Document Recognition for Finland: How Universities Check Your School Diploma

Fee figures: catalogue of 6 October 2026.

In Finland you do not need a recognition decision before you apply for a bachelor's programme. The university or university of applied sciences that receives your application checks your school-leaving certificate itself. This guide explains what that check involves and what you have to send.

Who decides

• The institution decides. Your certificate must give access to higher education in the country where it was issued. Each university or university of applied sciences checks this as part of the admission, using the documents you upload on Studyinfo.
• The Finnish National Agency for Education (EDUFI, Opetushallitus) is Finland's ENIC-NARIC centre. It issues recognition decisions mainly for work in regulated professions or posts that require a degree of a certain level. For further study, it says, the institution assesses the rights your foreign qualification gives.

So you do not pay for a recognition procedure or wait for one before applying. The work is in getting the documents right for each institution.

What you upload

You apply on Studyinfo, and the documents go into the online application as scans or good photos, usually PDF. Read the admission criteria of each programme: they list the documents, the deadline and the country-specific rules.

Typical requirements:

• your final school-leaving certificate, or the latest transcript if you graduate this year
• the certificate in the original language
• an official translation if it is not in Finnish, Swedish or English
• the proof of English required by the programme

A provisional certificate is often not enough. Haaga-Helia, for example, accepts one only if you completed your studies in the same or the previous calendar year.

Translations

Translations must be official. Universities accept translations made by the school or authority that issued the document, or by an authorised translator, with the translator's stamp or signature on every page. A translation you make yourself is not accepted, and a translation alone is not enough: you upload a copy of the original as well. See sworn translations.

IB and EB diplomas usually need no translation. At the University of Jyväskylä, for example, IB and EB candidates apply with predicted or preliminary grades and send the final results in July.

Country-specific rules

Each institution publishes rules for documents from particular countries. They say which certificates count for that country, the minimum grades, and sometimes how the document must be verified. Haaga-Helia, for example, asks Nigerian applicants for the WASSCE or SSCE certificate and does not accept result slips. Check the rules for your country on the website of every institution you apply to, because they are not identical.

After admission: copies and originals

Your admission is usually conditional until the institution has verified your documents.

• Universities of applied sciences ask you to send copies of the certificates you cited in your application by a deadline they set.
• Universities may ask for an officially certified copy of your school-leaving certificate, and tell you how to send it.

If you miss the deadline or the documents do not match what you declared, the institution can withdraw the study place. A conditional admission based on predicted grades can also be withdrawn if the final grades are lower.

Apostille

Finnish institutions do not ask for an apostille on every certificate. Some ask for it, or for verification by a ministry, for documents from certain countries. Follow the country-specific instructions of your institution. For how the apostille works, see apostille and legalisation of documents.

Step by step

1. Check that your certificate gives access to higher education in your own country.
2. Read the admission criteria of each programme on Studyinfo, including the country-specific rules.
3. Order official translations early.
4. Upload everything in the application by the document deadline.
5. After admission, send certified copies or verified documents as instructed, then apply for the residence permit. See student visa for Finland.

Where to look next

• How to get into a university in Finland
• How much it costs to study in Finland
• Student visa for Finland
• Student housing in Finland

Official sources

• Studyinfo: Verification of your educational background
• EDUFI: Recognition of foreign qualifications: Finnish National Agency for Education
• Haaga-Helia: Required documents by country: an example of country-specific rules
• University of Jyväskylä: Requirements for educational documents

Always check current information on the official website of the university before you apply.