Application documents

One of the following documents is required, in the form of an officially certified or legalised copy:

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 and 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 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 and the academic title/degree that has been awarded.

Please note: A document stating only that the student has completed all the course units is not sufficient as a temporary degree certificate.

Additional information

For information on official certification, please see “What are officially certified (attested) and legalised copies” below.

These documents must be sent to Tampere University Admissions Office, according to the country-specific requirements if submitted by post, when applicable.

If you have completed your degree in a University or University of Applied Sciences in Finland, you do not need to submit this as a certified copy.  Tampere University will verify the copies of your educational documents (pdf) electronically using a national database.

A transcript of records is a document issued by the educational institution, that lists the content of the degree. Only official transcripts of records are accepted. The transcript must cover the full length of studies.

The official transcript of records must include the following information:

• Full titles of the study 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
• 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 (e.g. Bachelor of Science, Master of Science).

If the degree includes course units that the student has completed in another institution and the transferred credits are not indicated in detail in the transcript of records (for example in case of exchange studies, transfer studies or top-up studies), a separate transcript of records regarding the transferred credits must be delivered. If your transcript does not include all the required information, please submit a separate officially certified document issued by the institution indicating the missing information.

Please also note the possible country-specific requirements connected to the country in which the Bachelor education was completed, as this might affect the way your certificate needs to be certified and/or submitted.

For information on official certification, please see “What are officially certified (attested) and legalised copies” below.

These documents must be sent to Tampere University Admissions Office, according to the country-specific requirements if submitted by post, when applicable.

For information on posting, please see “Delivering documents by post” below.

If you have completed your degree in a University or University of Applied Sciences in Finland, you do not need to submit this as a certified copy.  Tampere University will verify the copies of your educational documents (pdf) electronically using a national database.

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.

The 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. An applicant's own translations are not accepted.

This document must be sent to Tampere University Admissions Office according to the country-specific requirements when submitted by post, when applicable.

For information on posting, please see “Delivering documents by post” below.

There are two ways of proving English language proficiency: language tests OR previous studies. In both cases a document proving the language proficiency is required. Please see the detailed instructions concerning the submission of the proof of English language proficiency in the language requirements.

The motivation letter is used to demonstrate your motivation towards studying in the programme(s) you are applying to in your own words. Only one motivation letter is needed, even if you apply to more than one Tampere University Master’s programmes.

Instructions on writing the motivation letter

The motivation letter plays an important role in the admission to the Master’s programmes. It offers valuable information on your motivation and commitment towards studies at Tampere University.

The form of the motivation letter is free. However, it should not be more than one or two pages long. You must write the letter yourself.

The following questions are designed to help you provide information on your motivation, background and career goals:

• Why did you choose to apply to Tampere University and to the programme(s) you are applying to? Describe the reasons why you want to study at Tampere University and in the Master's programmes that you are applying to.
• What areas of study interest you most in the programme(s) you are applying to?
• If you are applying to more than one programme, provide an explanation for their order of preference.
• How would you describe your motivation and commitment towards completing a Master’s degree at Tampere University?
• Where and what field have you studied prior to applying to Tampere University?
• How does your educational background make you a suitable candidate for the programme(s)? Specify your qualifications and the extent of your knowledge in the subjects you have taken in your previous studies and with reference to the programme(s) you apply to.
• What goals do you have for your career?
• How do the future studies at Tampere University contribute to your career goals?

Applicants to the Master's Programme in Teaching, Learning and Media education, are asked to answer the following additional question:

• What kind of topics and research questions are you interested in (as the basis of your Master’s thesis)?

The format of the CV / Résumé is free. You can use e.g. the Europass CV format as a reference. If you have relevant work/volunteer work experience in your study field, please give a short description of these activities in your CV.

All non-Finnish applicants are required to submit a copy of their passport's identification (ID) page. EU/EEA/Switzerland citizens may submit a copy of their identity card. Tampere University can verify Finnish citizenship from a database, so applicants who have Finnish citizenship do not have to send a copy of their passport or identity card.  

A copy of the residence permit is required from applicants who are non-EU/EEA citizens but do have a residence permit in Finland. The copies are used to determine whether you are subject to paying tuition fees or not. For more information, please see the tuition fees page. 

These can be regular copies, as authenticated copies are not required of these documents.

If you have been granted refugee status (or similar) or asylum seekers status in Finland please see additional information Applicants with refugee status webpage and upload possible refugee status certificate.

