Degree Recognition

In Ecuador, the Secretaría de Educación Superior, Ciencia y Tecnología (National Secretariat of Higher Education, Science,Technology and Innovation) – SENESCYT is responsible for recognizing university degrees obtained in foreign education institutions.

Before completing this procedure, consider that the degrees that may be legalized are:

  • ✅ Technical/Technological Third-level Education
  • ✅ Graduate Third-level Education
  • ✅ Fourth Level

The degrees that cannot be recognized are:

  • ❌ Degrees from higher education institutions that do not have accreditation
  • ❌ Institution’s Own certificates or Unofficial Spanish Degrees
  • ❌ Continuing Education Courses (Diplomas, Open Courses, etc.)
  • ❌ Studies conducted in Ecuador without an agreement approved by the Consejo de Educación Superior (Higher Education Council) – CES
  • ❌ Degrees that are not considered higher education degrees
  • ❌ When the curriculum is not comparable to that of Ecuadorian academic degrees

Find more information below:

Requirements

There are different requirements according to the degrees you want to recognize:

PHD doctoral degrees

  • ID, passport or refugee card
  • Original degree with due consular legalization or Apostille under The Hague Convention
  • Original document or certified copy of the curriculum or academic record to allow the verification of the study program duration.
  • Digitized, editable copy of thesis work or its equivalent
  • Original document or certified copy of the instruction mode.

Professional degrees or academic degrees in the field of health

  • ID, passport or refugee card
  • Original degree with due consular legalization or Apostille under The Hague Convention
  • Original document or certified copy of the curriculum or academic record to allow the verification of the study program duration.
  • Original document or certified copy of the instruction mode.

Professional degrees or academic degrees in the field of health

* For cases where the degree is awarded by a Hospital, Center, among others that are not a University, in addition to the basic requirements the following must be submitted:

  • Accreditation certification of the teaching unit or training center issued by the official bodies of the country of origin duly apostilled or legalized.
  • Accreditation certification of the program issued by the official bodies of the country of origin duly apostilled or legalized.
  • Resident’s book/rotations or record of consultations and procedures, as appropriate.

General Degrees

  • ID, passport or refugee card (foreigners)
  • Original degree with due consular legalization or Apostille under The Hague Convention.
  • Original document or certified copy of the curriculum or academic record to allow the verification of the study program duration.

Original document or certified copy of the instruction mode (This for areas of knowledge the technicality of which requires practices in real stages or areas of knowledge affecting life)

How to do it?

?️ To start the process you must:

  1. Visit siau-online.senescyt.gob.ec
  2. Create a user
  3. Once you log in to your user, click on Senescyt online
  4. In the left bar, click on “Solicitud Trámite” (Request Procedure)
  5. A window in which you need to fill in some data will be displayed. Where it says “Selecciona el trámite” (Select the procedure), select the degree recognition procedure, according to your need.
  6. Fill in the information requested by the system.
  7. Upload the scanned documents requested by the system.
  8. The system will tell you the costs of your procedure and generate an appointment for you to submit your documents in person.

The ?costs of this procedure are:

  • US$25: General recognition of foreign degrees
  • US$30: Recognition of foreign doctoral degrees (PhD)
  • US$30: Recognition of professional degrees or academic degrees in the field of health

* Please consider that the fee is not refundable, so even if your degree is not recognized for not meeting the requirements listed above, that money will not be refunded.

? Important! To start the procedure, you need to have:

  • Institutional email address
  • Replacement certificate together with an Affidavit
  • Official translation if documents are not in Spanish or English

For more information, go to https://siau.senescyt.gob.ec/proceso/registro-de-titulos-extranjeros/