All undergraduate and graduate degree programs at Anglo-American University are accredited by the local accrediting body the or the (with the exception of the Law program).
In accordance with Act. No 111/1998 Coll. on Higher Education Institutions, prospective students aiming to study the degree program at Anglo-American University in Prague also within the Czech accreditation must also provide a certificate of recognition of their secondary education completed abroad.*
*Even education completed in the Czech Republic can be considered foreign and require nostrification. If you completed your education in the Czech Republic, you are waived from the requirement only if you possess “maturitní vysvědčení” (see below).
Nostrification is a state-administered process which compares your foreign* education to Czech education on the same level in order to validate that your education is equal to it. Your education will be compared to a one of the standard programs of Czech secondary education and matched if equivalent.
The point of nostrification is to obtain a certificate of high school diploma equivalency that we call a nostrification certificate. The certificate has the same value as a Czech high school diploma, and you need to provide it to 鶹in order to be admitted to a Czech-accredited program. By Czech law, only students with a few specific diplomas are waived from the requirement to obtain the nostrification certificate in order to attend a Czech-accredited university program.
There are a few diplomas that are automatically accepted for admission in the Czech accreditation because of the existence of a bilateral agreement of the Czech Republic and the given country:
Czech High School Diploma (“vysvědčení o maturitní zkoušce”)
German High School Diploma (“Zeugnis der Allgemeinen Hochschulreife”)
Hungarian High School Diploma (“érettségi bizonyítvány”),
Polish High School Diploma (“swiadectwo dojrzałości”),
Slovak High School Diploma (“vysvedčenie o maturitnej skúške”),
Slovenian High School Diploma (“Spričevalo o Splošni/Poklicni maturi”),
European Baccalaureate diploma (this is not IB – International Baccaularete – the IB is not automatically accepted)
Only the specific diplomas listed there are exempt from having to go through nostrification. Your citizenship is irrelevant, it matters where you completed your education and what diploma you obtained.
Additional official nostrification information can be obtained from: the , the , and the (Prague).
Benefits of Enrollment in the Czech Accreditation
While completing nostrification, obtaining the nostrification certificate and consequently enrolling in the Czech accredited program at AAU, in addition to the American accreditation of your program, is a choice, we recommend that you review the following benefits and consider your current and future plans to see how it would benefit you. For most students it makes sense to pursue both accreditations at AAU. To be admitted and enrolled in a Czech-accredited program at AAU, you must first complete nostrification, obtain the nostrification certificate and submit it to AAU.
1. Visa, Work and Student Status
For visa-seeking students
If you need a visa to enter the Czech Republic, you are eligible to apply for a long-term visa or a long-term residence permit for the purpose of STUDY (students enrolled in the American accreditation only are required to apply for a visa or residence permit for the purpose of OTHER).
If you hold a visa or a residence permit for the purpose of STUDY, you are allowed to work in the Czech Republic during your studies (with the OTHER purpose, you are not allowed to work*).
You will hold a full-time university student status in the Czech Republic, in the sense of continuous preparation for future professions (official student status determined by Czech law). If you study in the American accredited program, you are registered as a life-long learning student, not a university student in an accredited program.
*As of July 1, 2024, citizens of selected non-EU/EFTA countries are exempt from the need to hold a “STUDY” visa in order to access the job market in Czechia, i.e. they can work even with the visa “OTHER”. Further details are provided .
For Czech citizens
You will hold a full-time university student status in the Czech Republic, in the sense of continuous preparation for future professions (official student status determined by Czech law). If you study in the American accredited program, you are registered as a life-long learning student, not a university student in an accredited program. Only when you are registered in the Czech accredited program and hold the full student status, your social and health insurance is paid for by the Czech state.
2. Dual-Accredited Diploma
When you graduate from AAU, you will obtain a dual-accredited diploma which will make your degree widely accepted around the world, especially in the US and the European Union.
3. Work After Graduation
For visa-seeking students: If you want to stay in the Czech Republic after graduation for work, with a diploma from a Czech-accredited program you can apply for a 9-month job-searching visa. You also have automatic entry to the Czech labour market.
Continuing your studies in the Czech Republic will be much smoother with a Czech university diploma as it will be automatically accepted.
