New rules to check academic degrees in Bahrain

TDT | Manama                     

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com  

New mechanisms will now be applied by the Education Ministry to verify university degrees and academic qualifications from Bahrain and abroad.

This was announced by Education Minister Dr Mohammed bin Mubarak Juma’a, who emphasised that the new step would streamline employment procedures in the public and private sectors by reducing the waiting time for processing the service.

The new procedures have already been approved by the Cabinet, chaired by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister.

“The procedures have been streamlined to check degrees without referring them to the National Qualifications Assessment Committee or the Higher Education Council for evaluation,” said Dr Juma’a.

Details of the updated validation procedures of academic qualifications are available on the national portal website (Bahrain.bh), including clarifications about the update process, in addition to contact numbers allocated to respond to questions and inquiries during official working hours.

The National Health Regulatory Authority (NHRA) and The Council for Regulating the Practice of Engineering Professions (CRPEP) will oversee medical and engineering degrees.

Legal qualifications

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments Ministry will scrutinise legal qualifications to license law firms.

Holders of other degrees granted by local public and private universities can apply directly for Government jobs through the Civil Service Bureau (CSB) without submitting an attestation or equivalence statement.

“The Civil Service Bureau will then verify the validity of the qualifications after passing the employment requirements,” said the minister. The verification process is not mandatory for private sector employers. However, labour institutions may still verify qualifications with the help of specialised firms accredited by the Ministry of Education, if the qualification are obtained overseas universities.

The certification can also be obtained directly from the university if the qualification was issued by a local academic establishments. The Higher Education Council has authorised local universities to certify graduates’ academic degrees ratification without the need to refer to the HEC General Secretariat.

As for graduates’ masters and PhD degrees, employers or private sector enterprises can undertake the verification of certificates through specialised companies recommended by the Ministry of Education if they wish to do so.

As for public sector employees, the Civil Service Bureau will audit qualifications, while granting certificates for depositing scientific theses and dissertations in national public libraries affiliated to the Ministry of Education.