In addition to the seven (7) general application attachments, some programmes have listed programme-specific attachments. Additional information on the programme specific attachments can be found on each programme’s admissions criteria in Studyinfo.fi.

If your institution issues electronically verified educational documents, please see the instructions below and make sure that the copies submitted to Tampere University meet the following criteria. Only documents which fulfil the criteria and can be verified electronically by Tampere University are accepted. 

Please note that if your university only offers either an electronically verified degree certificate or transcript of records, the other document needs to be submitted by post as an officially certified paper document. Additionally, please note that if the document is not in English, Finnish or Swedish, an official translation is required. 

We accept electronic educational documents that can be verified using an electronic verification service offered by the degree awarding institution or third party service if 

• the online 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 can be verified using the service, i.e. the verification service must show the exact same content as the document you submitted.
  • If the service verifies only parts of the document, we do not accept the document as officially certified. In that case, you must submit an officially certified copy of the paper document by post.

Please note the following restrictions:

• Regular PDF-scans of educational documents are not accepted if the document cannot be verified using an electronic verification service on the institution’s website or are not sent directly by the issuing institution (Instructions for documents delivered by the awarding institution by email).
• Institutional verification services that require Tampere University to download specific software, create a user account, or pay for the verification are not accepted.
• We must be able to verify that the documents have been digitally signed with a valid digital signature (e.g. Adobe blue ribbon) with the awarding institution as the certified signing body.

If your educational institution does not offer electronic online verification, please see Instructions for documents delivered by the awarding institution by email or by post.

If you apply with electronically verified documents, you must have the electronic documents sent to the Admissions Office by email to attachments.tau [at] tuni.fi. It is your responsibility to make sure that the documents meet the requirements and are submitted in time. 

Only documents which can be verified online by Tampere University are accepted. Please see the list of accepted services, which are known to send educational documents according to our requirements. If your university uses a service other than listed below, please note that those may not be accepted. In that case you must contact the Admissions Office after submitting the documents and your application. 

List of accepted services:

• Digitary (http://www.digitary.net/)
• My eQuals (https://www.myequals.edu.au/)
• Gradintelligence (https://gradintel.com)
• Parchment Exchange (https://www.parchment.com/)
• National Student Clearinghouse (http://www.studentclearinghouse.org/)
• Credentials Solutions / TranscriptsNetwork / Credentials Inc. (http://www.credentialssolutions.net/)
• Vitnemålsportalen (https://www.vitnemalsportalen.no/hvordan/)

If your institution does not issue electronically verified educational documents, Tampere University will accept officially certified or legalised copies delivered directly from the awarding institution by email. For more details, please see the instructions in this section. Only documents submitted accordingly are accepted by Tampere University.

Please note that if your university sends only part of the required documents by email, the other documents need to be submitted by post as officially certified paper documents. Additionally, please note that if the documents are not in English, Finnish or Swedish, official translations are required. 

Please submit your application in studyinfo.fi service first and then ask your degree awarding institution to send the copies of your educational documents according to the requirements below.

The documents sent by email must meet the following requirements:

• The email must be sent directly from an official institutional email account within the document issuing institution.
• The email address from which the documents are sent must be verifiable on the institution’s public website.
• The documents are sent from an official email of the degree awarding institution. The official email address must belong to the authority that has the right to issue copies of educational documents. We need to be able to verify the sender from the official websites of the institution in question. Please note that if the website is not in English, Finnish or Swedish this may not be possible.
• The educational documents must be delivered as a pdf file. No zip or image file are accepted. We recommend that the institutions secure the email and attachments.

Documents sent by email that do not meet the above requirements are not accepted.

The documents must be delivered directly from the degree awarding institution to Tampere University Admissions Office email address: attachments.tau [at] tuni.fi. by 1 February 2023 at 15.00 UTC +2.

It is your responsibility to make sure that the documents meet the requirements and are submitted in time. 

Officially certified copies of academic documents can be issued by the awarding institution. If you request officially certified copies from the awarding institution, make sure that the copies submitted to Tampere University meet the following criteria.

The copies

• are taken directly from your original educational documents
• include every page of your educational documents
• bear the original stamp of the awarding institution on each page of the document (e.g. a generic stamp stating only “Certified true copy” will not be accepted)
• bear the original signature of the certifying officer on each page of the document.

Please note that regular copies of certified copies or documents will not be accepted.

The officially certified copy can be sent by post to Tampere University either by the applicant or the awarding institution except when country-specific requirements state otherwise.

We have country-specific requirements for degrees awarded in the following countries: all African countries, Australia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bangladesh, Canada, China, Finland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Russia, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

Please see additional information on the country-specific requirements. 

