How to Validate a Foreign Diploma in Brazil

It is possible to graduate outside Brazil and have a valid diploma for professional performance here. Know how!

Hello friends!

I have received many questions from people who have studied or are studying abroad and want to know how to revalidate their diploma here. As our site is about psychology, the question usually comes to the revalidation of the psychology diploma. However, as the process is the same for any higher education course, this text, with all the tips, will not be limited to psychology alone.

Higher Education Diploma

Firstly, it is important to point out that when we take a higher education course in Brazil we have a curricular standard for each course, which is validated by the MEC, Ministry of Education. Thus, if someone does psychology in Florianópolis, the subjects will have to be similar to the subjects made in Manaus or Belo Horizonte. That is, there is a national curriculum standard for each higher education course.

To make this point very clear, let’s say that a student was living in Florianópolis and, in the middle of college, had to move to Manaus. All courses taken up to the middle of the course would be listed in your transcript. With the history, it would be possible to enter a new college and take the remaining subjects to finish the course.

However (and this is a big however), the new faculty, in the case of Manaus, will assess which subjects were studied and whether they correspond equally with the subjects in its curriculum.

For example, let’s say that both curricula include the History of Psychology I subject. If the Florianópolis course has 60 hours for this subject and the Manaus course has 90 hours, the college will not release it as a subject already taken, and will require for the student to take the course again.

This type of situation, of incompatibility, is also common when we transfer from a private college to a federal/state one, or vice versa. Although the difference is not very big in most cases (since there is a national standard for the curriculum), in the academic environment there is something that we could call “vanity”. The new college we transfer to may think its subjects or professors are better than the previous college.

Another reason would be private colleges that may require more subjects to be taken because more subjects taken means more monthly payments.

That said, we can make an analogy. Training outside Brazil is similar to this transfer process. The difference, of course, is that all disciplines have been studied and the diploma must be validated through a public college of our country. (Private colleges cannot validate undergraduate degrees obtained outside the country).

The MEC website says: “to be valid nationally, the graduation diploma must be revalidated by a public Brazilian university that has the same or similar course, recognized by the government”.

Evaluating what is the same or similar will therefore be up to the institution. And therefore, some problems or bureaucratic difficulties may arise.

Step by step to revalidate the Graduate Diploma

According to the MEC, this is the step-by-step process to revalidate the Diploma, after choosing a public college with a similar degree:

1) In addition to the application, a copy of the diploma to be revalidated must be presented, accompanied by documents referring to the institution of origin, duration and curriculum of the course, programmatic content, bibliography and school transcript.

2) The student must pay a fee for the cost of administrative expenses. The amount of the fee is not fixed by the National Board of Education and may vary from institution to institution.

3) In order to judge the equivalence, for the purpose of revalidating the diploma, a Special Committee will be set up, composed of professors from the university itself or from other establishments, who have qualifications compatible with the area of ​​knowledge and with the level of the title to be revalidated.

4) If there is doubt as to the similarity of the course, the Committee may determine that exams and tests (provided in Portuguese) are carried out in order to characterize the equivalence.

5) The applicant may also carry out additional studies, if the comparison of titles, exams and tests proves that the minimum conditions are not met.

6) The deadline for the university to comment on the revalidation request is 6 months, counting from the date of entry of the document at Ifes.

So we have a few possibilities:

a) The course taken in a foreign country can be immediately evaluated as similar and a new diploma is issued.

b) The course is not evaluated as totally similar and consequently the university will require tests and exams to prove the knowledge of graduation

c) The course is quite different from a course here and, therefore, it is necessary to take a few more subjects to earn the degree.

To be completely clear, I quote below what the MEC advises on use:

“As for the use of studies carried out abroad, the need to certify the school transcript at the Consulate of the Federative Republic of Brazil, in the country where the subjects were studied, is informed. Pursuant to the provisions of Resolution CFE nº 05/79, amended by Resolution CFE nº 1/94, the use of studies will take place in the manner foreseen and disciplined in the statute or regiment of the institution of destination, with the regulatory adaptations, in cases of supported transfer by law or to enroll in a new course.

Thus, the subjects studied successfully, in a regularly accredited institution, will be recognized by the school that receives the student, and there must be compatibility of workload and programmatic content, being attributed, therefore, the credits, grades and corresponding grades, obtained in the institution source. It should be noted, however, the possibility of abbreviating the duration of the course, through extraordinary use in studies, detected from an institutional evaluation process, as recommended in article 47, paragraph 2 of the Law of Guidelines and Bases of National Education , nº 9.394, of December 20, 2006″.

Postgraduate Diploma Revalidation

According to the Ministry of Education, there is only the possibility of revalidating stricto sensu postgraduate diplomas (masters and doctorates). Specialization postgraduate diplomas (lato sensu) are not allowed.

Another important detail is that private colleges, and not just public ones, can revalidate master’s and doctoral degrees. But for graduation, as we said, only public universities.

Conclusion

This is the step-by-step process for revalidating a diploma, so the ideal is to contact a public university that is close or as close as possible. For example, a person who has completed a degree in the United Kingdom and is going to live in Paraná should look for the Federal University of Paraná because the distance will facilitate all the bureaucratic procedures and, if exams or more subjects are required, it will be easier given the proximity.

Normally, public colleges have a specific sector for all bureaucratic issues, such as asking for school transcripts, diplomas, certificates, etc. In theory, it is this sector that should be sought to find out more information about deadlines and how to proceed to request the equivalence of the diploma.

In extreme cases, the diploma may not be accepted, but the student may appeal to the University and, furthermore, “Once the possibilities for accepting the request for revalidation by the university have been exhausted, an appeal may be made to the Higher Education Chamber of the National Education Council” (CNE ).

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