What is a Certificate evaluation?
A Certificate evaluationis an official document issued by the Central Office for Foreign Education (ZAB) that describes a foreign higher education qualification and certifies its professional and academic uses.
A ZAB certificate evaluation is intended to facilitate your access to the German labor market with a foreign higher education qualification. It is a comparative classification, but not a recognition.
What information does the Certificate evaluation contain?
The certificate evaluation states the level of the German educational qualification to which your foreign qualification is comparable, and also provides information about options for continuing your studies, about the legal basis for the degree, and about the procedures for professional recognition. No legal claims can be derived from the certificate.
The certificate is issued in a short version and in a long version, which you will receive together. The short version is intended as a supplement to your application documents and should inform the employer or the employment agency at a glance which German qualification your foreign university degree corresponds to. You can use the long version whenever more extensive information is required.
For which degrees can a certificate evaluation be issued?
The ZAB issues certificate evaluations for higher education degrees from all countries of the world. The ZAB does not issue certificates for higher education degrees that have not been completed and for education that is not classified as higher education. We do not issue certificate evaluations for school certificates.
Notes on evaluability
- In case of justified doubts about the authenticity of the certificates, a certificate evaluation is not possible.
- The qualification must have been acquired at an institution that is recognized as an institution of higher education according to the relevant criteria of the country of origin.
- In the case of university degrees from countries in which the accreditation of degree programs is mandatory, the degree program completed must be accredited.
- In the case of double degrees with the participation of a German university, the issuance of a certificate evaluation is not required, since a German degree has already been awarded.
What should be considered for degrees in the field of "teacher"?
The certificate evaluation in no way replaces the recognition required to practice as a teacher in the state school service in the federal states. Therefore, if you wish to work as a teacher in the state school service, the certificate evaluation is not the right document for you.
Please do not submit your application for recognition to us, but to the recognition authority responsible for you.
If you would like to work in the field of non-regulated professions, e.g. with a foreign teaching degree outside of the school service in your studied subject science as a mathematician, chemist, etc. or as a teacher at language or music schools as well as tutoring institutes, etc., the certificate evaluation can be helpful.
What has to be considered for degrees in medicine?
The certificate evaluation in no way replaces the recognition required to practice medicine in Germany. Therefore, if you wish to work as a doctor in Germany, the certificate evaluation is not the right document for you.
Please do not submit your application for recognition to us, but to the recognition authority responsible for you.
This also applies to dentists, pharmacists, psychological psychotherapists, child and adolescent psychotherapists and nurses.
The certificate rating also does not include an authorization to use the German academic degree “Dr. med. The degree guidance is based on the regulations of the federal states, which you can view here.
Legal basis
“Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education in the European Region” (so-called Lisbon Convention) of 11.04.1997, entered into force on 01.10.2007.
The Länder of the Federal Republic of Germany have commissioned the ZAB with this task. The ZAB issues certificate evaluations for university degrees from all countries of the world.
