Greece ratifies the Lisbon Recognition Convention
In June 2024, the Greek Parliament ratified the Lisbon Recognition Convention, and the legal accession procedures in the Council of Europe were completed in September. This will make it easier for people with qualifications awarded in the countries of the European region to obtain academic recognition in Greece. The practices applied by SKVC for Greek qualifications will not be affected by this, since the principles of the Lisbon Recognition Convention have been applied not only to Greece, but also to all countries of the world to date.
The Council of Europe/UNESCO Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications Concerning Higher Education in the European Region, otherwise known as the Lisbon Convention on Recognition (LRC), is the framework document establishing the basic principles and criteria for the academic recognition of foreign qualifications related to higher education and partial studies in the present-day Europe.
On 11 April 1997, LRC was signed 28 countries signed in Lisbon. Its entry into force was scheduled when it was ratified by five states. Lithuania was the fifth state after which the ratification convention entered into force on 1 February 1999.
Currently, not only the states of the European region (with the exception of Monaco) have joined the Convention, but also other Members of Council of Europe, such as Australia, New Zealand, some central Asian countries, Canada, as well as the USA.
The Lisbon Recognition Convention applies a new principle of the acceptance of qualifications compared to the international agreements that have existed up to now: there may be differences between foreign qualifications and the qualifications of the host country, but a qualification obtained abroad can only be not recognised or recognised with conditions if substantial differences are found.
The Parties undertake to take decisions on recognition solely on the basis of information relating to the substance of the qualifications, to apply a methodology for the academic recognition of qualifications based on the principles and criteria for the evaluation laid down in the Convention, and to establish clear evaluation procedures. The principle of equal treatment is declared: it is forbidden to discriminate against holders of qualifications on the basis of race, skin color, disability, language, religion, political belief, gender, nationality, ethnic or social origin.
In the twenty-seven years since the entry into force of the Lisbon Recognition Convention, it has been supplemented with subsidiary documents to discuss and address topical issues of academic recognition, such as usage of national qualification frameworks, joint degrees, qualifications of refugees etc.