Getting a Foreign Degree Recognized in Indonesia: Ijazah Equivalency Process

Why you need ijazah equivalency

A foreign university diploma does not carry automatic legal standing in Indonesia. If you plan to register for CPNS (civil service) hiring, apply for a licensed profession, or continue your education at an Indonesian institution, your diploma needs a Surat Keputusan (SK) Penyetaraan, a formal decree stating which Indonesian qualification level your foreign degree matches. Without this SK, an Indonesian employer or institution has no official basis to accept your foreign ijazah. Civil servants, teachers, doctors, engineers and other regulated professionals who studied abroad all run into this requirement at some point, usually right when a hiring deadline is closest.

Who handles the equivalency: Kemdiktisaintek or Kemenag

Academic degrees (S1 bachelor's, S2 master's, S3 doctorate) and vocational diplomas from foreign universities are equated by the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology (Kemdiktisaintek), the ministry that grew out of the former Kemdikbudristek. If your degree is in religious education, the Ministry of Religious Affairs (Kemenag) issues the equivalency decree instead. Check which ministry applies to your programme before you start an application with the wrong office.

Step by step through the PILN portal

The equivalency process, known as Penyetaraan Ijazah Luar Negeri (PILN), moved fully online in March 2018. You no longer need to submit physical files in person.

1. Create an account on the PILN portal and fill in your personal data as the applicant

2. Upload your required documents, checked carefully against the portal's checklist before submission

3. Wait for the assessment team (Tim Penilai) to review your file and verify your documents with your foreign institution where needed

4. Receive your SK Penyetaraan once the review is approved, downloadable from your PILN account

Documents you need

• Your original diploma and academic transcript from the foreign institution

• A certified or sworn translation of both documents if they are not already in Indonesian or English, done through a licensed sworn translator

• A Surat Konversi IPK, a GPA conversion letter that restates your foreign grade average on Indonesia's 4.0 scale, certified by the relevant authority

• Proof of identity and, where applicable, proof that your foreign institution and programme were officially recognized in its home country

Cost and timeline

The Directorate General of Higher Education, Research and Technology states the service does not charge any fee and warns applicants not to pay gratuities to anyone claiming to speed up the process. Once your assessment team approves your file, the decision letter takes about 22 working days to issue from the date you submitted a complete proposal in the system. Because document verification with your foreign institution can add extra weeks before the assessment team even reaches approval, start the process well ahead of any deadline that depends on the SK, rather than counting on the 22-day figure alone. For lesser known institutions, or programmes completed partly online, the assessment team may need longer to confirm accreditation status with authorities in your host country, so plan around that risk rather than the fastest-case scenario.

Which foreign degrees qualify

Kemdiktisaintek only equates degrees from institutions and programmes that were officially recognized within their own country's higher education system at the time you studied. A degree from an unaccredited institution, or from a programme your host country itself does not recognize, will not receive a positive SK Penyetaraan no matter how the credits transferred elsewhere. If you are unsure whether your programme qualifies, check your host country's own accreditation body before you submit a PILN application.

How long the SK stays valid

The equivalency decree does not expire once issued. Use the same SK Penyetaraan for a CPNS application this year and a professional licence application years later, since it certifies your specific diploma rather than a time-limited status. Keep both the digital copy from the PILN portal and a printed version, since some agencies still ask for a physical copy alongside the online record.

Where you will need the SK

• CPNS civil service registration through the SSCASN portal, where the SK Penyetaraan is a mandatory upload for foreign-degree applicants

• Professional licensing in regulated fields, where the licensing body checks your qualification against the Indonesian National Qualification Framework (KKNI)

• Continuing education in Indonesia, where a university checks your prior degree against an Indonesian equivalent before admitting you into a further programme

Common pitfalls

• Applying to the wrong ministry, sending an academic degree file to Kemenag or a religious-education file to Kemdiktisaintek

• Using an uncertified translator instead of a licensed sworn translator, which gets a file rejected during review

• Waiting until CPNS registration opens to start the equivalency process, when verification alone can run for weeks

• Paying a third party who claims to speed up the process, when the service itself is free and has no expedited paid track

Start your PILN application as soon as you have your final diploma and transcript in hand. The equivalency decree is a one-time document, but nearly every formal step you take with a foreign degree back in Indonesia depends on having it ready.