Nostrification is a procedure leading to the determination of the Polish equivalent of a foreign diploma. Nostrification of a diploma of a doctoral or post-doctoral degree is necessary, for example, in case of employment in a position where these degrees are required. The nostrification procedure is described in detail on the National Agency for Academic Exchange website (https://nawa.gov.pl/en/recognition/legal-framework-for-recognition).
At Nicolaus Copernicus University nostrification of academic titles in the discipline of physical sciences is conducted by the Board of the Discipline of Physical Sciences.
Candidates file an application for declaring an academic title to be an equivalent of a Polish one to the Head of the Board. An application should include:
- in case of applying for declaring an academic title with the Polish title of doctor:
– a diploma confirming the accomplishment of such a degree*,
– documents which serve as a basis for awarding that title (e.g. doctoral thesis, which constitutes a basis for awarding the title of doctor (if the thesis is written in a language other than English it should be translated into English), copies of publications related to the doctoral thesis)*,
– graduation diploma entitling for application for the relevant academic title*, - in case of applying for declaring an academic title with the Polish title of associate professor:
– a diploma confirming the accomplishment of such a degree*,
– documents confirming the academic achievements which serve as the basis for awarding that title*,
– a diploma confirming the accomplishment of the academic title which allows for initiation of the proceedings of awarding the academic title which a candidate applies for*.
In addition:
- an applicant’s declaration containing the information whether the academic title which they apply for was a subject of nostrification proceedings in the Republic of Poland, as well as information about the place and date of birth,
In order to allow for checking how foreign diplomas are recognized in Poland, the National Agency for Academic Exchange created KWALIFIKATOR (https://nawa.gov.pl/en/recognition/system-kwalifikator). KWALIFIKATOR is an application which allows for automatic check of general information about selected types of diplomas of graduation and academic titles obtained abroad. It allows to assess the level and status of qualifications in the country of their issuing and to find out how a given foreign diploma or degree is recognized in Poland. It also points to the specific legal basis from which particular rights of the holder of the diploma result.
*After the formal evaluation of the application, the nostrifying body may require that the applicant provided ordinary translations into Polish of the documents. In particularly justified cases the nostrifying body may require that the applicant provided translations into Polish made and certified by a Sworn Translator or made by a foreign translator and certified by the competent Consul of the Republic of Poland of the documents which provide the basis for conferring the lower academic degree or documents confirming academic attainments which were the basis for conferring the higher academic degree.