Article 1 – Introductory provisions

1. Charles University is a higher education institution which complies with the requirement set out insection 48 (6) of Act No. 111/1998 Sb., to regulate higher education institutions (the Higher Education Act) as it has acquired institutional accreditation for at least one area of study and is thus entitled to assess the foreign secondary and tertiary education of applicants in the admissions procedure in accordance with section 48 (4) and (5) of the Higher Education Act at all faculties.

2. The assessment of foreign secondary and tertiary education in the admissions procedure of Charles University is governed by section 48 of the Higher Education Act, Article 2 of Appendix No. 2 to the Constitution of Charles University, Fees for Study, the Code of Admissions Procedure of Charles University and this directive.

3. In the admissions procedure for the 2018-19 academic year the faculties will assess compliance with the requirement of obtainment of secondary education with “maturita” school-leaving examination under section 48 (4) of the Higher Education Actor successful completion of study in a bachelor’s or master’s programme of study under section 48 (5) of the Higher Education Act in the case of applicants who obtained:

   a.	a foreign secondary education by completing a secondary educational programme at a foreign secondary school, an international secondary school, a European School operating under the Convention defining the Statute of the European Schools, or a school licensed by the Ministry under the Education Act to offer compulsory education (a foreign secondary education); or
   b.	a foreign higher education by completing a higher education programme at a foreign higher education institution (a foreign higher education).

Article 2 – Course of assessment

1. When the applicant has complied with other requirements for admission, the faculty recordson the basis of information and documents provided by the applicant his chosen manner of proving compliance with the requirement under section 48 (4) (a) to (d) or (5) (a) to (c) of the Higher Education Act in the card “Previous level of education” of the Student Information System (the SIS).

2. Compliance with the requirement of the obtainment of secondary education with the “maturita” examination under section 48 (4) of the Higher Education Act may be proved:

   a.	by a document proving general recognition of the equivalence or validity in the Czech Republic of a foreign document concerning obtainment of secondary education obtained in accordance with Act No. 561/2004 Sb., to regulate pre-school, basic, secondary, tertiary professional and other education (the Education Act), as amended, or in accordance with prior legal regulations;
   b.	by a document proving the awarding of a European Baccalaureate;
   c.	by a foreign document concerning a foreign secondary education completed with the “maturita” examination, if it is deemed automatically equivalent in the Czech Republic in accordance with its international agreements without any further administrative procedures; or
   d.	by a foreign document concerning a foreign secondary education obtained by completing a secondary educational programme at a foreign secondary school operating under the legal regulations of another state and which entitles its holder to apply for admission to study in a bachelor’s or a long-cycle master’s programme of study in the given foreign state.

3. Compliance with the requirement of successful completion of study in a bachelor’s or master’s programme of study under section 48 (5) of the Higher Education Act may be proved:

   a.	by a document proving general recognition of foreign higher education in the Czech Republic obtained in accordance with sections 89 and 90 of the Higher Education Act or in accordance with prior legal regulations;
   b.	by a foreign document concerning a foreign higher education which is equivalent in the Czech Republic in accordance with its international agreements without any further administration procedures; or
   c.	by a foreign document concerning a foreign higher education which was acquired by completing a higher education programme at a foreign higher education institution operating under the legal regulations of another state.

4. Documents which the applicant must submit to the faculty are specified in Appendix No. 1 to this directive: Specification of documents.

5. Data registered by the faculty in the SIS (Table of identification of secondary/higher education institution): the name of the foreign secondary or higher education institution, the registered address of the foreign education institution, state, the name of the document in the original language (if provided in Roman letters), the name of the document in the Czech or English translation, and whether the submitted document should be the equivalent of a “maturita” school leaving certificate or a bachelor’s, master’s, or Doctoral Diploma. If the applicant submits the document under section 48 (4) (a) or (5) (a) of the Higher Education Act, the faculty records the name of the foreign secondary or higher education institution, the state, and, as the name of the document in the Czech language, it provides the name of the document, for example, the certificate of recognition of foreign higher education.

