There are various reasons why students are considering changing their university: they might not be happy with their choice of medical, dentistry or pharmacy university. Some universities (e.g. in Hungary) are also considerably more expensive and the transfer may save a lot of money for students. There are also options when students are expelled because of one or two subjects not completed. We are specialists with studies and transfers to medical universities in Slovakia and will gladly share our knowledge regarding transfers.

There are 4 faculties of medicine in Slovakia:

1. Faculty of Medicine in Bratislava, Comenius University – this faculty is rarely accepting transfer students to higher than 2nd year. Even in the case of transfers, it’s necessary to have 90% of all courses completed. We do not suggest the Faculty of Medicine in Bratislava as an option for transfer students

2. Jessenius Faculty of medicine in Martin, Comenius University – 2022 update: the faculty is also accepting transfer students for the course of General medicine. Direct transfer is possible in case of completing all subjects at previous studies, in case of missing exams, the entrance exam and recognition of completed subjects are required.

3. Faculty of medicine, Pavel Jozef Safarik University in Kosice – 2022 update: the faculty accepts transfer students up to 4th year /there is new directive, please see below.

4. Faculty of Medicine, Slovak Medical University in Bratislava

New directive for Faculty of Medicine, UPJS in Kosice: from 1.9.2022, only 180 credits from the previous studies might be recognized which makes transfers only to 4th year possible.
Please read the whole directive:

The maximum total number of credits that can be recognized as completed compulsory and compulsory elective subjects during previous unfinished studies at medical faculties of universities other than UPJŠ may not exceed 180 credits, while their number obtained in one academic year may not exceed 90 credits. If the period of study in the last academic year at the given university lasted only for one semester, the number of obtained credits for this semester may not exceed the value of 60 credits.

This article will be about all the necessary steps how to transfer to the Faculty of Medicine in Kosice. If you have any doubts, please contact us by calling +420778891055 (working also on Whatsupp) or texting medhead@medhead.eu.

Let’s discuss two cases:

1. you wish to transfer because your studies were terminated or interrupted

2. you wish to transfer because you do not like your current university

1st case: Your studies have been terminated or interrupted

If your studies were terminated or interrupted, you may apply to the Faculty of Medicine, UPJS in Kosice, the Faculty of medicine, Slovak Medical University and the Jessenius Faculty of Medicine in Martin, Comenius University.

In all three cases, you need to take an entrance exam and ask for recognition of your completed courses. Entrance exams take usually place twice a year (in June and August) and contain questions from biology and chemistry data banks.

The faculty of medicine in Kosice has an on-site entrance exam with 100 questions from biology and 100 questions from chemistry (out of 600 questions in the chemistry data bank and 600 questions in the biology data bank). Maximally you may get 800 points (4 points for each question), for acceptance you will need a minimum 550-600 points (the level was lowered to 520 in 2020 and 2021; respectively to 530 in 2022). The Jessenius Faculty of medicine in Martin has the format of online entrance exam with 80 questions, you can score 1 point for each question. Students with at least 30-32 points were accepted in the last years. The Faculty of medicine, SZU has on-site exam from chemistry and biology, but recognition of secondary school leaving certificate (nostrification) is mandatory before sitting the entrance exam.

The most important thing is to ask for recognition of your completed courses from home university. Only subjects completed within the last 5 years are taken into consideration. Only compulsory or compulsory elective study subjects can be recognized (not optional subjects).

You need to ask for official syllabuses and transcripts of records at the study department of your medical faculty (there must be a stamp of your faculty). Please note that you need to ask for the syllabus of subjects from the year, you were studying (e.g. if you studied in 2015, the syllabus must be matching). All documents submitted must be in Slovak, Czech or English language – otherwise official translation is needed.  Documents for Kosice must be submitted as originals, documents for Martin can be submitted to the University also as a scan copies.

The following documents are needed for the recognition request for Kosice:

You need to complete the whole process by the 15th of September of the academic year. There is only one intake for admission – in September. Transfer to Summer intake is not possible.

2nd case: you are a student of another university and wish to transfer

Transfer means the registration of the student from another university for a study program at the same level and the same or related study program offered by medical schools in Slovakia. A very important criterion is that all your subjects had to be completed within the last 5 years and there is no subject pending from your official curriculum. If even one subject is missing, you will need to apply through the entrance exam.

You can apply for transfer to the Faculty of Medicine, UPJS in Kosice, and the Jessenius Faculty of Medicine in Martin, Comenius University.

The great advantage of transfer is, that you do not need to take an entrance examination. Only students whose studies have not been terminated or interrupted can apply for transfer, therefore. You may be enrolled in the 4th year starting in September in Kosice (update from 1.9.2022 – only 180 credits from the previous studies can be recognised), Jessenius faculty of medicine is not stating the maximum year allowed for transfer. Transfers to the Summer semester are not possible.

Please note that the Jessenius Faculty of medicine is accepting only marks A-C (according to ECTS system, where marks A-E means passed exam and F means failed. C equals approximately to 70% in the test). If there is even single mark with D, E or F, then maximum of 50 credits can be recognized regardless marks in the remaining subjects.

The deadline for the request for studies transfer is the 31st of August. The request must be filled in a written form, signed, and submitted by a student. Documents must be in English or in Slovak – otherwise, there is a need to translate and verify them by a notary.

Request for transfer must contain:

  • original transcripts
  • the syllabus of the completed courses – with marks and dates of completion
  • the confirmation that at the time of the request you are a student of the respective university
  • filled out request forms (Courses recognition forms)
  • delegation of power for MedHead.eu
  • if there is a different grading system in your home country (e.g. in Russia marks vary from 1-10), then you will need to get confirmation how the system is working

Your request will be considered by the guarantee of the study program and the Management of the Faculty. Important things are the syllabuses of courses in your home university and at the UPJS must be comparable (1) and they must do the same types of completion of the course (2).

Important: it is better to do a transfer after 1st or 2nd year to avoid various problems. As I want to be fully transparent, I am publishing also problems with the recognition that occurred to students transferring from various universities to UPS.

This process is quite time-consuming – take this into consideration. There is also an option to get an opinion regarding study grades from the Management of Faculty before you decide to apply for transfer.

An official decision on enrollment to the given school year

After successfully passing the entrance exam and submitting the recognition request of the completed courses, the management of the Faculty will decide about their recognition and the year which student will be accepted to. Do not forget that the deadline for submitting your request is 31th of August. Again – this is a quite a time-intensive procedure, so try to start with the application as soon as possible.

Documents that need to be submitted are:

  • original transcripts – with a stamp from study department, full names, and dates of exams
  • the syllabus of all completed subjects – with a stamp from study department
  • filled out request forms
  • confirmation of application fee (15€)
  • delegation of power for MedHead.eu

Contact us now to get more information on transfers