Ministry of Education equivalency 

All applicants are required to obtain equivalency of their secondary schooling or Bachelor's degree from the UAE Ministry of Education - Higher Education Affairs.

The UAE Ministry of Education - Higher Education Affairs requires attestation of secondary schooling for foundation and undergraduate courses, or Bachelor's degree for postgraduate courses.

The attestation process is dependent upon whether you completed your secondary schooling or Bachelor's degree within the UAE or outside the UAE. 

Applicants who have completed secondary schooling or degree within the UAE

All applicants for admission who have completed either a degree in the UAE or the Thanaweya Al-Amma must get their certificates attested by the UAE Ministry of Education.

Applicants from all other curriculums, who have completed their secondary school education within the UAE, are required to obtain equivalency of their secondary school qualifications from the UAE Ministry of Education.

You can do this directly on the Ministry of Education website:

Apply for equivalency of documents from within the UAE

In these circumstances, applicants will be provisionally admitted to the university and permitted to commence the first semester of study, subject to you obtaining the required attestation/equivalency before the end of the first semester.

If you already hold attested certificates when you accept your offer, these should be uploaded to your applicant portal using the document type. 

If your attestation is received after you have commenced your studies, you must upload the certificates to the application portal within the first semester of your course.

Applicants who have completed secondary schooling or degree outside of the UAE

You must have your degree or secondary school records and certificates of completion certified by:

  1. The issuing university or the issuing Board of Secondary Education OR a recognised authority for secondary education in the country where you completed your education
  2. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the host country
  3. The UAE Embassy in that host country OR the Embassy of the host country in the UAE must attest the authenticity of the documents and attestations and the UAE ministry of Foreign Affairs 

Additionally, the UAE Ministry of Education must issue an Equivalency Certificate. Applicants must have a valid UAE residency visa when applying for an Equivalency Certificate. 

Apply for equivalency of documents from outside the UAE

In special cases where complying with conditions (2) and (3) are not feasible, the certificates may be verified against originals by Embassies in the UAE and the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

  • In these circumstances, you will be provisionally admitted to the university and permitted to commence the first semester of study
  • If you are unable to secure the attestations as outlined above you will be asked to provide a written agreement to secure the equivalency. You will be permitted to commence your studies and will be given a maximum of one semester to obtain the equivalence certificate(s). The university reserves the right to take appropriate action against any applicant who cannot secure the appropriate documentation in this time, which may result in the termination of the student’s enrolment

Your attested certificates must be uploaded to the application portal.

Applicants can download FAQs for further support and guidance (PDF, 100KB).

If you are a prospective student with questions about what this process means for you, please contact us by submitting an enquiry form to the Admissions team.