Education Document Translation for Ireland

How a foreign qualification is placed on the framework

What a foreign diploma is worth in Ireland is established by the recognition unit within QQI, which places the qualification at a level on the national qualifications framework. The result is a level comparison, not equivalence to any particular Irish award. That comparison is informative in character: universities and employers take it into account, but the decision to accept remains theirs. In the regulated professions the level comparison settles nothing on its own, and a separate application goes to the professional body concerned. This is a different arrangement from the formal equivalence decisions of continental Europe, and it makes the process more flexible but also more scattered.

For a student applicant the real counterpart is the university’s admissions office. Undergraduate applications may be run through a central application system, while postgraduate applications are for the most part made directly to the institution. The documents expected are much the same in both, but the way they are uploaded and the calendar they follow are not.

Why each document is asked for

The diploma shows the level of the award; the academic transcript, with its course load and its distribution of marks, is what allows that level to be worked out. Irish admissions offices look closely at the detail of the degree result in postgraduate applications, which makes the explanation of the marking scale an inseparable part of the file. A student certificate is used for conditional admission where the candidate has not yet graduated. Proof of language proficiency is a threshold of its own and, since teaching is through English, it is asked for on almost every programme.

Step	Who you deal with
Level comparison	The QQI recognition unit
Admission to a programme	The university admissions office
Professional recognition	The relevant professional body
Residence procedure	INIS

The problem that comes up most often

The gap seen most often in Ireland is a translation sent without the office’s statement and stamp. Since there is no system of sworn translators, identity and responsibility are established by that statement; where it is missing, the translation stays anonymous. The second frequent problem is the assumption that the letter setting out the level comparison stands in place of professional recognition. The third is sending only the final term of the academic transcript, or its summary page: the admissions office wants to see the whole period of study, and an incomplete file is put to one side.

When the translation should be done

The translation is made once the originals and their annexes have been gathered and, where it is needed, the certification step has been completed; a statement of accuracy is then attached to it. Documents drawn up in Turkish are translated into English, while documents already issued in English need no translation. You can see which document calls for which form of certification in our document guide, and compare one country with another in our country list.

Central application or direct application: what changes

Undergraduate applications in Ireland mostly go through a central application system, whereas postgraduate applications are made directly to the institution. That distinction changes how the documents are handled. In the central system they are uploaded at a single point and several choices draw on the same file; with a direct application each university runs its own portal and its own rules on format. In the second case the same document may have to be prepared in more than one format, and limits on file size and rules on merging pages vary from institution to institution.

There is a further detail for international candidates: even where you apply through the central system, you may be asked to contact the university’s international office separately so that foreign documents can be assessed. That office often wants to see the translated versions in advance. It is therefore more realistic to plan the translation around the moment the preliminary correspondence begins rather than around the application itself.

• Establish whether the application is a central one or a direct one.
• Check each institution’s upload rules separately.
• Have the translation ready early for the preliminary correspondence with the international office.
• Use an academic transcript that covers the whole period of study.

The conversion of marks is a heading of its own in Ireland. Admissions offices have to render the Turkish marking system in their own classification, and they do it by reading the explanation of the scale on the academic transcript. Without that explanation no conversion can be made, and the file may be assessed on the lowest assumption. Including the part of the transcript that carries the scale is therefore a detail that bears directly on the outcome.

It is also worth allowing for the set of documents being used again later. Because Ireland offers options for working after graduation, the same papers may be called for in a different procedure some years on. Keeping a digital copy of the translation and of the statement makes a fresh translation unnecessary at that point. Consistency of terminology matters for the same reason.

When a file is found to be incomplete, asking for the reasons in writing allows the correction to be made to the point and shortens the second round.

Another practical matter in Ireland is that application portals apply rules of their own to the form documents take. Limits on file size, the formats accepted and the rules on merging pages differ from institution to institution. Scans have to strike a balance: not needlessly large, yet with the seals still legible. The source document is also expected to be submitted alongside the translation; uploading the translation on its own counts as incomplete. Since originals may be asked for at enrolment once the offer of a place has arrived, it is worth keeping the documents to hand as well. Each of these details looks small on its own, but together they decide whether the file is accepted.

Separating out in advance which documents need translating saves both time and budget. You can look at our pricing page, or upload your documents and request a quote.

The information on this page sets out the general framework; the authority you apply to may ask for further documents or a different format. We recommend following the practice in force through official announcements.