Required documents for International Master's degree programmes

To verify your eligibility, you must submit certain educational documents to the University of Eastern Finland  in electronic format as attachments to your application. Paper copies are not required during the application period.

University of Eastern Finland evaluates the authenticity of your educational certificates. Any malpractice (e.g. counterfeit documents or fraudulent information) will be reported to the authorities.

You are required to submit the following educational documents for the degree that you use as a basis for eligibility:

• the scanned copy of the original degree certificate (in the original language) and an English, Finnish or Swedish translation of the degree certificate
• the scanned copy of the original transcript of records (in the original language) and an English, Finnish or Swedish translation of the transcript of records.

If the degree you use as a basis for eligibility to Master’s degree studies consists of studies completed at multiple institutions, for example a Higher National Diploma (HND) and a one-year Bachelor’s degree, you must submit educational documents (transcript of records and degree certificate) that cover all your studies.

You can apply to programmes even if you have not yet graduated. If you have not graduated before the application period ends,  you are required to submit your latest transcript of records.

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. All translations must be made either by  the degree awarding institution or by an authorized 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 applicants themselves are not accepted.

General information on degree certificates and transcripts can be found below.

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.

A temporary (provisional) degree certificate is a document issued by an institution to a student who has been awarded or conferred an academic degree. 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 must include:

• the name of the institution awarding the degree
• the date of award/conferral of the degree
• the name of the person to whom the temporary degree certificate has been issued
• which academic title/degree the person has been awarded.

It is important to note that a document stating only that the student has completed all the courses is not sufficient as a temporary degree certificate.

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
• If you have not yet graduated: The transcript of records must include the name of the degree that will be awarded to you when you graduate (Bachelor of, Master of, etc.)

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 of Eastern Finland only accepts official transcripts of records. In some cases it is also possible to submit an Electronic transcripts for details. For more information please see Electronic transcripts below.

If your official transcript of records does not include all the required information, please read the chapter below.

Transcript of Records – required information

Universities carry out the academic evaluation of applications, and for this purpose the transcript of records must include certain information. Please read the following carefully for information about what to do if your official transcript of records does not include all the required information.

Names of course units

If the transcript of records does not include the full names of the study units, an additional document explaining these is required. This can be, for example, a syllabus.

Completion times of study units

If your transcript of records does not include information on the completion times of the study units, a separate document explaining this is required. You must submit a document issued by the awarding institution that states either the completion times of the individual study units or your overall time of study at the institution. Please note that information on the usual duration of the programme is not sufficient.

Grades

If the transcript of records does not include the grades obtained, you are required to submit a document issued by the degree-awarding institution providing these.

Credits

If your transcript of records does not include information on the credits awarded for individual study units, please submit a separate  document issued by the institution indicating this. If your institution uses a system different from the credit system, please submit a document issued by the awarding institution where the extent/scope of the study units is shown. This can be indicated, for example, as study hours required to complete the individual units.

Grading scale

The grading scale must include all the grades and marks that appear on the applicant’s transcript of records. The description should include the grades in relation to each other and clearly depict the highest and lowest grade, as well as which grades are passing grades and which are a fail. You can also be asked to provide a direct link to an official website where the information on the grading scale can be verified.

If there is no official website where the information on the grading scale can be verified, the information should be included in the transcript of records. If it is not, a separate official document describing the grading scale is required. The document should be issued by the awarding institution, or compiled by the applicant and officially certified by the awarding institution.

If your home institution uses an electronic credential service or there is a national register of educational documents that allows you to share your official educational documents, please use that service to share your educational documents directly from the service to the University of Eastern Finland.

Select the University of Eastern Finland from the service's list of registered recipients or, if the service requires a contact email address for sharing, use admissions@uef.fi, as the contact address.

The document must arrive to the University of Eastern Finland directly from the service, do not download the document to your own computer first.

Please refer to your institution’s own instructions for more details on how to access the service that your institution uses. University of Eastern Finland is unable to assist you in using your home institution’s services.

Below is a list of some common electronic document services that are accepted by the University of Eastern Finland:

• China Credentials Verification, Center for Student Services and Development (CSSD)
• Digitary
• Gradintelligence
• My eQuals
• National Student Clearinghouse
• Parchment Exchange
• Truecopy
• Vitnemålsportalen