Article 3 - Criteria for formal assessment of documents

1. Documents issued by an institution in the Czech Republic, namely documents under section48 (4) (a) and (5) (a) of the Higher Education Act, are submitted by the applicant in the form of authenticated copies.

2. Other documents must be submitted by the applicant in the form of an original or an authenticated copy of the document issued by the foreign secondary or higher education institution or by another foreign institution. Faculties deciding on and verifyingthe correctness of authentication follow Appendix No. 2 to this directive: Form of documents.

3. Documents which are not originally issued in the Czech, English or Slovak languages, must be officially translated in the Czech or English languages. If the official translation is made by other than a Czech certified translator, the sheets with translations must be attached to the authenticated copies of the documents they relate to in such a way that makes it impossible to subsequently change or replace the sheets containing the translation. Translations attached to unauthenticated copies of documents shall not be accepted.

4. Applicants submit the documents in hard copy form or as a PDF document created by an authorised conversion. Documents in an electronic format created by unauthorised conversionare not accepted. However, faculties may require that scanned documents besent together with hard copies for the purposes of their internal assessment.

5. Before the faculty begins to assess the contents of the collected documents of the applicant under Article 4, it decides whether the applicant submitted documents specified in Appendix No. 1: Specification of documents and whether these documents satisfy the formal requirements specified under letters (1) to (4). If the submitted documents fail to satisfy the formal requirements, the faculty calls on the applicant to correct the deficiencies or to supplement the documents.

Article 4 - Criteria for the assessment of contentsof the documents

1. If the applicant submitted a document obtained in accordance with the Education Act or in accordance with prior legal regulations, proving that a foreign document concerning the obtainment of secondary education is generally recognised as equivalent or valid in the Czech Republic, the fulfilment of the requirement of obtainment of secondary education with a “maturita” school-leaving examination under section 48 (4) of the Higher Education Act is deemed to have been proved. If the applicant submitted a document obtained in accordance with sections 89 and 90 of the Higher Education Act or in accordance with prior legal regulations, proving general recognition of foreign higher education in the Czech Republic, the fulfilment of the requirement of successful completion of study in a bachelor’s or master’s programme of study under section 48 (5) of the Higher Education Act is deemed to have been proved in that programme of study which is mentioned in the relevant document, usually the certificate of recognition of a foreign higher education.

2. If the applicant submitted a document proving the granting of the European Baccalaureate, the fulfilment of the requirement of obtainment of secondary education with a “maturita” school-leaving examination under section 48 (4) of the Higher Education Act is deemed to have been proved. This provision does not apply to the International Baccalaureate, which is considered a document under section 48 (4) (d) of the Higher Education Act, and in this case the procedure described under letter (d) is applicable. If the International Baccalaureate forms an integral part of the “maturita” certificate for students who passed the “maturita” examination in Czech language and literature in the common part of the “maturita” examination, such applicants submit in the admissions procedure an authenticated copy of the “maturita” certificate1.

3. If the applicant submitted a foreign document concerning a foreign secondary education completed with the “maturita” examination, if it is deemed automatically equivalent in the Czech Republic in accordance with its international agreements without any further administrative procedure, the fulfilment of the requirement of obtainment of secondary education with a “maturita” school-leaving examination under section 48 (4) of the Higher Education Act is deemed to have been proved. If the applicant submitted a foreign document concerning a foreign higher education, if it is deemed automatically equivalent in the Czech Republic in accordance with its international agreements without any further administrative procedure, the fulfilment of the requirement of successful completion of study in a bachelor’s or master’s programme of study under section 48 (5) of the Higher Education Act is deemed to have been proved. The list of international agreements regulating automatic equivalence of documents is provided in Appendix No. 3 to this directive: Automatic equivalence.

