Dubai: Graduated from a university abroad? Earlier this year, the Ministry of Education (MOE) announced that it had removed the need for an equivalency certificate and now all degrees issued by foreign higher education institutions (HEIs) can be easily attested and recognised online.
The service is called ‘Recognition of university certificates issued from outside the UAE’ and is available on the ministry’s official website - moe.gov.ae .
The recognition of degrees issued by HEIs also covers those that were completed through distance or online learning.
Step 1: Get your documents in order
You will need to ensure that you have clear, digital copies of the following documents, before you move on to the next step:
• Passport
• Educational qualifications (Degrees)
• Any experience certificates, professional licence and any other documents required by the regulator you are applying for.
Step 2: Apply for an ‘authenticity letter’
Once you have your documents in order, you will first need to apply for an ‘authenticity letter’. This can be done through two third-party service providers used by the Ministry:
1. Dataflow – https://www.dataflowgroup.com/verification-services/education/ministry-of-education-uae/
2. QuadraBay – https://moe.quadrabay.com/
The process for applying for an authenticity letter is straightforward – create an account with either of the two service providers using your email address, upload the documents mentioned above and pay the verification of your degree.
Once you have made the payment, the process of verification can take up to a week or longer, depending on the issuing country’s requirements. Once the degree has been verified, you will receive an update on your email and on your profile on the service provider’s website, with the authenticity letter.
The cost for this service will vary, depending on the country that has issued the degree as well as any other authorities that the service provider will need to process the document with.
Step 3: Apply for the degree recognition service with Ministry of Education website
Once you have your authenticity letter, you can then proceed to apply for the degree recognition service with MOE:
• Go to the MOE website – moe.gov.ae
• Click on ‘Login’ icon on the top left corner of the website.
• Sign in with UAE Pass
• Confirm all the personal details linked with UAE Pass.
• Next, go to the homepage – in the search bar type ‘Recognition of university certificates issued from outside the UAE’ .
• Click on the green ‘Start Service’ button.
• When you start the application, you will first have to answer this question - ‘I have the authenticity letter from the Embassy of my country / Authorised Provider’ – select yes or no.
• If you have selected ‘yes’, you can continue with filling out the application.
• Select if you are a resident, visitor or currently outside the UAE.
• Verify your personal details – full name, Emirates ID number, nationality, mobile number and email address
• Enter certificate details, like the country where you studied, the specialisation, level of study and certificate title.
• After entering the details above, the MOE system, will inform you which category you belong to, based on your university’s global ranking, type of degree (postgraduate, undergraduate, doctorate) and your specialisation. Based on the category, the website will inform you of the documents you need to upload.
• Continue filling out the form by providing the start year and graduation year, mode of study (distance learning, full-time etc.) and language the certificate is issued in.
• Upload the documents and review the application.
• Pay for the service online with your credit or debit card.
Once that is complete, you will get a transaction number to track your application.
Cost:
• Undergraduate degree – Dh100
• Postgraduate degree – Dh150
• Doctorate degree – Dh200
How long does it take for the degree to be approved?
Three working days.
After the review by MOE, the final result of the application, whether it was rejected or approved, will be sent to you via email.
