List academic degrees, titles and designations awarded by foreign universities

Do you hold an academic degree from a foreign higher education institution – such as a licencjat, inzener or kandidat-nauk – which you would like to use in Germany?

No authorisation is required to use foreign academic degrees. If your foreign degree was duly awarded by a recognised higher education institution, you may use it in Baden-Württemberg. You must then use it in the form in which it was awarded and state the name of the awarding institution.

If your degree was not awarded in the Latin alphabet, you may transcribe it into the Latin alphabet (transliteration). You may also add the literal German translation in brackets. You may also use the foreign degree in abbreviated form (with an indication of its country of origin) if the use of the abbreviated form is permitted or customary in the country of origin.

You may omit the name of the awarding institution if you obtained the degree:

• within the European Union (EU)
• within the European Economic Area (EEA)
• from the European University Institute in Florence
• from the Pontifical Universities

However, equivalence agreements concluded with other states and the resolution of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs on the recognition of foreign academic degrees dated 20 November 2025 must be observed. Equivalence agreements and the resolution of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs contain favourable special provisions. This applies in particular to certain doctoral degrees from Russia, Australia, Israel, Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom and the USA.

Note on Brexit:

Higher education degrees awarded by the United Kingdom up to 31 December 2020 are treated in the same way as degrees from the European Union. Degrees awarded from 1 January 2021 onwards must be listed with the name of the awarding institution added. However, for academic doctoral degrees, a more favourable form of degree designation remains possible, as before.

Conversion or reclassification of a foreign degree into the corresponding domestic degree is not permitted. Exceptions (approvals) may be granted under certain conditions for university degrees held by ethnic German repatriates, their spouses and descendants.