Recognition of Foreign School Certificates for Study in Slovenia

Fee figures: catalogue of 6 October 2026.

If your secondary school certificate comes from outside Slovenia, it must be recognised before you can be admitted. In Slovenia this is not a separate application to a national office. It happens inside your enrolment application, and the university you list first handles it.

How the procedure works

The call for enrolment says that a foreign school-leaving certificate is subject to recognition under the Act on the Evaluation and Recognition of Education. For enrolment, the electronic application on eVŠ doubles as your request for recognition for the purpose of continuing education. The decision is issued by the university, or by the public or concession independent higher education institution, that you listed first.

The authority checks the content and duration of your education against the entry requirements of the programme. Study in Slovenia says it weighs the education system, the programme, your results, the duration and the rights the certificate gives you in your home country.

The legal deadline for the decision is two months from receipt of your complete application. That is why the application periods matter: see admission calendar for Slovenia.

Documents to upload

You upload scans or photos on eVŠ and send nothing by post. The call lists these documents:

the certificate that shows you completed your education abroad
a court-certified translation into Slovenian or English of that certificate
proof of the content and duration of your education and of what you completed, for example the school reports for all years
a short chronological description of your education, written in a few sentences with years
proof of a Slovenian language exam, only if the programme requires one
a copy of your passport or ID card, which the call treats as optional unless the service asks for it

The service may ask for additional evidence, and it asks for translations only when it needs them. The list can differ by the country your certificate comes from. For this reason the call recommends asking the university's recognition office first. The University of Ljubljana publishes document lists for 18 education systems, among them the USA, the British system, Canada, China, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine. See sworn translation of documents.

Apostille and legalisation

At the first stage the University of Ljubljana accepts an unlegalised electronic copy and checks authenticity with the issuer. If it cannot confirm the certificate, you must send the original, certified according to the rules of the country of origin:

No certification: Austria, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czechia, France, Greece, Hungary, Romania, North Macedonia and Serbia.
Apostille: countries that are parties to the Hague Convention.
Everyone else: full legalisation, ending at the Slovenian embassy or consulate for that country or at the Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Read apostille and legalisation of documents before you order a stamp you may not need.

What needs no recognition

The IB Diploma and the European Baccalaureate count as equal to the Slovenian general matura by law. The call adds that candidates who receive an IB certificate rather than the diploma go through recognition. See IB Diploma admission in Slovenia.
School certificates from the former Yugoslav republics obtained before 25 June 1991.

If something is missing

If your application or your request for recognition is incomplete, eVŠ tells you what to add and by when. Supplements after that deadline are not accepted, and an application that is not completed in time is dismissed and left out of the selection. The portal delivers decisions electronically. If you do not open a document within five days of the notification email, it counts as delivered on the fifth day, so watch your inbox and spam folder.

Grades for limited programmes

Programmes with limited enrolment rank applicants by points. For foreign certificates, the Higher Education Application and Information Service converts your grades using published rules for foreign certificates. The University of Ljubljana says it has conversion tables for 30 countries, the European Baccalaureate and the IB Diploma.

Degrees and later recognition

This guide covers school certificates. For questions about foreign higher education qualifications, Study in Slovenia refers you to the national ENIC-NARIC centre.

Where to look next

Official sources

Always check current information on the official website of the university before you apply.