Document Authentication and Translations

At the time of applying there is no need to upload any officially certified educational documents as you will upload scans for the original documents instead.

After getting admitted, depending on the country where you have completed the degree that you were applying with, you may be requested to provide LUT Admissions Services with officially certified hard copies by mail - and there may also be certain country-specific requirements involved for the document authentication.

Document authentication

If admitted and already graduated at the time of applying

1. Degree completed in a country with country-specific requirements for document authentication

The following countries are under country-specific requirements: All African countries, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

If the university having awarded you the degree that you applied with is located in one of the listed countries, you must choose one of the following methods (A-C) for providing us with the required documents.

Not being able to follow the given deadlines and provide us with the required documents as requested will automatically lead into losing your place in the programme without a possibility to reclaim it back.

A. Following the country-specific requirements for document authentication

You must be able to provide us with the hard copies for your Degree Certificate and Transcript of Records together with the official translations in English (when required) by mail, attested as requested in the country-specific requirements for document authentication.

Deadline for LUT Admissions Services to receive the hard copies for educational documents is 31 August 2022 at 15:00 (UTC+3).
Deadline for the official translations (when required) is 6 September 2022 at 15:00 (UTC+3).

Mailing address:

LUT University
Admissions Services
Yliopistonkatu 34
FI-53850 LAPPEENRANTA Finland
Tel: +358 29 446 2111

Note: To avoid your documents to get stuck in the customs, do not indicate any monetary worth to your documents when mailing them. In case of your documents get stuck in the customs, you are responsible for actions required for them to be delivered to LUT University.

For Bangladesh, China, Iran and Pakistan, there is a special way of attesting both the copy for your Degree Certificate and the copy for your Transcript of Records - please carefully follow the instructions given at Country-Specific Requirements.

For All African countries, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal and Sri Lanka, there is a detailed way of mailing the official Transcript of Records to LUT University directly by the awarding university plus, getting the copy for the Degree Certificate either officially certified by the awarding university or, getting it attested by you through a special process called legalisation.

Carefully follow the instructions given at Country-Specific Requirements and Document Authentication.

B. Providing LUT University with electronically verified documents by Digitary

If you are able to provide us with your educational documents that are electronically verified by Digitary, there is no official certification according to the country-specific requirements required.

Deadline for LUT Admissions Services to receive the electronically verified educational documents is 31 August 2022 at 15:00 (UTC+3).
Deadline for the official translations (when required) is 6 September 2022 at 15:00 (UTC+3).

C. Authentication done by Finnish Digital and Population Data Services Agency

If already residing in Finland, you can take your original educational documents to Finnish Digital and Population Data Services Agency and request officially certified copied from them.

Further information: Notarisation process

Deadline for LUT Admissions Services to receive the hard copies for educational documents is 31 August 2022 at 15:00 (UTC+3).
Deadline for the official translations (when required) is 6 September 2022 at 15:00 (UTC+3).

2. Degree completed in a country without country-specific requirements for document authentication

If the university having awarded you the degree that you applied with is not located in one of the listed countries, there is no need to provide LUT Admissions Services with any educational documents anymore after the application period.

If admitted and graduating after the application period being closed

Degree completed in any country

If not yet graduated and not having been awarded your Bachelor's Degree at the time of applying, you must be able to graduate by 31 August 2022 and provide us with scans for your original Degree Certificate and original Transcript of Records plus the official translations (when required) by e-mail.

Deadline for LUT Admissions Services to receive scans for the original educational documents in original language is 31 August 2022 at 15:00 (UTC+3).
Deadline for scans for the official translations (when required) is 6 September 2022 at 15:00 (UTC+3).

Not being able to follow the given deadlines and provide us with the required documents as requested will automatically lead into losing your place in the programme.

Final verification for educational documents

Final verification process for degrees awarded in countries outside of Finland
- The final verification process will be completed at LUT University.
- You will be requested to bring your original Degree Certificate and Transcript of Records plus the possible translations for the final verification process.
Not being able to provide us with the required documents as requested will
automatically lead into losing your place in the programme.
Providing us with documents involved in a forgery will automatically lead into losing the place in the programme and LUT reporting to the related Finnish authorities.

Official certification

The official certification can be done either by the awarding institution or through a special process called legalisation.

1. Official certification by the awarding institution

When requesting officially certified copies from the awarding institution, make sure that the copies submitted meet the following criteria:

The copies are taken directly from your original educational documents
The copies include every page of your educational documents
The copies bear the original stamp of the awarding institution on each page of the document
- A generic stamp stating only "Certified true copy" will not be accepted.
Bear the original signature of the certifying officer

Plain and simple regular photocopies taken from the certified copies without any official certification on the photocopies will not be accepted.

2. Official certification by legalisation

If not able to have your educational documents officially certified by the awarding institution, you can get them officially certified through a process called legalisation, which is diveded into two different methods depending on whether the country where the degree was awarded is a signatory to the Hague Convention of 1961 or not.

For more information on the signatory countries for the Hague Convention of 1961 and the authorities issuing Apostille Certificates, please see Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents.

A. Apostille

Apostille Certificate is required, if the degree has been awarded in a country that is a signatory of the Hague Convention of 1961.
- The Apostille Certificate can be done by stamping the document with a specific Apostille stamp or, on a separate Apostille Certificate.

B. Legalisation

Legalisation is required, if the degree has been awarded in a country that is not a signatory of the Hague Convention of 1961.
- The document must be first legalised by the Foreign Ministry of the degree-awarding country. After that, the document must be legalised again by a Finnish Embassy or Consulate to that country having done the first legalisation.

3. Digital credentials by Digitary

If you are able to provide us with your educational documents that are electronically verified by Digitary, there is no official certification otherwise required.

Official translations

Whenever the original educational documents are not issued in English, Finnish or Swedish, official translations in English are required in addition to the documents in original language.

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 are not accepted.