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Verification of official educational documents

General instructions

Have you completed your degree used for the eligibility in a Finnish university or Finnish university of applied sciences?

YES: Document submission for verification is not required. UEF will contact you in case we need further information of your documents.

NO: Please follow the instructions below. After you have been accepted, you must remember to verify your educational documents

Please refer to the guidelines to ensure that your official educational documents are submitted and verified correctly. Admission will remain conditional until document verification is complete. Failure to verify documents by the specified deadline will result in the cancellation of your conditional study offer.

If your educational document is not issued in English, Finnish or Swedish, you must submit the official translation following these same instructions.

Please note an exception: Educational documents from China must be submitted in a specific way. Please see the country-specific instruction for China.

Sending documents for verification after you been accepted

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:

If your institution uses a service not listed here, please contact us at admissions@uef.fi and we will check if it is possible for us to accept your documents through this service. Please note that UEF reserves the right to make the final decision on whether a service is accepted or not.

Electronically verified educational documents

We accept electronic educational documents that can be verified using an electronic verification service on the awarding institution’s website.

The following requirements must be met for the verification to be accepted:

  • the verification service is located on the degree awarding institution's website OR, in case of third party services, the institution provides a link to the service on their website
  • the entire document must be verified using the service, i.e. the verification service must show the exact same content as the document you submitted for eligibility.

Please note the following restrictions:

  • Institutional verification services that require downloading specific software or paying for the verification are not accepted.
  • Verification services that rely on the recipient to send an email to the verification service or the issuing institution are not accepted.
  • We cannot guarantee that we can accept verification services in languages other than English, Finnish or Swedish. If the service is available only in other languages, we will try our best to use the service. However, if we are unable to use the service due to it being in another language, you must submit your documents via some other accepted method.
  • If the electronic document verified by the service is not available in English, Finnish or Swedish, you must submit an official translation of the original document as well.
  • Regular PDF scans of educational documents are not accepted if the document cannot be verified using an electronic verification service on the institutions’ website.

The University of Eastern Finland reserves the right to evaluate each electronic document and verification service case by case. If we cannot verify the required information, you must submit the document via some other accepted method.

Electronically signed educational documents

We accept documents that have been electronically signed with a valid digital signature (so called Adobe blue ribbon) by the awarding institution. A valid digital signature appears as a blue ribbon when the document is opened in Adobe Reader. The signature must be issued by the awarding institution, and the signature must be valid when the document is opened.

The University of Eastern Finland reserves the right to evaluate each digitally signed document case by case and reject documents that do not meet the requirements.

If your institution does not use any electronic credential services to share official educational documents nor awards electronically verifiable documents, you may ask that your institution sends your official educational documents by email directly to the University of Eastern Finland to the following email address: admissions@uef.fi

In order for the document to be accepted, certain requirements must be met:

  • The email must be sent from the issuing institution's official email account.
  • The sending email address must be publicly verifiable on the institution's website.
  • The sending email must belong to a person or office responsible for issuing official educational documents, such as the registrar’s office, controller of examinations, awards or graduation department etc.
  • The attached document must be in PDF format

Emails that do not meet these criteria will not be accepted. Please provide these instructions to the appropriate representative at your institution when requesting they send your documents.

 

Do I need to send physical documents?

If none of the electronic options above are available to you, you must send your official educational documents as physical paper documents to the admission services.

Postal address to Joensuu Campus:
University of Eastern Finland
Admissions Office, Joensuu Campus
(include the programme name)
P.O. Box 111
FI-80101 Joensuu, Finland

Postal address to Kuopio Campus: 
University of Eastern Finland
Admissions Office, Kuopio Campus
(include the programme name)
P.O. Box 1627
FI-70211 Kuopio, Finland

Please do not send any original documents that are difficult to replace, as submitted documents will not be returned after the application round. If you need to retain the original, please send an officially certified copy instead. You are always responsible for the arrival of documents at Admission Services by the set deadline. If you are in Finland, it is possible to deliver documents in person, please contact admission services prior to visiting. We strongly advice you to first and foremost use the electronic verification methods available.

