New automatic recognition service for Nordic higher education qualifications
NOKUT launches a new recognition service for people with higher education qualifications from the Nordic countries who wish to work or study in Norway. Applicants can now download a standardized recognition statement for each of the Nordic countries that details the higher education qualifications that are automatically recognized by NOKUT, and how each qualification compares with Norwegian qualifications. The statement is immediately available for use in job and university applications.
‘One of the benefits of the new service is that the document is made immediately available to the applicant. For higher education institutions and employers, NOKUT’s automatic recognition of Nordic higher education will be an additional tool that can help simplify the evaluation of foreign degrees,’ says NOKUT Director General Terje Mørland.
The recognition statement shows how NOKUT recognizes Nordic bachelor, master and PhD degrees, and their equivalent degrees in the Norwegian system. The document also gives information on how employers and education institutions can verify the qualifications directly with the issuing university.
‘It is no coincidence that we have chosen Nordic qualifications as our starting point,’ Mørland continues. ‘The Nordic countries have long cooperated on mutual recognition of upper secondary education and admission to higher education. In 2016, the Nordic education ministers signed the revised Reykjavik declaration, which has automatic recognition of comparable qualifications in the Nordic region as one of its goals.’
NOKUT’s aim: automatic recognition for more European countries
‘NOKUT’s automatic recognition service gives you a standardised statement which confirms that a foreign degree is equivalent to a Norwegian degree. The service is a voluntary alternative to an ordinary, formal application for recognition of foreign higher education,’ explains NOKUT Director of Foreign Education Stig Arne Skjerven.
European countries have long sought to harmonize their educational systems to make it easier for students in higher education to move to another country to study. In 2015, ministers of education from the 48 countries that form the European Higher Education Area adopted a goal of automatic recognition of comparable qualifications by 2020.
‘NOKUT aims to offer automatic recognition for more countries in the European Higher Education Area. Keeping in mind how highly this is prioritized in European educational cooperation, we believe that NOKUT’s automatic recognition may serve as a model for other countries,’ says Skjerven.
Related information
The Revised Reykjavik Declaration