This service includes the ARDI Statement of Correspondence and the CIMEA Statement of Verification
This service is dedicated to the qualifications issued in the education systems of the Countries that are signatories to the Lisbon Recognition Convention.
The correspondence reported in ARDI is based on the foreign qualification as a whole and not on individual cases. The analysis in the database and the related information result from an evaluation of the general qualifications of each foreign system, comparing them, as far as possible, to academic and/or school qualifications in the Italian system, as an expression of a non-binding technical opinion based on the evaluation methodology developed by CIMEA. For the countries that are signatories to the Lisbon Recognition Convention a Statement of Correspondence can be automatically generated by the system for each qualification, instantly and free of charge, and is immediately available for download.
In order to align Italy with the European policies of Automatic Recognition of academic qualifications, in line with the “Council Recommendation, 26/11/2018, on promoting automatic mutual recognition of higher education and upper secondary education diplomas and the outcomes of learning period abroad" and with what is required by the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), taking also into account the "Rome Ministerial Communiqué" approved during the Ministerial Conference organised by Italy in 2020, CIMEA developed ARDI - Automatic Recognition Database-Italia.
ARDI is a free tool allowing holders of qualifications from the signatory countries of the Lisbon Recognition Convention to obtain an automatic correspondence of their qualification.
It contains the majority of qualifications from those countries related to the academic sector or final school qualifications, providing a comparative opinion on their correspondence with Italian qualifications, as well as specific evaluation notes for each type of qualification in line with the typical elements of the foreign reference system. This allows the Italian institution responsible for recognizing the qualification to assess the existence or absence of ”substantial differences” in line with national and European evaluation practices. The absence of a qualification from a specific country does not mean that it does not exist or cannot be evaluated.
Please note that the Statement of Correspondence includes a specific date indicating when it was downloaded because the information in these documents and in ARDI may undergo changes, additions, and/or modifications, including the inclusion of new qualifications. In cases where you possess qualifications that are not included in ARDI, please have the higher education institution responsible for the recognition of your qualification contact CIMEA. CIMEA accepts requests only from institutions and not from individuals.
This service includes the verification of the authenticity of the qualification performed by CIMEA experts that, when positive, results in the release of a Statement of Verification. The verification procedure consists in confirming whether a foreign qualification from the higher education system or upper secondary school has indeed been awarded to the holder by an official institution within the reference system.
The term Verification of authenticity means any action performed by CIMEA in order to receive information on the actual award of a qualification by the institution of reference.
This verification does not establish in any way the formal recognition of the qualification within a different national system, but is a useful indication for the institutions that evaluate the qualification during the different recognition procedures: the Statement of Verification of the qualification has the weight of opinion, and does not bind institutions in any way during their evaluation and recognition procedures.
The service is available exclusively for final official upper secondary school and higher education qualifications which are officially part of the national education system, issued by official institutions, that is to say those recognized/accredited in the national education system. The Statement of Verification is available exclusively in Italian for qualifications issued by other education systems, different from the Italian one.
The verification request is referred to the qualification as a whole (e.g. Bachelor of Arts), and not to the single documents issued for that particular qualification (e.g.: diploma certificate, Diploma Supplement, Transcript of Records, etc.). They are therefore never considered separately, but rather as documents of one qualification, providing relevant information regarding the qualification itself, which is always the central focus of the service.
CIMEA's trained evaluation staff reviews all educational documents submitted by the applicant to establish their authenticity by using one or more of the following tools: national or individual institution databases, information requested directly from the institution that awarded the qualification, official certification issued by the relevant authorities of the country of reference, receipt by mail of the original qualification from the institution at the CIMEA offices, verification of the presence of legalizations and stamps, verification of the qualification format and the respective signatures.
In cases where it is impossible to produce the Statement of Verification, CIMEA will issue a Statement of Denial for one or more of the following reasons:
1) non-official status of the institution, the degree course or the qualification in the system of reference;
2) lack of certification of the quality of the institution and of the course of studies by the competent national authorities, including reference to the place where the studies were performed;
3) cases of substantial difference with reference to the Lisbon Recognition Convention;
4) counterfeiting or alteration of documents;
5) documentary insufficiency linked to the request that prevented an evaluation/verification.
Learn more about the evaluation methodology carried out by CIMEA experts in the drafting of their statements.
The CIMEA Statement of Verification will be uploaded to the digital "Wallet" of qualifications in your DiploMe account through the use of blockchain, thereby making this digital document, transparent, transferable, certified and unchangeable.
TIMELINES - PRICES
ARDI STATEMENT OF CORRESPONDENCE
Instant download from the ARDI website.
Free download from the ARDI website.
STATEMENT OF VERIFICATION
Ordinary procedure: 60 working days
(Monday to Friday) from the payment of the related costs and the delivery of all the required documentation.
Because the verification of the authenticity of educational documents might at times depend on the responsiveness of third parties in other countries, this process can significantly delay the preparation of our Statement of Verification and, in some cases, may prevent us from successfully completing your verification request. We will not issue a Statement of Verification unless the authenticity of your educational documents has been officially and satisfactorily confirmed.
Urgent procedure: no urgent procedure is available.
Ordinary procedure:
(€ 122,95 + VAT: € 27,05) for each individual qualification and the related documents.
No. Requests for CIMEA's services must be directly submitted and managed by the holder of the qualification, and not by third parties, in respect of privacy and in compliance with the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Therefore, please note that each registration on the DiploMe platform is associated with only one personal account of the holder of the qualification. No assessment will be processed through intermediaries.
In cases where you possess one or more qualifications that are included in the ARDI database, the service available for your qualification(s) will be ARDI Correspondence & Statement of Verification. In this case you can apply for our Statement of Verification and download the ARDI Statement of Correspondence from the ARDI database autonomously, instantly and at no additional cost.
ARDI is a free tool allowing holders of qualifications from the signatory countries of the Lisbon Recognition Convention to obtain an automatic correspondence of their qualification. It contains the majority of qualifications from those countries related to the academic sector or final school qualifications, providing a comparative opinion on their correspondence with Italian qualifications, as well as specific evaluation notes for each type of qualification in line with the typical elements of the foreign reference system. This allows the Italian institution responsible for recognizing the qualification to assess the existence or absence of ”substantial differences” in line with national and European evaluation practices. The absence of a qualification from a specific country does not mean that it does not exist or cannot be evaluated.
Please note that the Statement of Correspondence includes a specific date indicating when it was downloaded because the information in these documents and in ARDI may undergo changes, additions, and/or modifications, including the inclusion of new qualifications.
Please refer to the section For which qualifications can you apply for our Statements? at this webpage for all the necessary information.
No. The Statement of Verification issued by CIMEA is a tool to help and support individual holders of qualifications and administrations and bodies that have to evaluate a qualification, but has no mandatory nature and does not cancel the authority/duty of individual administrations, institutions or bodies in their own and independent assessment of qualifications during their recognition procedures. It is a good idea to check that the institution tasked with recognition needs and/or accepts this document before requesting it from CIMEA. For more information please refer to the section How can you understand if you need CIMEA services? at this webpage.
