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University admission and equivalence

What costs the most time here is not the difficulty of the papers but starting down the wrong route: a sound file prepared for an authority that is not waiting for it. Two routes sit under this title — university admission, and denklik (diploma equivalence) — each with its own authority, its own papers and its own calendar, and the order between them changes with your diploma and with where you are trying to get to. We establish which one applies to you and where to start, then walk it with you until the decision is issued and explained.

What is hard for you, we can manage — God willing

Approximate duration
Depends on your case
Routes on this page
Admission · equivalence
First consultation
Free
Languages we work in
Arabic · Turkish · English

Who is this service for?

  • You have finished secondary school and want to apply to a Turkish university — that is admission.
  • You hold a degree from outside Türkiye and need it recognised here — that is denklik (diploma equivalence), which is not the same as admission.
  • You want to start postgraduate study, and your earlier degree may have to be recognised before you can enrol.
  • Your profession is one that requires your diploma to be recognised before hiring or registration with its professional body.
  • You started down one of the two routes and were then told the requirement was the other one.
  • You hold a kimlik (temporary protection card) or a residence permit and want to know what your status changes about your route before you prepare a single document.

What we do

  • Establish first which of the two applies to you — admission, equivalence, or both — and in which order.
  • Read your diploma and transcript the way the receiving authority will read them, not the way you or we would.
  • Set up the certification and sworn translation chain in the form that particular authority accepts, not the generic form.
  • Coordinate obtaining from Syria whatever document is missing or no longer valid.
  • Complete the equivalence application and file it.
  • Prepare and send the university applications, follow the file, and explain the decision when it is issued.

And what we do not do

  • We do not guarantee admission and we do not promise it. The admission decision belongs to the university alone, and no office can influence it.
  • We do not influence the equivalence result. That decision belongs to the Council of Higher Education; we prepare the file and explain to you what came back.
  • We do not sit an exam in your place, and we do not put you in touch with anyone who would.
  • We do not present a diploma from an unrecognised institution as one that “will pass”. If the awarding institution is outside the list, we tell you at the first conversation.
  • We do not file an application we know is incomplete just to get a file moving; one that comes back incomplete returns you to the starting point after a wait that could have been avoided.
  • We do not ask for your bank card details and we do not take payment into a personal account, and whatever is paid to an official body keeps a receipt in your name.

Documents required for university admission and equivalence

This is the core list for most cases. Tick them off as you gather your papers — you can print this page and take it with you.

What we need from you to start

7 / 7
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Why do we ask for the transcript and not the diploma alone? The diploma says you graduated; the transcript says what you studied and for how many hours, and the receiving authority needs both. Sending the diploma on its own usually means waiting, then being asked for the transcript, then waiting again from the beginning.

How the procedure runs for university admission and equivalence

  1. We establish the procedure and the order

    Admission, equivalence, or both? And which comes first? The answer changes with your diploma and with where you are trying to get to. Starting in the wrong order means preparing correct papers for an authority that is not waiting for them, and it can cost a whole semester.

    our partWhatsApp or at the office

  2. We review the diploma and the transcript

    The awarding institution, the subjects and their hours, and how your name is written on each document. This is where the gaps that stop a file later become visible, and finding them now is cheaper than finding them after filing.

    our part

  3. Gathering the papers, certification and translation

    We set up the certification and sworn translation chain in the form the receiving authority requires, and coordinate whatever has to come from Syria. We start with what takes time to obtain, not with what is already in your hand.

    your partDepends how fast you gather the papers, and on what has to come from Syria

  4. Filing the applications

    We complete the equivalence application and file it, and prepare and send the university applications. What goes into the forms matches your documents letter for letter, and we review it with you before submitting.

    the authority’s part

  5. Following through to the result

    We follow the state of the file and tell you of any development. When the decision is issued we go through it point by point: what it means, whether it is an ending or a stage, and what the next step is.

    the authority’s part

Cost: we separate what is paid to others from our fee

Paid to others

Fees, translation and certification

Authority fees, sworn translation, notary certification, and university application fees where they exist — paid to those who charge them, and varying with the number of documents and the receiving authority. These amounts do not pass through us and we give you the receipt.

Paid to us

Our follow-up fee

For establishing the route and its order, reviewing the diploma and transcript, arranging certification and translation and coordinating what comes from Syria, completing the equivalence and university applications, and following through to the result. We tell you the full amount before we begin.

The first consultation is free whether you continue with us or not. And if it turns out that what you want to do needs no equivalence at all, or that your papers are ready and you can file them yourself, we tell you so — you pay nothing for that answer.