4. If the applicant submitted a foreign document concerning a foreign secondary education under section 48 (4) (d) of the Higher Education Act the faculty checks on the basis of submitted documents:

   a.	whether this document was obtained by completing a secondary educational programme at a foreign secondary school operating under the legal regulations of another state and
   b.	whether it entitles its holder to apply for admission to study in a bachelor’s or a long-cycle master’s programme of study in the given foreign state.

5. For this purpose, the faculty may call on the applicant to submit other documents mentioned in the Appendix No. 1 to this Directive: Specification of documents. If the faculty arrives at the conclusion that the above-mentioned facts were proven, the fulfilment of the requirement of obtainment of secondary education with “maturita” school-leaving education under section 48 (4) of the Higher Education Act has been proven.

6. If the faculty arrives at the conclusion that the above-mentioned facts were not provenpersuasively enough or if there are doubts about the sufficient standard, scope and content of the previous foreign education of the applicant proved by the foreign document, the faculty calls on the applicant to prove his education in the manner under section 48 (4) (a) of the Higher Education Act. If the applicant subsequently fails to submit the document, he failed to prove the fulfilment of the requirement of obtainment of secondary education with “maturita” school-leaving education undersection 48 (4) of the Higher Education Act and the faculty issues a decision on non-admission to study.

7. If the applicant submitted a foreign document concerning a foreign higher education under section 48 (5) of the Higher Education Act the faculty checks on the basis of submitted documents:

   a.	whether the given foreign education institution is authorised to offer higher education in the given foreign state (whether the higher education institution and the specific programme of study completed by the applicantis accredited).
   b.	whether it entitles its holder to admission to study in a long-cycle master’s or a doctoral programme of study in the given foreign state.

8. For this purpose, the faculty may call on the applicant to submit other documents mentioned in Appendix No. 1 to this Directive: Specification of documents and check if the foreign high education institution is in the databases of accredited higher education institutions.

9. If the faculty arrives at the conclusion that the above-mentioned facts were provenand the document authorises the applicant to study in the county under which legal regulations it was issued in the programme of study equivalent to the programme of study to which the applicant applied, the fulfilment of the requirement of successful completion of study in a bachelor’s or master’s programme of study under section 48 (5) of the Higher Education Act is proved.

10. If the faculty arrives at the conclusion that the above-mentioned facts were not proven persuasively enough or if there are doubts about the sufficient standard, scope and content of the previous foreign education of the applicant provenby the foreign document, the faculty calls on the applicant to prove his education in the manner under section 48 (4) (a) of the Higher Education Act; if the applicant subsequently fails to submit the document, he failed to prove the fulfilment of successful completion of study in a bachelor’s or master’s programme of study under section 48 (4) of the Higher Education Act and the faculty issues a decision on non-admission to study.

11. In assessing a foreign education of the applicant under section 48 (4) (d) and (5) (c) of the Higher Education Act the faculty considers the content and scope of the foreign education only as regards the assessment of fulfilment of the criteria under paragraphs (3) to (5). The faculty checks the fulfilment of other requirements for admission to study set in compliance with section 49 (1) and (3) separately, usually throughan entrance examination.

12. If the applicant filed an application to study at different faculties and applied for an assessment of his foreign education within the admissions procedure at different faculties, the faculty contacts theOffice of Documents, Registers and Recognition of Foreign Higher Education of the Rector’s Office of Charles University which operates as a consulting body; this body makes sure that an applicant’s identical education is assessed by all relevant faculties identically as regards the proving of fulfilment of the requirement under section 48 (4) and (5) of the Higher Education Act. The opinion of the Documents, registers and recognition of foreign higher education department is binding and faculties are obliged to respect it. This provision applies without prejudice to the faculties’ right to assess the fulfilment of other requirements for admission to study set under section 49 (1) and (3) of the Higher Education Act in a concrete admissions procedure, and the results of such assessments may vary in different admissions procedures.

13. In exceptionally complicated cases and if there are serious doubts as to the authenticity of the submitted documents or accreditation of a foreign institution, the faculty may consult the assessment with the Documents, registers and recognition of foreign higher education department of the Rector’s Office of Charles University.