4. Accomodation Scholarship
Accommodation scholarship is awarded to students who are enrolled in the Czech accreditation and also meet other requirements.
5. Erasmus
You may also participate in the Erasmus study exchange program. To learn more about Erasmus program at 鶹visit our Exchange 鶹 page.
Note for EU citizens: While the benefits of enrollment in the Czech accreditation relating to visa and access to job market in the Czech Republic are not relevant for you, the following ones still apply to you:
Dual-Accredited Diploma
Accommodation Scholarship
Erasmus
How can 鶹assist you with nostrification?
鶹offers a range of services to assist incoming students with the process of nostrification, such as:
Guide students through all the steps that begin with collecting documents to obtaining the final nostrification certificate.
Offer one-on-one or group online and in person meetings to any interested students.
Assist students with identifying how their documents must be legalized and provide them with specific legalization instructions relating to their documents (identify specific places where they need to arrange the legalization).
Assist students with collecting other necessary documents, such as study hours document and proof of school’s accreditation, communicate with high schools directly to help student obtain these documents that are not usually issued.
Assist students with certified translation into Czech, give them specific instructions on translation abroad via the Czech Embassy, take care of the translation in Prague, or, alternatively, help locate other translators.
Offer representing students with the Czech authorities via the power of attorney (IMPORTANT: The offer of AAU’s assistance via the power of attorney and in general is included in your tuition once it’s paid. If you decide to withdraw from the nostrification process once you have already applied at the deciding authority with our help, we cannot guarantee we will have capacity to reapply on your behalf in case you wish to. However, we will do our best.)
Consult unclear documents before applying at Prague City Hall or the Central Bohemian office.
Apply for nostrification on students’ behalf.
Receive official decisions from authorities on students’ behalves.
Help solve issues with documents when application is suspended.
Assist students with nostrification exams—informing them of the place, subjects, and area questions, as well as scheduling the test date and booking an interpreter.
Communicate with the authorities and schools in case of appeals, exam postponements, process withdrawals, other special occasions.
Assist students with procedures after failing an exam and application rejection, potentially with re-applying.
鶹cannot help with:
Documents legalization that needs to be arranged in a foreign country.
Taking the nostrification exam – the exam is taken by the applicant only, in person.
Travel/entry arrangements to attend the nostrification exam.
Changing the decision made by the official authority as 鶹has no say in these decisions.
Covering costs of the nostrification process and connected acts.
Nostrification in general, if you are not an incoming or current 鶹student – you must seek assistance in the country where you are continuing your studies, or from the institution that you are applying to. This applies also to alumni who do not continue their studies at AAU.
Cost of nostrification
鶹provides you assistance with the nostrification process as part of your tuition. However, there are usually additional costs for document obtainment, translation, legalization and verification; postage, administrative fees, and exam interpreting. Estimated costs are described in more detail in the Frequently asked questions section at the bottom of this page.
Reimbursement: As part of our continuous efforts to support students undertaking nostrification, 鶹offers a partial reimbursement of costs directly connected to that process for those students who successfully complete it. Some costs (such as the administrative fee payable to the authorities) can be reimbursed in full, while other costs (namely, those for translation, exam interpreting, and other selected items) can be reimbursed partially. Details can be accessed on , once you have your login credentials, or will be shared on an individual basis.
Nostrification Steps
Collection of documents
Legalization of documents
Official translation to Czech (except for documents in Slovakian)
Submitting the application to the deciding authority (relevant Department of Education)
Receiving the decision
Taking an exam if so ordered
Obtaining the nostrification certificate
1. Collection of Required Documents
This is a general list of documents required for nostrification. Please note that not everyone needs to submit everything on the list. It always depends on a number of factors.
High School Diploma or an equivalent of the diploma that is a proof of the applicant’s successful completion of studies and that enables the applicant to pursue further higher education – original hardcopy or notary-made copy, legalized*, and translated to Czech afterwards.
High School Transcript – original hardcopy or notary-made copy, legalized*, and translated to Czech afterwards (the transcript can be sometimes omitted if fully substituted by the following document).
