European Blue Card - Recognition of Academic Credentials

Following my series on the Blue Card, I have had a couple of very good questions posed by readers.

Now I am not an immigration expert or attorney and I don't have any personal experience with this topic since I came to France as a foreign bride and not as a student or worker.  What I can do is point you to some resources on the Net that might help.  Be very careful - the information on the Net is not always reliable and, even when it comes from an official government website, it can still be out of date or even incorrect (government workers are human beings and like everyone they make mistakes).   So please double-check any information you get off the Internet with a reliable professional or with someone from an official immigration office.

Question - What foreign universities are recognized by the French or other EU states? (Oleg)

That is a darn good question.  Here is what I was able to find out.

According to the France Diplomatie website in an article called, "Find out about studies abroad: diploma recognition in the EU":

Le traité sur l’Union européenne prévoit dans son article 8A la libre circulation des citoyens. Cette libre circulation se traduit notamment par le droit d’exercer une activité salariale ou indépendante, et le droit à la formation des jeunes et des étudiants dans les pays de l’Union européenne et les pays signataires de l’accord sur l’Espace économique européen.
L’exercice de ce droit à la mobilité est souvent lié à la reconnaissance professionnelle ou académique d’un diplôme acquis dans le pays d’origine ou dans un autre pays européen.

(The EU treaty, in article 8A, allows the free circulation of (EU) citizens.  This free circulation means the right to work as a salaried worker or as an independent, and the right to training/education for young people and students within the countries of the EU and those countries that have signed an agreement with the Espace économique européen.  This right is often linked to the recognition of professional or academic qualifications acquired in the country of origin or another EU country.

They go on to say that more information is available from an organization called the ENIC-NARIC network which can be found here (réseau ENIC-NARIC).  I checked it out and found a wealth of information.  On the site the left sidebar has a country list and you can click to find out the points of contact, lists of recognized universities and the procedures in each country for getting your credentials recognized.  There is also a very good article here called "Framework of Qualifications in the Europe and North America Region."

Hope you find this useful and thanks again for the question, Oleg.