Country-specific requirements (Master programme applicants)

Physical educational documents awarded in certain countries must be certified and submitted following country-specific requirements. This applies to master's degree programme applicants.

  • If your country is on this list, you may use electronic OR email verification to replace country-specific instructions.
  • If your country is NOT on this list, you may use electronic OR email OR general verification.

If you are required to submit physical educational documents, please follow the guidelines specific to each country: Country specific requirements

Applicants to bachelor's programmes sending paper documents: You are required to send officially verified certificates/ diplomas of completed education degree by following general verification instructions. You can also follow country specific requirements, if they are more accessible to you. 

General verification instructions 

If you are unable to use electronic or email verification and your country of education is not included in country-specific requirements list, please refer to the general verification methods This applies to both bachelor and master's degree programme applicants.

  • officially certified (attested) by the awarding institution
  • Apostille
  • Legalisation 

All submitted documents will be examined for their eligibility and authenticity. In case the applicant submits forged documents, the application will be automatically rejected.

Please note: If one of the electronic verifying systems we have listed is at use in your country/institute of education, you can use those services to verify your documents instead of general verification requirements.

 

If electronic or email verification is not possible and your country of education is not listed under country-specific requirements, or you are applying for bachelor's programmes, please follow the general verification methods outlined below:

  • Certification by the awarding institution (officially attested)
  • Apostille
  • Legalization

Submit the officially certified copy to the Admissions Office in paper form, unless instructed otherwise. If the document consists of multiple pages, each page must be stamped and signed by the certifying institution or individual, unless bound in a way (e.g., with a seal) that prevents separation of individual pages. If pages are loosely attached (e.g., stapled), each page must bear the official stamp and signature of the certifying institution or individual.

Copies that do not meet the standards below will not be recognized as officially certified. For example, a regular photocopy or a copy certified by two individuals does not constitute sufficient certification. Additionally, copies certified by a notary public in another country are only acceptable if they have been legalized.

Official Certification by the Degree-Awarding Institution

Officially certified academic documents (i.e. degree certificate and transcript of records) can be issued directly by the awarding institution or relevant organization (e.g., the Finnish Matriculation Examination Board or the IB organization). When requesting certified copies from the awarding institution, ensure the documents meet the following criteria:

  • taken directly from your original, official educational documents
  • include all pages of your educational documents
  • bear the certifying official's original signature, printed name, and ink stamp

Please note that a generic stamp, such as "certified true copy," does not qualify as an official stamp from an educational institution. Additionally, an educational institution cannot certify a diploma issued by another organization (e.g., the Finnish Matriculation Examination Board or IB organization).

If your copy does not meet these requirements, contact the certifying institution or official to obtain a new copy that complies with the guidelines.

Legalized copies of academic documents

If you cannot obtain officially certified copies of your academic documents from the awarding institution, you may submit legalized copies of your academic documents. Legalization makes documents suitable and official for use in another country. The process often involves several different steps and varies depending on whether the country of the awarding institution is a signatory to the 1961 Hague Convention.

  • For Hague Convention Signatory Countries: Documents are legalized through the issuance of an Apostille Certificate (either as a stamp or paper certificate).
  • For Non-Signatory Countries: Legalization occurs in two steps. First, the document is legalized by the foreign ministry of the issuing country. Then, a Finnish Embassy or Finnish Consulate in that country certifies the document, confirming the foreign ministry official’s authority to perform the legalization.

Apostille

The Apostille Certificate (stamp or paper certificate) is necessary if the document has been issued by the authorities of a country that has ratified the Hague Convention of 1961. Information on the Hague Convention as well as an English language list of its member states can be found here:

https://www.hcch.net/en/states/hcch-members

Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents. The page also provides information about the authorities issuing Apostille Certificates in the various countries.

Please make sure that the Apostille certificate is firmly and clearly attached to all the documents it is certifying.

Legalization

For documents issued by countries that are not signatories to the Hague Convention, legalization requires two steps. First, the document must be legalized by the foreign ministry of the issuing country. Then, a Finnish Embassy or Finnish Consulate in that country certifies the document by verifying the competence of the foreign ministry official who performed the legalization.