A document proving the content and scope of education completed in a foreign school = instructional study hours document – a list of courses taken during high school, divided into academic years, with the number of hours of instruction. Original hardcopy or notary-made copy, translated to Czech. This document is generally not issued by High Schools; therefore, you have to request it directly from them. The template they can use to create this document can be found . Examples are .
A document proving that the school or institutionthat issued your diploma is recognised by the country according to whose legal framework the foreign diploma was issued as a part of the education system, if this is not clearly indicated on the diploma (if the diploma is issued directly, or signed by, the state’s Education Office, then no further proof if necessary). In case that it is not clear from the diploma, please ask the Ministry of Education in your country for a certificate, letter, statement etc. to confirm the school/institution is authorized to operate as a high school and/or to issue a diploma that is taken as a true high school diploma that allows you to enter university. In case of private or international high schools you will need the school’s license. Original signed hardcopy or notary-made copy (alternatively school-made copy), translated to Czech. Examples are .
Proof of address in the Czech Republic – original or notary-made copy of a housing confirmation, lease agreement, or a copy of ID with a Czech address. Your Czech address determines the office (regional Department of Education) to submit your application. If you are submitting your application before coming to the Czech Republic, this document is not necessary and you can submit your application to whichever office. If not issued in Czech language, then it must be translated to Czech.
Power of Attorney form – you can choose to give power of attorney to AAU’s Nostrification Specialist if you are an incoming student, to a specialized nostrification agency, or to a friend/family member in the Czech Republic. This person will act on your behalf.
Application form – to be found on the website of the Department of Education you apply at. If you give power of attorney to someone, they will fill in the application form on your behalf.
Payment confirmation – administrative fee for nostrification is 1000 CZK, to be paid before submitting the application, payable to the Department of Education.
*Legalized document = original document authenticated by a notary, by an apostille, or by a super legalization verification. The type depends on the country that issued your document. See more below.
2. Legalization of Documents
Public documents (such as diplomas and transcripts) must be legalized in order to be valid for official purposes in the Czech Republic. Other documents can be used as originals or notary-made copies.
Legalization type always depends on the country that issued the document and the agreement it has (or doesn’t) with the Czech Republic. Unless there is an agreement on automatic acceptance of public documents between the country that issued the document and the Czech Republic, the original document will not suffice without legalization.
See the list of countries and the required legalization type . Look up the country in which your document was issued, not your citizenship.
Types of legalization:
Notary-made copy (= no further legalization necessary, you need to submit the notary-made copy, so you can keep the original)
Apostille – higher form of legalization for selected countries. Apostille is an authentication certificate verifying signatures and stamps on the original document, and attached to the original document.
Superlegalization – highest form of verification for countries with no agreement with Czech Republic. Several steps: 1) verification of the original document by Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2) afterwards verification of the original document by a Czech Embassy in the state where the document comes from
In order not to lose original documents, 鶹recommends submitting notary verified copies of legalized originals to the Czech authorities. We recommend making a notarized copy of all documents you do not want to lose, in the Czech Republic before they are translated. The translation can be attached to the notary-made copies instead. Documents submitted for nostrification will not be returned to you if it’s successful.
3. Official Translation to Czech
All documents submitted for nostrification must either be in Czech, or translated to Czech by a certified translator (except for documents in Slovakian).
Acceptable certified translations are made by:
a registered Czech court-certified translator (in Czech “soudní překladatel”) with a stamp, or a registered certified translator to English in the country the document comes from
a translator whose translation was verified by a Czech Embassy by a “verification of the correctness of the translation of a public document” sticker and stamp
Court-certified translators are mostly found in the Czech Republic. You can search for them . Below are the step-by-step instructions on how to use the portal.
Please select the option “Tlumočníci a překladatelé” (interpreters and translators)
You can then specify only translators by checking “soudní překladatel”
Choose “Jazyk” (language) – selecting the language from which they need to be translated
Choose “Praha” under “Soudní kraj” (region) to be able to see the certified court translators only in the Prague region
Confirm with “Vyhledat” to search through available records
鶹can arrange translation for incoming students and forward the invoice (translation is not paid by AAU). For this purpose we use the external company who have a network of certified translators. There is also a possibility to translate and verify the translation of the legalized documents via a representative office of the Czech Republic (an Embassy or a Consulate).
