Recognition of a Lithuanian degree in Türkiye
This page is written for universities, partners and English-speaking families who want to understand what a Turkish student faces after graduation. It is not an obstacle so much as a process — but it is a process that has to be planned from the first year, not the last. Everything below reflects the regulation in force as of October 2026.
Lithuania has been a party to the Lisbon Recognition Convention since 1 February 1999, and Türkiye since 2007. For non-regulated fields such as business, economics and computer science, recognition can be granted without any examination. Regulated professions are reviewed case by case. Medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and law face an additional institutional ranking threshold.
Two different things
Recognition is not the same as equivalence
Turkish law distinguishes tanıma — acceptance that the institution and programme are entitled to award degrees — from denklik, the finding that a specific diploma is equivalent to its Turkish counterpart. A graduate who intends to work in Türkiye needs denklik; tanıma alone is not sufficient and the regulation says so expressly.
There is no published positive list of recognised universities. YÖK publishes only a list of non-recognised institutions, and no Lithuanian institution appears on it. Institution-specific confirmation is available to the individual applicant through Türkiye's e-Devlet portal, and YÖK notes that the status can be updated.
No consultant, agency or university can guarantee denklik. Decisions are made by YÖK's subject advisory commissions, the criteria change, and the regulation itself anticipates that two graduates of the same programme may be given different requirements.
Three groups
The field decides the difficulty
For a Lithuanian institution advising prospective Turkish applicants, this is the distinction worth knowing.
- ANon-regulated fields
Business, economics, finance, computer science, software, international relations. No statutory regulation of the profession in Türkiye and therefore no level-determination examination. Direct recognition is the expected outcome.
- BRegulated professions
Engineering, architecture, teaching, nursing, midwifery, physiotherapy, veterinary medicine, psychology. Files are reviewed individually. Engineering and nursing have a level-determination examination administered by Anadolu University; architecture and psychology are instead routed to course completion; teaching has its own examination and additionally requires the opinion of the Ministry of National Education.
- CMedicine, dentistry, pharmacy and law
An institutional threshold applies: the university must have been within the top 1000 of at least two of ARWU, CWTS Leiden, QS WUR and Times Higher Education WUR in the year the student enrolled. Vilnius University currently meets this; the position of the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences could not be confirmed as of October 2026.
What institutions can do
Three things that decide the outcome — all of them fixable at enrolment
Lithuanian universities can materially improve their Turkish graduates' prospects by attending to these three points.
- 1Programme length and ECTS
A Turkish bachelor's degree is 240 ECTS over eight semesters. The no-examination route depends on the foreign programme meeting that minimum duration and credit load. A three-year, 180-ECTS bachelor does not, and the file is then liable to be routed to course completion. Four-year, 240-ECTS programmes remove the risk entirely.
- 2The Diploma Supplement
For degrees from EU member states the Diploma Supplement is mandatory, not optional. Lithuanian universities issue it as standard, in English and free of charge, and it contains exactly what the Turkish commission needs: ECTS, duration, level, learning outcomes and the national qualifications framework position. Issuing it promptly at graduation, with an apostille, saves months.
- 3Physical presence during the programme
Turkish regulation requires that the time a student spends in the country of study in any given term does not fall below 70 per cent of that term, proved by passports or police entry-exit records. This is measured per semester; a surplus in one term does not offset a shortfall in another. Students should be advised of this before they plan extended absences.
Language
The language certificate catches most people out
Since October 2023, applicants must submit a certificate in the language of instruction of their programme. Where the language is one examined by Türkiye's ÖSYM — English is — the requirement is a verified result of at least 60 points from YDS, e-YDS or YÖKDİL, or an international examination score ÖSYM treats as equivalent.
The certificate must reach YÖK within two years of the application or the application is refused. Studying in English does not substitute for it; a waiver introduced in February 2026 applies only where the language of instruction is the applicant's own native language, which does not help a Turkish graduate of an English-taught programme.
The practical advice we give students is to sit the examination during their final year in Lithuania rather than after returning.
Questions about a specific programme?
If you are a university or partner and want to know how a particular programme would be treated, write to me and I will set out what the current rules require.