Students who hold international degrees and wish to engage in professional activities or continue their education in Austria must submit an application to have the degree officially recognized.  A range of academic professions are governed by their own directives within the European Union (EU), the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland, allowing nationals from these countries to engage in their profession. In these cases, submitting an application to have a degree recognized is not necessary and thus not possible.

You can apply for the nostrification procedure at any Austrian university or college that offers a comparable degree. In many cases, you can consider submitting an application at one of several universities or colleges. You can choose where you would like to submit your application to have your degree reviewed and officially recognized. Please note that you can only submit your application to a university.

Some degrees will be subject to a separate procedure (see below) but in general, you can submit your application, opens a file to the Johannes Kepler University at the Admissions Office. Kindly contact us in advance by sending an e-mail (nostrifizierung@jku.at).

1. Certificate/diploma of having successful completed the corresponding degree program at a state-recognized post-secondary educational institution in the country of study;
2. Passport;
3. Documentation of courses attended (transcripts) and examinations taken at the post-secondary educational institution abroad (in particular, examination certificates, transcripts, curriculum, course catalog/index) containing detailed information regarding the number of hours / ECTS credits;
4. Verification of any and all academic/scientific work (Diploma degree thesis, dissertation, Master's degree thesis) including a self-written summary in German or English;
5. A current curriculum vitae outlining, in particular, the applicant’s educational background and professional activities;
6. Verification that nostrification is absolutely necessary in order to exercise the applicant’s profession and/or continue the applicant’s education in Austria (including reference to any corresponding legal regulations);
7. Proof of residence (registration form) or disclosure of holding authorization (signed personally on-site or by means of a notarized power of attorney) in Austria for delivery purposes;
8. A statement written by the applicant seeking nostrification that he/she has the required proficiency in German (a minimum B2 level as outlined in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) to take a sample test, and that he/she understands the fact that not being proficient enough in German does not change the result of any sample test taken;
9. Confirmation of having paid the nostrification tax;
10. A signed consent form agreeing to electronically processing personal information required for the the nostrification procedure which, with respect to studies in Human Medicine, must also include joint processing procedures with the medical universities in compliance with 46;
11. A signed consent form to carry out any required document verification at the foreign university;
12. The applicant is asked to submit a statement that as part of applying for nostrification, he/she understands that he/she is under obligation to personally cooperate during the nostrification procedure. The requirement to cooperate includes, in particular, submitting the required documents, including translations and certification, as well as participating in any testing by random selection.

The documents must be submitted either in the original or as a certified copy. The conferral diploma must always be presented in the original.

Documents in a language other than German must be translated. As per international agreements, all international documents must be duly certified.

A nostrification tax applies and a fee of €150 must be paid in advance.