Below you will find the instructions for the process:
For the purpose of foreign education recognition, the authorities in the Czech Republic will be accepting translations to Czech made abroad only if they are verified via an appropriate representative office of the Czech Republic – this process is called Verification of the correctness of the translation of a public document.
Do not perform any translation before you consult this matter with the representative office and are sure they can verify your translation.
There are different types of representative offices abroad:
Embassies
General consulates
Honorary consulates
To get information about the translation of your authenticated documents and the verification of the translation you have to identify the appropriate office for you, a list of all the representatives offices of the Czech Republic can be found .
Steps to follow:
Identify the appropriate representative office
Get in touch with the office and ask them to provide you with information on whether they can perform the Verification of the correctness of the translation of a public document, if they confirm it is possible inquire about where should you get the translation to Czech (some embassies have a translator on site some have external translators)
Example of the verified translation sticker that the representative office should stamp your documents with can be found
In case the representative office cannot perform the verification of the translation, you will not translate the documents abroad because such translation would not be valid for official purposes in the Czech Republic. Instead check the possibility of the court translation at the Czech Republic with your 鶹Power of attorney representative.
4. Submitting the application to the deciding authority (relevant Department of Education)
When all required documents are collected, relevant documents are legalized and everything is translated to Czech, an application for nostrification can be submitted.
The authority to accept applications for nostrification of high school education is the Department of Education in the region where the applicant resides. It can be the Department of Education at the City Hall of Prague. If you reside in a different region of the Czech Republic, or have a permanent address in a different region, you apply at the respective Department of Education in the region. You are asked to provide a proof of address for this reason. Only if you do not reside in the Czech Republic yet, you can submit your application to whichever Department of Education you choose.
Application form is always to be found on the website of the Department of Education where you will be applying for nostrification. If you are applying yourself, you will fill it in and sign it, if you gave power of attorney to another person, they can fill it in and sign it on your behalf. The application form will generally require you to state your name, date of birth, contact information, your education data and information.
The application is submitted in person, in some cases it is possible to submit it via mail. Before submitting the application, you must pay the administrative fee of 1000 CZK.
5. Receiving the decision
After you submit the application, the deciding authority has usually 30-60 days to review your application and the accompanying documents. When they make a decision, an official decision is mailed to you, or your power of attorney representative, if you authorized one. The deciding authority makes a decision based on the submitted documents and how much your education compares to a similar program of Czech secondary education. Based on their review, the decision can be the following:
a) Decision that you need to take a nostrification exam within a certain period of time – in case your education only partially compares to Czech education on the secondary level. See point 6 for details.
b) Temporary suspension because of a missing or faulty document, unclear information, or another problem, with a certain deadline – the application is restarted after you submit the requested/additional documentation, otherwise the application is terminated, or exams are ordered, depending on the nature of the issue.
c) Information the application is going to be rejected due to incomparability – this decision can sometimes be reversed in case you are able to provide additional documents. Otherwise application is rejected.
d) Nostrification certificate straight away – this means the process is completed.
6. Taking an exam if so ordered
The most common outcome of a nostrification application is a decision that you need to take a nostrification exam.
The purpose of the nostrification exam is to verify that you have knowledge and profile similar to a Czech high school graduate, if the content and scope of your education is partially different. The decision is made by comparing the subjects, their instructional study hours, years of instruction and the educational systems. In most cases, it is difficult to predict in advance if and what subjects in the exam will be ordered. Exams are very common, so it is best to be prepared for the outcome.
The minimum number of subjects in an exam is one, the maximum is five. There is no grade to achieve, the exam is taken on a pass/fail basis.
The student needs to pass all subjects to complete the exam and the nostrification process.
The exam is in Czech, non-Czech speaking students are allowed to have a court-certified interpreter to accompany them (the interpreter will charge you for the service). You need to arrange for the interpreter yourself.
Exams are mostly spoken, taken in person at high schools around Prague or in the region where you applied. The testing school is randomly assigned to you by the Department of Education. Depending on the regional Department, you either are given an exam period during which you have to take the exam (in that case the exact date is set by the testing school), or you are assigned a date straight away.
