Postby leavemyvoiceonthesea » Thu Mar 22, 2018 6:51 pm
Hi everyone
So I'm currently in the long, somewhat arduous process of getting my U.S. bachelor's degree legally recognized in Peru by the SUNEDU. The process is a recognition (they legally accept my degree from the US as valid here and register it in their database). It's a less arduous process than a revalidation from a Peruvian university but I'm hoping it will help my CV stand out to companies I'm applying to and will let me in the door to take some master's level classes more easily here in Peru. I've had to order a duplicate copy of my diploma from the US, get it notarized and have a Hague Apostille attached. After much commotion from FedEx and some tears shed, my documents arrived here in Lima. I had them officially translated from English to Spanish by a sworn public translator as the SUNEDU requires. However, I have some doubts as to the exact equivalency of the diploma.
In the translation, the translator listed my degree as a Título Profesional de Licenciada en Humanidades: Antropología in Spanish - whereas the original only states: Degree of Bachelor of Arts: Anthropology. I had previously understood than in order to obtain your "título" or professional title here in Perú, you had to go beyond just the "bachiller" or bachelor's and sustain a thesis in addition to the regular coursework. As I also understand from the SUNEDU website, the SUNEDU recognition does not require an evaluation of the number of credits, and with regards to research states that "Para el reconocimiento deberás presentar el Trabajo de investigación o la Tesis que te sirvió de sustento para optar por el Grado Académico o Título Profesional, si fue requerido en la universidad donde estudiaste." For the recognition, you should present the research assignment or sustained thesis in order to vie for the Academic Degree or Professional Title, if this was required by the university where you studied. I understood this to mean that if your university didn't require a thesis, you could still opt for the recognition of the degree as equivalent to a Professional Title, as the translator also indicated in the translation. From what I understand of Peruvian degrees, the Professional Title is much more valuable than just a "bachiller" and most people aren't considered to have truly finished their degree until they do their thesis and obtain the Professional Title. For me, I believe that having my diploma equal a professional title would be much more beneficial to my future career.
Has anyone else gone through this process of degree recognition? What was required? How long did it take? So far, I've submitted the documents to their web portal for orientation regarding the process, and was planning on going to fill out the forms and make the payments on Monday, barring any observations to my submissions.
TL;DR: I'm working on getting my BA degree from the US recognized in Peru, not sure if it's the same as a Peruvian Professional Title. Has anyone gone through this process before or have any advice?