Read this before you pay any office

What usually stops a file

What delays these files is usually not refusal but a document that the authority reads differently from the person who sent it. These are the most common reasons:

The awarding institution is not on the recognised listA diploma from an institution the receiving authority does not list cannot be equated, however sound the rest of the papers are. We check this first, before you pay a fee or prepare a single document.
The transcript is incomplete or its hours cannot be readA transcript that does not set out the subjects and their credit hours leaves the decision with nothing to rest on, so it is requested again and the wait returns to its starting point.
The name is written differently across documentsA single letter of difference between the passport, the diploma and the transcript makes the authority treat them as documents belonging to different people.
The certification chain is not in the form the receiving authority requiresCertification that satisfies one authority may not satisfy another. The form follows whoever will receive the file, which is why we ask which authority it is before any certification is done.
A document that has to come from Syria is still missingA file stops at its weakest document even when everything else is complete. That is why we begin with what takes time to obtain rather than with what is already to hand.
Applying to an authority or a programme that cannot take your case at allA programme's conditions may require a particular field, a language level, or an earlier stage that is itself recognised. Matching the condition is read before sending, not after — and reading it now costs nothing.
Reading an “exam or completion” result as a refusalThis is not a refusal but a stage: the authority looked at your studies, recognised them, and asked for what covers the gap. Someone who reads it as a refusal abandons a file that is most of the way there.

The conditions, periods and fees on both of these routes change by official decision, and they differ with the awarding institution, the field of study and the receiving authority; we verify them when we study your case and we do not publish figures that may be out of date.

Questions people ask about university admission and equivalence

What is the difference between university admission and denklik (diploma equivalence)?
They are two separate procedures with two different authorities. Admission is a university's decision to take you as a student. Denklik (diploma equivalence) is recognition of a qualification you already hold, so that it can be read in Türkiye. The papers differ and the calendars differ, and anyone who confuses the two prepares a sound file for an authority that is not waiting for it.
Which one should I start with?
It changes with your case, which is why we ask before we answer. In some situations equivalence is required before you can apply; in others it is not required at all. Send us your diploma and tell us where you are trying to get to, and we will tell you where to start — beginning in the wrong order can cost a full academic term.
My equivalence result came back as “exam required” — what does that mean?
It is not a refusal. The authority looked at your studies and recognised them, then asked for what covers the gap between your programme and its counterpart here: an exam in specific subjects, or completing them. That means you are most of the way there, not back at the beginning. We go through the decision point by point and tell you the next step for each point in it.
Can you guarantee me a place at a university?
No, and nobody can. Admission is the university's decision alone. What we commit to is that your file arrives complete, on time and in the form the authority asks for — not that it is accepted. If anyone promises you guaranteed admission, ask them how.
My diploma is in Syria and I cannot travel to collect it.
This route does not require you to travel. We coordinate obtaining the document from Syria, certifying it and translating it, all from here. Tell us the awarding institution, the year you graduated and your name exactly as it appears on the diploma, and we will tell you what can be obtained and what needs an acceptable substitute.
My name is spelled differently on my passport and on my diploma — does that stop the file?
Yes, and it is one of the most common things that sends a file back to the beginning. A single letter of difference, or a different order of names, between the passport, the diploma and the transcript makes the authority read the papers as belonging to different people. We catch this in the review before filing rather than after, and tell you which document needs correcting and where it is corrected, and which one goes through as it stands.
How much does it cost with you?
Two separate figures, both written down before you pay anything: what is paid to others, and what is paid to us. What goes to others is the authority fees, the sworn translation, the notary (noter) certification and university application fees where they exist, and it changes with how many documents you have and with what must come from Syria — which is why we do not give a figure over the phone before we have seen your papers. The first consultation is free whether you continue with us or not.
How long does it take?
We do not give a figure we cannot keep. The duration follows the receiving authority and its appointments, what has to come from Syria, and the certification chain. What we do tell you plainly: which step is in our hands, which step follows the authority, and which step follows how fast you gather your papers.
All frequently asked questions

Official reference

Council of Higher Education — diploma equivalenceLast checked:

Related services

Sworn translation and notarisationA document is not accepted because it has been translated, but because it is in the form the authority receiving it asked for: some procedures accept a sworn translation on its own, others require notarisation. And a Syrian document carries no apostille: Syria is not a party to the Apostille Convention. No office can validly ask you for one. Its route is a chain of certification that ends in translation. So we start from one question: who will receive it, and how was the request worded?Obtaining documents from SyriaA Syrian document is not finished the moment it is issued. Whoever will receive it — an office in Türkiye or a file in Europe — is what decides the form of certification and translation, so we start from that destination rather than from the document.Consular proceduresMost of these procedures you can complete yourself. The difficulty is not the procedure but its order and its form: which document is prepared first, which certification comes before which, and in what form each is accepted. And Syria is not among the contracting parties to the Apostille Convention, so a Syrian document needs a chain of certification rather than a single stamp — a chain whose shape is set by the authority that will receive it. Go in the wrong order and you lose both the appointment and the fee.Residence permit in TürkiyeWhat stops most files is not the law but a missing document, or an application filed under a permit type that does not fit the case. So we start from your situation: which route is yours, what you actually need, and what gets checked before the appointment rather than after — then we follow it until the decision, and through to the card if it is approved.Tourism and travel servicesThe most expensive thing about a trip is rarely the ticket. It is a small detail that surfaces late: a name that does not match the passport, a validity that falls short for the destination, or a departure that ends your status in Türkiye. Our work is to check those before you pay, and to make the booking serve the procedure behind it. If your trip is simple and no file depends on it, we tell you to book it yourself.

Not sure which of the two applies to you?

Send us a photograph of your diploma and transcript, and tell us what you want to use it for: a university place, a job, or postgraduate study. We will tell you whether you need admission, equivalence or both, and where to start — and if it is something that does not need us, we say that too.

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