Each school publishes a list of topics for each subject, so you will know in advance what to prepare for.
The nostrification exam is part of the official process, rescheduling the date is possible only in case of a health emergency or an appointment at the foreign police.
7. Obtaining the nostrification certificate
The nostrification process is completed only when you have received the nostrification certificate. The certificate will come via registered mail to the address specified in your application, or to your power of attorney representative. If you applied yourself and receive the certificate in the mail yourself, you need to bring and submit it to 鶹in order to be enrolled into the Czech-accredited program. 鶹has to see the certificate (either the original or a notary-made copy) to be able to make the enrollment.
Example of a nostrification certificate
Frequently asked questions
Completing nostrification is strongly recommended, especially if you plan to continue studying or working in Europe in the future, or are a Czech citizen. If you do not complete nostrification, and consequently do not enrol in the Czech accreditation of your programme (so you study the American accreditation only), you are not entitled to any of the benefits listed above (you cannot get a student visa, you cannot work with “other” visa, you cannot go on Erasmus or get an accommodation scholarship, you will get only a US diploma upon graduation, you cannot get a job-searching visa after graduation; if you are Czech, you do not have a student status and insurance paid by the state).
As such, completing nostrification is voluntary. You can choose to study in the American accreditation only. It is not obligatory to be enrolled in the Czech accreditation of your program at AAU.
However, it is obligatory to obtain the nostrification certificate if you want to be enrolled in the Czech-accredited program and do not have an automatically recognized diploma (see the question below). Without submitting the nostrification certificate (a result of nostrification), you cannot be enrolled in the Czech accreditation.
You do not need to be in the Czech Republic to start working on your nostrification. Incoming and some continuing students (who started in the Spring 2021 semester and later) have the option to give power of attorney to AAU’s Nostrification Specialist who receives their documents prepared for nostrification, submits their application, communicates with the authorities on their behalf, receives mail and decisions on their behalf, and can comment on the decisions made by the authorities and obtain additional information. You can also use a private professional company (we recommend working with ) or give power of attorney to a friend or family member residing in the Czech Republic.
鶹is a private university, and as such, is not allowed to provide internal (institutional) nostrification. Therefore, 鶹students pursuing nostrification must do the process externally. Their application is submitted to a deciding authority (the regional Department of Education) in the Czech Republic, and the deciding authority makes the official decision. When the applicant is ordered to take an exam, the exam takes place at a high school appointed by the deciding authority. The appeal institution is the Ministry of Education. No part of the process takes place at, or is organised or by AAU; nor has 鶹a say in an individual’s application process or any decision made by the deciding authority. If you have given the power of attorney to an 鶹representative, they can comment on any decisions and attempt to influence it, but the final say is always up to the official deciding authority. AAU’s Nostrification Specialist, however, is available to help you navigate and assist with the process step by step, so it is as smooth as possible.
No, you are free to do nostrification on your own, either completely, or with the Nostrification Specialist’s consultation. You can also use a private professional company (we recommend working with ), whether you are abroad or already in the Czech Republic. For students in their first semesters or incoming students, it is beneficial to work with 鶹on nostrification, as in that case you do not need to prepare two separate sets of authenticated documents (one to submit to 鶹to complete the admission process in the American accreditation, and another one to submit officially for nostrification to the deciding authority). To complete AAU’s admission process in the American accreditation, you are asked to submit an authenticated diploma and transcript/diploma supplement. If you do nostrification independently, please keep in mind that you need to provide the authenticated documents to 鶹first (we can copy them) before you use them for nostrification, or you need to obtain two sets of authenticated documents, for each accreditation’s admission process separately.
No, there is no difference. The classes you take and the content of your program are the same, whether you study in the American accreditation of your program, or in the Czech and American accreditation. To graduate, you will take state exams at the end of your studies. The difference is the way you are viewed as a student by Czech law. If studying in both accreditations, you hold a full-time university student status in the Czech Republic, in the sense of continuous preparation for future professions (official student status determined by Czech law). If you study in the American accredited program, you are registered as a life-long learning student, not a university student in an accredited program.