Article 5 –Issuing decisions on non/admission in relation to the assessment of foreign education

1. No separate decision is issued on the fulfilment of the requirement of obtainment of previous education under section 48 of the Higher Education Act. The assessment performed in accordance with section 48 (4) (d) and (5) (c) of the Higher Education Act applies only within the concrete admissions procedure at Charles University and does not declare the equivalenceof a foreign programme of study toany of the programmes of study offered at Charles University.

2. The decision on admission or non-admission to study may be issued only after checking the requirements for admission to study in accordance with Article 11 of the Code of Admissions Procedure of Charles University.

3. The deadline for the submission of documents and the period for assessment of the fulfilment of requirements for admission is governed by the Rector’s directive No. 15/2017 Schedule of admissions procedure in the 2018/2019 academic year (Schedule of admissions procedure) in accordance with paragraph (8) by analogy. In the case of applicants who satisfied other requirements for admission but fail to satisfy the requirement under section 48 (4) or (5) of the Higher Education Act in any possible manner, the period for assessment of requirements for admission terminates on 22 October 2018.

4. The faculty publishes internal deadlines for the submission of documents within the admissions procedure on the publicly accessible part of its website and informs the applicants about it in a proper manner. This deadline is a recommendation and enables an even spreading of the assessment stage. Binding deadlines for the submission of documents are provided in the Schedule of admission procedure.

5. Faculties may issue a confirmation of the current admissions procedure to visa applicants or in other justified cases even before the issuance of the decision on admission.

Article 6 - Fees

1. In the admissions procedure for the 2018/2019 academic year, the fees under Article 2 of the Appendix No. 2 to the Constitution of Charles University Fees for Study are collected according to the following rules:

   a.	The fee is collected only in cases under sections 48 (4) (d) and48 (5) (c) of the Higher Education Act regardless of whether the result of the assessment is positive or negative. In cases under sections 48 (4) (a), (b) and(c) and48 (5) (a) and(b) of the Higher Education Act the applicant does not pay any fee.
   b.	If the applicant files more than one application at one faculty, he pays the fee only once. If the applicant files several applications at different faculties, he pays the fee once for each faculty.
   c.	When the applicant informs the faculty that he requests the assessment of previous foreign education in the admissions procedure, the faculty calls on the applicant without undue delay to pay the fee in all cases where the fee should be paid under the rules according to letters (a), (b), (c) and sends the applicant the necessary payment instructions. The faculty enables the payment by bank transfer to the bank account of the faculty or in cash at the faculty.
   d.	If the applicant fails to pay the fee within the time limit set in the payment instructions, the faculty shall send him a notice by post. If he fails to pay the fee within the time limit set in the notice the faculty shall call on the applicant to prove compliance with the requirement in one of the ways mentioned in letter (a) which is not subject to payment.

2. The fee under Article 2 of the Appendix No. 2 to the Constitution of Charles University Fees for Study in admissions procedure for the 2018/2019 academic year amounts to 650 CZK. The fee is an income of the faculty.

3. The faculty records in the SIS the date of the payment of the fee and the name of the faculty where the fee was paid or records that the fee is not paid (cases under sections48 (4) (a), (b), (c) and48 (5) (a), (b) of the Higher Education Act).

Article 7 – Final provisions

This rector’s directive becomes effective on 1 May 2018.

In Prague on 26 April 2018.

