Educational documents
To verify your eligibility, you must submit certain educational documents to University Admissions Finland. All educational documents must be officially certified (attested) by the Notary Public or the awarding institution. Please also note the possible country-specific requirements that must be followed first and foremost.
University Admissions Finland evaluates the authenticity of your educational certificates. This includes e.g. contacting your previous educational institution and language test organizer. Any malpractice (e.g. counterfeit documents or fraudulent information) will be reported to the relevant university and the authorities.
Detailed descriptions of the educational documents, official translations and officially certified copies can be found below. Please note that some programmes accept only Degree Certificates while others also accept Temporary Degree Certificates. Always check the individual universities’ websites to see which documents are accepted.
Required Educational Documents
If you have been required to pay the application fee, you only need to submit educational documents regarding the degree used as basis for eligibility, i.e. the degree you are applying with.
If you have not been required to pay the application fee and are applying on the basis of the same degree, you are required to submit educational documents regarding that degree.
If you have not been required to pay the application fee and are using a different degree as the basis for eligibility, you are required to submit educational documents regarding both degrees as follows:
- Degree used as basis for eligibility:
- degree certificate
- transcript of records
- Degree used as basis for the application fee:
- degree certificate if the degree has been completed
- transcript of records if the degree is incomplete
All educational documents must be officially certified (attested) by the Notary Public or the awarding institution. Please also note country-specific requirements.
There are some programmes you can apply to even if you have not yet graduated. This is dependent on the programme, so always check the website of the relevant university. If you have not graduated by the time the application period for the programme begins, you are required to submit an officially certified copy of your latest transcript of records (please also note country-specific requirements).
General information on degree certificates, transcripts, official translations, and officially certified (attested) copies can be found below.
Degree Certificate
A degree certificate is a document issued by an institution to a student who has successfully completed all studies included in the degree. The student has graduated. The degree certificate should include the name of the institution awarding the degree, the date of issue, and the name of the person to whom the degree certificate has been issued and which title/degree the person has been awarded.
Temporary (Provisional) Degree Certificate
A temporary (provisional) degree certificate is accepted if it was awarded no more than five years earlier. The five-year validity period begins from the date on which the degree was conferred and must not expire prior to the application deadline. In other words, a temporary degree certificate is not accepted if it was awarded more than five years ago. In such cases, the applicant must present his or her final degree certificate.
A temporary (provisional) degree certificate is a document issued by an institution to a student who has successfully completed all studies included in the degree. The student has graduated. The temporary degree certificate is issued as a replacement for the actual degree certificate e.g. in case the actual degree certificate cannot be given to the student immediately after the studies have been completed due to technical or administrative reasons. The temporary degree certificate should include the name of the institution awarding the degree, the date of issue, and the name of the person to whom the degree certificate has been issued and which title/degree the person has been awarded.
Transcript of Records
The official transcript of records should include the following information:
- full titles of the units that the student has completed for the degree
- completion times of study units (or at the very least the overall study time at the institution)
- grades obtained
- credits awarded
- information on the grading scale used at the institution at the time of study
The transcript must cover the full length of studies. If the degree includes course units that the student has completed at another institution and the transferred credits are not indicated in detail on the transcript of records, a separate transcript of records regarding the transferred credits should be submitted. Please also note possible country-specific requirements.
University Admissions Finland only accepts official transcripts of records.
If your official transcript of records does not include all the required information, please see Transcript of Records – required information for more information.
In some cases it is also possible to submit an electronic transcript. For more information, please see Electronic Transcripts.
Official Translations
If your educational documents are issued in a language other than English, Finnish or Swedish, official translations of them to one of these languages are required. Also officially certified copies of the original documents have to be submitted. An official translation must be one of the following:
- issued by the awarding institution
- an officially certified copy of a translation issued by the awarding institution
- translated by an official translator
- an officially certified copy of a translation made by an official translator
Each page of an official translation must bear the translator’s stamp and/or signature. Official translations must be exact translations of the original documents. Translations done by the applicant him- or herself are not accepted.
Officially Certified (Attested) Copies
All educational documents must be officially certified (attested) by the Notary Public or the awarding institution (please also note country-specific requirements). This means that every page of each document must bear an original stamp/seal and signature of the certifying officer, e.g. regular copies of certified copies will not be accepted.
Please make sure that the officially certified copies submitted to University Admissions Finland:
- are taken directly from your original educational documents
- include every page of your educational documents
- bear the original stamp of the awarding institution or Notary Public on each page of the document (e.g. a stamp stating only “Certified true copy” will not be accepted)
- bear the original signature of the certifying officer