There are costs connected with nostrification. Some of them are flexible and some fixed. Below are estimated costs for the steps in the nostrification process.
Fixed:
➢ Undergraduate nostrification administrative fee payable to a regional Department of Education: 1000 CZK
Flexible:
➢ Costs connected with authentication of documents (fees payable to the authorities who provide legalization of documents abroad or in the Czech Republic).
➢ Translation costs – your documents will have to be officially translated to Czech (by a Czech courtcertified translator or with help and verification of a Czech Embassy); the price is set by the provider of the translation and differs.
➢ Costs connected with interpreters’ fees (if the applicant needs to take an exam and does not speak Czech). A Czech court-certified interpreter can charge anything between 1000 – 3000 CZK per one exam. However, this fee is not considered as fixed because it is never known in advance how many exams, and if any the applicant will be asked to take, so you may not need to pay this at all.
➢ Travel costs – you may have to travel for your exams outside of Prague if you apply at a regional office.
➢ Other possible costs: You may have to pay for a housing confirmation. You may have to pay for notarized copies in order not to lose originals.
Reimbursement: As part of our continuous efforts to support students undertaking nostrification, 鶹offers a partial reimbursement of costs directly connected to that process for those students who successfully complete it. Some costs (such as the administrative fee payable to the authorities) can be reimbursed in full, while other costs (namely, those for translation, exam interpreting, and other selected items) can be reimbursed partially. Details can be accessed on , once you have your login credentials, or will be shared on an individual basis.
If you haven’t done so before the start of your first semester, you will have to complete admission requirements in the American accreditation. Your admission is only conditional until you submit authenticated hardcopies of your admission documents. You have one semester to do it, failure to do so will mean termination of your studies. You are required to submit authenticated hardcopies of documents (bachelor diploma and transcript/diploma supplement) to AAU. The required type of authentication or legalization is determined by the AAU’s Admission Policy, depending on the country in which the document was issued.
It is also best to email your decision not to pursue nostrification to nostrification@aauni.edu.
If you are admitted to 鶹in the American accreditation first, before completing nostrification and being admitted to the Czech accreditation, you are eligible to apply for a long-term visa (if possible, longterm residence permit) for the purpose of “other” (in Czech “účel pobytu studium-ostatní”, ostatní means other). You can only apply for a long-term visa or long-term residence permit for the purpose of STUDY after you complete nostrification and you are officially admitted to a Czech-accredited program.
Most 鶹students arrive in the Czech Republic with a visa for the purpose of OTHER. When the visa is about to expire, you will most likely apply for a residence permit (=visa extension) at the Ministry of the Interior. If you are enrolled in a Czech accreditation (after completing nostrification) by then, you apply for a residence permit for the purpose of STUDY. If not, you continue with the purpose of OTHER and apply for a change of purpose of your residence permit to STUDY afterwards, when you complete nostrification and enroll in the Czech accreditation.
Giving power of attorney is an offer for 鶹students having started studies in Spring 2021 or later. The power of attorney enables the 鶹representative to act on the behalf of the student only in acts specified in the document. It is meant to make the process easier for students because of the communication in Czech. In general, by giving power of attorney to an 鶹representative, you authorise them to do the following in your place: submit your application, receive information about your application in person, in writing, via phone, comment on and provide additional information, submit additional documents, make requests (such as to withdraw the application), receive mail and email communication on your behalf. If you are asked to take an exam, it must be taken by you in person and no one can take it on your behalf. It also does not mean that the 鶹representative will collect, legalise and translate required documents for you, although we offer extensive assistance with these tasks.
An apostille is a hardcopy paper certificate attached to a document it is supposed to verify, certifying a signature on the document. It is the required type of document authentication/legalisation for any public documents issued in the USA and many other countries (you can see the full list ), so you can use them in the Czech Republic. If you see the country that issued the document on the link above, you must have your diploma and occasionally transcript authenticated by an apostille, otherwise it is not considered valid for official purposes in the Czech Republic. You can only get the apostille certificate in the country that issued the document, not in the Czech Republic. Your citizenship is irrelevant. In an ideal situation, the apostille office (which are various state institutions , such as Ministries of Foreign Affairs or Justice, or Secretaries of State) issues the apostille for the original document, and the apostille verifies a signature of someone who originally signed the document (the school’s principal, for example, or a school counsellor, if they signed a copy). This is preferred, and, according to Czech authorities, the only proper way of apostille authentication. If you are worried about losing your original document when you submit it for nostrification, a certified copy of the apostilled original can be arranged prior to submitting the application.
