NAWA: documents and timing
• Apostille or legalisation
• Translations
• Key points

⇑The basic rule: your certificate must open the door to higher education

To start first-cycle (bachelor’s) or long-cycle master’s studies in Poland, you need a secondary school certificate that is recognised in Poland. For master’s (second-cycle) studies, the rule is similar: according to NAWA, the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange, a foreign degree gives access to the next level of studies in Poland if it gives that right in the country where it was issued. Diplomas from institutions that were not accredited, or that operate outside any country’s higher education system, do not count.

The decision on admission itself is always made by the university. Recognition only confirms that you are eligible to apply.

⇑Who does not need a recognition statement

Many candidates can skip the formal procedure. According to NAWA, an individual recognition statement is not required for:

• certificates and diplomas issued in EU, OECD and EFTA member countries;
• documents covered by international agreements on the recognition of education (NAWA names agreements with China and Ukraine as examples);
• International Baccalaureate (IB) and European Baccalaureate (EB) diplomas;
• school certificates already recognised by a Polish regional education authority (kurator oświaty).

NAWA’s online KWALIFIKATOR database lets you check a specific document and what it entitles you to.

⇑What changed in July 2025

Until mid-2025, foreign school certificates were recognised for university purposes by regional education authorities. Under a Polish law of 4 April 2025, the Director of NAWA became responsible for this from 1 July 2025. The education authorities still recognise certificates for other purposes, such as continuing school education, but no longer decide on eligibility for higher education.

According to the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, decisions issued by an education authority before 1 July 2025 remain valid and can still be used in university admissions, so candidates who hold one do not need to apply again.

⇑Applying to NAWA: documents and timing

If your certificate is not on the exempt list, you request a statement online through NAWA’s SYRENA system. The NAWA page on secondary school certificates lists the documents to upload:

• the secondary school certificate and, if applicable, its transcript or list of subjects and grades;
• the document on the basis of which you were admitted to secondary school;
• certified translations, unless the documents are in English, Russian, Ukrainian or Belarusian;
• your passport or identity card, and proof of any change of surname;
• for minors, a signed declaration from a parent or guardian.

The statement is free of charge and is issued in Polish as a digitally signed PDF. When NAWA took over these cases in July 2025, the ministry said applications would be processed within up to 60 days of receiving a complete set of documents. NAWA’s page now says only that statements are issued as quickly as possible, so it makes sense to apply months before your chosen university opens registration.

⇑Apostille or legalisation

Universities generally want proof that a foreign document is authentic. If the issuing country is a party to the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961, an apostille issued by an authority in that country is enough. If it is not, the document has to be legalised: it is first authenticated in the country of origin, usually by its foreign or justice ministry, and then by a Polish consul. Consuls legalise only originals or official copies, not photocopies.

Rules vary between institutions. The SGH Warsaw School of Economics, for example, asks for an apostille or legalisation only for certificates from outside the EU, OECD and EFTA, and does not accept translations certified by a notary.

⇑Translations

Many universities, SGH among them, accept documents in Polish or English, while documents in other languages need a certified translation by a sworn translator. Have the apostille or legalisation done first, so that it is translated together with the document, and check each university’s requirements before you pay for translations.

⇑Key points

Check first whether your certificate or diploma is recognised automatically: EU, OECD, EFTA, IB and EB documents and those covered by agreements usually are. If not, request a free NAWA statement through SYRENA early. Prepare an apostille or consular legalisation and translations, then compare them with the rules of the universities you have chosen in our search of degree programmes in Poland.