Prof. MUDr. Tomáš Zima, DrSc., MBA

Rector

***** Appendix No. 1: Specification of documents *****

***** Appendix No. 2: Form of documents *****

1. All documents submitted by the applicant to the faculty must be duly authenticated in accordance with the relevant international agreements (a list valid as of 1 May 2018):

   a.	States which have entered into a legal aid agreement with the Czech Republic – original documents are valid in the contracting states without any further authentication. If the applicant submits copies of such documents they must be authenticated copies made by a Czech or foreign notary, at a Czech embassy abroad or made by means of Czech Point service. List of states which have entered into a legal aid agreement with the Czech Republic: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Austria, Belgium, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Montenegro, France, Georgia, Yemen, Croatia, People’s Republic of Korea, Cuba, Cyprus, Kyrgyzstan,Hungary, Macedonia/FYROM, Moldova, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, the Russian Federation, Greece, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia, Syria, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam.
   b.	States which are signatories of a multilateral convention to simplify the authentication of foreign official documents – Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents (The Hague, 5 October 1961, published under no. 45/1999 Sb.m.s. (the Collection of International Agreements)), “The Hague Convention”. For these states a uniform authentication of documents is stipulated, the so-called Apostille, issued by a competent authority of the state in which the diploma was issued (the so-called Apostille authorities). The list of Apostilleauthoritiesis is available from the website of the Hague Conference at http://hcch.e-vision.nl (Authorities, per Convention, Convention No. 12, direct link: http://hcch.e-vision.nl/index_en.php?act=conventions.authorities&cid=41). Documents from the following states must be authenticated in the form of Apostille: Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, the Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Burundi, Cook Islands, China – only Hong Kong and Macao (legalisation is required in the case of other territories of China), Denmark, Democratic Republic of SãoTomé and Príncipe (from 15 July 2008), Dominica, Dominican Republic (authentication by Apostille clause from 30 August 2009), Ecuador, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, French territories (i.e., French Polynesia, the French Territory of the Afars and the Issas, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Komodo Islands, Martinique, New Caledonia, Réunion, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Wallis and Futuna), Grenada (from 7 April 2002 – up to this date it was covered under Great Britain), Guatemala, Honduras, India, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Israel, Japan, Republic of South Africa, Kazakhstan, Colombia, Republic of Korea (South Korea), Kosovo, Costa Rica, Lesotho, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malawi, Malta, Morocco, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Namibia, Germany, Niue, the Netherlands and its territories (i.e., the Netherlands Antilles, Aruba), Norway, New Zealand, Oman, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Salvador, Samoa, San Marino, the Seychelles, Suriname, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Swaziland, Sweden, Tajikistan, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Uruguay, the United States of America and its territories (i.e., American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands of the United States), Great Britain and its territories (i.e., Jersey, the Bailiwick of Guernsey, the Isle of Man, Anguilla, Bermudas, British Antarctic Territory, British Virgins Islands, British Solomon Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, Saint Helena, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands), Vanuatu, and Venezuela. In the case of documents from the member states of the European Union, Norway, the United States of America, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand it is possible to replace the Apostille(in the case of Canada withsuperlegalisation) with an authenticated copy of the documents (similarly to option(a)), providing that at the same time at least one of the following conditions is met: The foreign secondary school or higher education institution, based on a request sent by the applicant, confirms by e-mail to the faculty that the applicant is a graduate of this foreign secondary school or higher education institution; The foreign higher education institution sends the faculty a transcript or diploma supplement of the applicant in a sealed envelope, or the applicant submits a transcript in a sealed envelope as part of the documents; or The official website of the foreign secondary school or higher education institution enables verification as to whether the applicant is one of its graduates (e.g., the possibility to download, after entering a password, the transcript of the applicant from the official website of the foreign higher education institution).
   c.	Other states – documents on the completion of study must be superlegalised. In the case ofsuperlegalisation, the authenticity of signatures and stamps on the original documents is verified: By the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the state where the secondary school or higher education institution which issued the document has a registered address, or by the relevant foreign body; And also by the relevant embassy of the Czech Republic.

2. The requirements for the submission of duly authenticated documents are also considered fulfilled if the applicant submits authenticated copies of documents that were previously authenticated by the method listed above that applies to the documents submitted by him (e.g., in the case of a diploma from Kenya, the applicant submits an authenticated copy of the superlegalised documents).

***** Appendix No. 3: Automatic equivalence *****

International agreements governing automatic equivalence of documents concerning education