➢ In the USA, the apostille authority can appoint a third party to verify the document’s origin, usually a notary public. This usually means that you will be asked to notarize the document first. The notary can sign the original document, or its copy. Then the apostille verifies a notary’s signature on the document.
➢ IMPORTANT: The notary must be the one who certifies that the original document or its copy is true and correct. Czech authorities WILL NOT accept notarised documents where it is in any form stated or even insinuated that anyone else claims the original or its copy as true and correct (such as you, your parent, anyone from the school’s administration who is not a notary). No affidavits or statements on document’s truthfulness by anyone who’s not a notary will be accepted (even if the notary verifies their identity; they are not the notary and they don’t have the authority).
Any translation of a document is to be done after its authentication. An apostille attached to, or verifying a translation, will not be accepted. Please note that while the apostille is the most common type of document legalisation for students at AAU, some documents will not require it, as they will be legalised differently (by a notary only, or by a Czech Embassy in case of so-called superlegalization). It always depends on the country that issued the diploma/transcript.
Every school has information on the instructional hours of their students, even if they calculate in credits. The reluctance to prepare the required document for you is often caused by time constraints or unwillingness, not by lack of information. In this case, you can forward your school contact to the 鶹Nostrification Specialist and she can get in touch with your high school on your behalf to help prepare the documents for you.
The Czech law says that only education from state-recognized schools is eligible for nostrification. This means that you need to prove that the institution that issued your high school diploma is part of the educational system of the country under which law it has been issued, that it’s recognized by the country/state. Sometimes, this is referred to as the school being accredited. However, accreditation, especially in the US, is often private and is given to schools based on some specific criteria or achievement, it does not prove what the Czech authorities are looking for. The Czech authorities are not
looking for accreditation, but for the fact that the high school is part of the educational system of the state. That is why in most cases you need a confirmation directly from the Ministry or State Department of Education to prove that the school is integrated in the country’s educational system. Only if the diploma is issued directly by the Education Office (Ministry of Education for example) or signed by a representative of the Education Office, then you don’t need to prove this. You can see examples .
No. Nostrification is recognition of the previous level of education than the one you are going to study at AAU. When you apply for recognition of your high school education, only classes taken at and/or counted towards your high school education will be considered. College or previous university classes can be transferred to 鶹under certain conditions, but they are not supposed to be counted toward nostrification. Similarly, no classes you take at 鶹can be used towards recognition of your previous education (nostrification is recognition of previous level of education so your major is irrelevant). High school in the Czech Republic comprises grade 10 to grade 13, and lower grades are still considered elementary school. It is likely only classes and study hours from these grades that will be considered for nostrification. Always consult the nostrification specialist when in doubt.
For nostrification of high school education, all documents must be in Czech or translated to Czech by a certified translator. This is because nostrification is an official process taking place at an official state institution, and Czech is the only official language of the Czech Republic. Certified translation of documents (by a Czech court-certified translator, or with a Czech Embassy’s verification) is necessary for all official processes (a visa process, for example).
No. When you hand in your nostrification documents to the Nostrification Specialist, they can make copies from your verified documents and share them with 鶹colleagues, so you can be fully admitted in the American-accredited studies. But in terms of nostrification, there are several more steps to take, namely submit the actual application, receive a decision about your application made by the authorities, take and pass an exam if necessary, and receive the nostrification certificate. Nostrification is completed only once the nostrification certificate is delivered to you or your representative.
No. There are several more steps to take, namely receive a decision about your application made by the authorities, take and pass an exam if necessary, receive the nostrification certificate. Nostrification is completed only once the nostrification certificate is delivered to you or your representative.
The authorities have officially 30-60 days to make a decision. However, they can take longer to issue a decision, when the case requires special attention, or when they have a large number of applications. It is not in the power of the applicant, their power of attorney representative, or AAU, to influence the decision issuance, although it is possible to enquire about it in the meantime.