If you cannot obtain officially certified copies of your academic documents from the awarding institution, you may submit legalised copies of your academic documents.

Legalisation takes place by two different means depending on whether the relevant country is a signatory to the Hague Convention of 1961. Documents supplied by countries that have ratified the Hague Convention are legalised by the issuance of an Apostille Certificate (stamp or paper certificate). Documents issued by other countries are legalised in two steps: first by the foreign ministry of the issuing country, then by a competent Finnish Embassy or Finnish Consulate of that country.

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, a list of its member states and information on the authorities issuing Apostille Certificates in the various countries can be found at: Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents.

Legalisation

If the country issuing a document is not a signatory of the Hague Convention, a document is legalised by the foreign ministry of the issuing country, after which a competent Finnish Embassy or Finnish Consulate of that country legalises the document, certifying the competence of that foreign ministry official to issue such legalisation.

Officially certified copies issued by a Finnish Notary Public are accepted. Additional information on the services of the notary public can be found on the web pages of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency (prior to 1.1.2020 Maistraatti, Local Register Office).

Please note that officially certified copies issued by notaries public in other countries are not accepted without legalisation.

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. An applicant's own translations are not accepted.

Scan the documents as a high-quality PDF-file. Do not take photos as the quality may not be sufficient for processing the documents. Do not make any additional markings on the documents.

Scan both sides of all document pages containing any text (serial numbers, stamps, etc.). Remember to check the scanned file to see that everything on the original document is legible on the scan.

All documents that are in the same category (e.g. the degree certificate or transcript of records) should be scanned into ONE (1) file. Do not make a separate file for each page.

Name the documents as follows:

• Degree certificate: lastname firstname degree certificate.pdf
• Transcript of records: lastname firstname transcript.pdf
• Language test results: lastname firstname language test.pdf
• Motivation letter: lastname firstname motivation letter.pdf
• CV/Résumé: lastname firstname CV.pdf
• Copy of your passport: lastname firstname passport.pdf
• Copy of your residence permit: lastname firstname residence permit.pdf

If the Master’s Programme requires any programme-specific attachments, name the documents using the same pattern.

Applicants in the final year of their Bachelor’s degree can apply before they receive the degree certificate and final transcript of records. Please note that an officially certified or legalised copy of the latest transcript of records is required at the time of applying.  

Applicants in their final year of the bachelor’s degree due to graduate in the spring of 2023, are eligible to apply if the degree will be completed by 31 July 2023. This is providing they fulfil all other requirements and can deliver officially certified copies of the degree certificate and final transcript of records by any of the approved submission methods mentioned above to Tampere University so that they arrive by 21 August 2023.  In such cases an applicant can be admitted to the Master's Programme conditionally. If they do not submit an officially certified copy of the degree certificate to Tampere University by the afore mentioned deadline, the conditional admission will expire.

When applying in the final year of your bachelor’s degree, check the graduation schedules and requirements of your own institution before applying. Please note that it may not be possible to graduate during the summer months or there may be delays on receiving the final documents. Please make sure in advance that you will be able to complete your degree and deliver the final educational documents by the deadline.

In place of a degree certificate, you will need to provide your own statement concerning your degree, including the following information:

• List of the course units that are yet to be finished
• Your expected date of graduation
• Other relevant information concerning your graduation.

This statement replaces the degree certificate during the application process (attachment 1). Please upload it to the application form and name the statement:

• lastname firstname statement.pdf

At this point, no stamped statements from your university officials are required. However, please note that all other application documents are required.

In addition to your own statement, you will need to provide the latest transcript of records, listing all the courses you have completed at the time of applying (attachment 2). Please note that the officially certified or legalised copy of the latest transcript of records and its official translation (attachment 3) is required at the time of applying, by 1 February 2023. The transcript of records must include the name of the degree you will be awarded when you graduate (Bachelor of, Master of, etc.). If your transcript of records does not include the name of the degree, you must submit officially certified educational documents where the name of the degree is stated, or an official statement issued by the awarding institution.

Note that official translations of both documents are required, if the abovementioned documents are not in English, Finnish or Swedish, (attachment 3). 

If you are accepted to Tampere University, you need to send the officially certified copies of the Bachelor's degree certificate and final transcript of records (and their translations if needed) to Admissions Office by one of our approved submission methods listed above as soon as you graduate. (If submitting by post, check the the country-specific requirements when applicable). The documents must arrive by 21 August 2023.