This depends on the authorities and how similar your education is to the Czech high school education. Don’t forget that nostrification is about comparison of education and finding a match, so your education can be considered equivalent to Czech. If the authorities decide that your education does not differ much from the compulsory school curriculum of the Czech student and profile of a Czech high school graduate, and they recognize your studies as equal to Czech right away, then you do not need to take any exam. If your education is lacking a subject that is compulsory for a Czech student, or you do not have a comparable number of hours in a subject, then you need to prove you have the knowledge by taking an exam. This may sometimes mean that you will be asked to prove your high school knowledge of a subject you studied very little or not at all. The minimum is one subject, the maximum is five. There is no grade to achieve, the exam is taken on a pass/fail basis. In most cases, it is impossible to predict in advance if an exam will be ordered. They are common, so count on the possibility of the exam. If you do not have to do one in the end, you will be pleasantly surprised.
The authorities are not only looking at the fact you took the subject, but also how many hours you studied it for. If the number of hours is too small in comparison with the Czech high school curriculum, then you will still be asked to prove your knowledge by taking an exam in that subject.
鶹does not provide tutoring for nostrification exams, however, we are working on providing study materials. Currently provided study materials are to be found on .
You will be provided with a list of questions in English that you can be asked about for each subject, so you will know roughly what you need to prepare for, what kind of knowledge you will need to demonstrate. These lists of topics for each subject are published by high schools which are assigned to conduct the exam. 鶹can help you find a tutor; the arrangement of the lessons, payment and any details are then up to you to set up with the tutor.
Yes, it is completely in Czech. The nostrification exam is a part of an official process and Czech is the official language of the Czech Republic. That’s why you have to hire a court-certified interpreter to assist you during the exam (the interpreter must be licensed by the Czech court, you cannot take a friend). If you are pursuing nostrification via AAU’s Nostrification Specialist and you confirm your exam date, we will book an interpreter for you unless you inform us in advance that you do not require us to. The price is usually 2 000-3000 CZK depending on the location and language, to be paid in advance or on site to the interpreter. You can usually opt for English or Russian speaking interpreters with ease, other languages
are less common.
Unfortunately, you must pass the exam in all subjects to successfully complete the nostrification process. The exam consists of all the subjects ordered. If you fail in one subject, it means that you did not pass the exam (and all subjects not yet taken are cancelled), and the nostrification application will be rejected. You cannot retake the failed subject separately. The only way to retake the exam is to submit the application again as a new application.
Almost! When you successfully pass the nostrification exam in all subjects, it usually means that you do not have to do anything else other than receive the nostrification certificate yourself or via your power of attorney representative. The nostrification certificate is issued a few weeks after the exam takes place. Depending on your nostrification deadline, the Nostrification Specialist may ask you to fill in and sign some paperwork to confirm that you passed the exam and are only waiting for the result to be processed by the authorities and for the certificate.
This is very individual and it depends on several factors. We recommend asking the Nostrification Specialist to find out what specifically your nostrification deadline is. In general, if you are an incoming student first enrolled in the American accreditation only, your nostrification deadline is the end of your second semester. In any other case, please consult the Nostrification Specialist. However, in any case, you must complete nostrification and submit the recognition certificate to 鶹before you take the state exams. Once you graduate in the American accreditation, 鶹will not accept the recognition certificate retrospectively.
It depends on what is meant by later. Nostrification must be completed by the end of your deadline, in special approved cases the deadline can be extended. Completed nostrification means you have received the nostrification certificate. To receive enrollment in the Czechaccredited program, your certificate must be submitted to AAU. You can apply for nostrification at any point of your life after you have completed the given level of education you want recognized, that is not limited. However, you cannot submit a nostrification or recognition certificate to 鶹after you have graduated from 鶹in the program for which you needed nostrification. You cannot be enrolled in the Czech-accredited program retrospectively. You must complete nostrification and submit the certificate to 鶹before you graduate at the latest (if not by the original deadline, only in special approved cases, as explained above), in order to be enrolled in the Czech-accredited program and graduate with a dual Czech and American diploma.
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