Translation of Education Documents for Finland

The Opetushallitus decision and two official languages

In Finland the authority competent to recognise foreign higher education qualifications is Opetushallitus. The decision it issues states the level your degree corresponds to in the Finnish system, and it is sought above all when applying for posts in the public service. For admission to a university as a student, however, the decision belongs to the institution itself, and an application may be made without waiting for a recognition decision. That distinction settles which document you prepare and when: for academic admission it is the institution’s list that applies, for official recognition the authority’s.

Finland’s second particularity is that it has two official languages. Finnish and Swedish hold equal official status; which language a file is prepared in varies with the institution applied to and with the region. Documents in English may be accepted on programmes taught in English, though it is usual for one of the national languages to be required in official recognition procedures.

Why each document is asked for

The diploma shows the degree; the academic transcript, with its credit and duration information, makes it possible to work out the corresponding level. In bachelor’s applications the secondary school diploma and the entrance examination result are required as proof of the right of admission to university. Course descriptions are sought in regulated professions and where the matching of fields is open to argument. A language proficiency certificate forms a threshold of its own, in Finnish, Swedish or English according to the language of instruction.

Procedure	Language expected
Official recognition application	Finnish or Swedish
Application to an English-taught programme	Usually English
Application to a Finnish-taught programme	Finnish

The commonest mistake

The most widespread problem in Finland is a translation not having been made by an authorised translator. Authorisation depends on an examination and a registration process, and in official matters a translation by a translator holding that authorisation is expected. The second frequent problem is choosing the language wrongly – a file prepared in English may fall short in an official recognition application. The third is leaving the credit system on the transcript unexplained; when the credit equivalent cannot be worked out, the file waits.

At which step the translation comes

First the target procedure and the language are settled, then the originals of the documents are gathered, the certification step is completed, and the translation is made last. Leaving the translation until the end means the certificate itself goes into the translation. The authorised translator’s details should appear on the translation. You can compare what is expected document by document in our document guide, and the practice of the other Nordic countries in our country list.

Finnish or Swedish: what settles the choice

That the two official languages in Finland hold equal status raises, in practice, the question of which one to choose. Two criteria settle it: the region in which the institution applied to is situated, and the institution’s own language of instruction. In some regions on the western and southern coast Swedish is the everyday language of administration; inland, Finnish predominates. There are also higher education institutions teaching in Swedish, and at those a file in Swedish is received more naturally. Asking the institution itself is always cheaper than guessing.

English-taught programmes open a third route. The number of bachelor’s and master’s programmes taught in English in Finland is large, and documents in English are accepted on them. At the scholarship, enrolment and official recognition steps, however, it is usual for one of the national languages to be required. An English file, in other words, opens the application but does not complete the process; seeing that distinction at the outset turns a second round of translation into something planned for.

• Check the institution’s region and its language of instruction.
• Ask separately about the language of the application stage and of the recognition stage.
• Include the explanation of the credit system in the translation.
• Find out how far an English file will take you.

Because application processes in Finland run largely by electronic means, the quality of the scan matters. Seals and signatures are expected to be legible, every page to be uploaded in full, and the source document to be submitted together with the translation. Admissions units may also call for the originals when they see fit; trusting to the scan and leaving the originals in Türkiye is therefore risky.

The question of credit equivalence calls for attention of its own. Since the Finnish system works on credit load, the total credits on the transcript and the credits per course are decisive. If the explanation of how credits are calculated sits on a separate page, that page has to be translated too. Without this information no comparison of programmes can be made, and the file waits for further documents.

Anyone thinking of working in a professional field needs to know from the start that the official recognition decision is a separate procedure calling for its own set of documents.

Another useful preparation for Finland is to correspond with the university’s international office in advance. Most institutions in the country publish detailed guides for international candidates, and those guides say plainly which document is wanted in which form. The correspondence should ask not only for the list of documents but also what is expected as to language; in a system with two official languages, when those two heads are answered together the file is built in a single round. For candidates approaching graduation, a provisional letter of graduation is in most cases accepted and allows the application to be opened; the diploma follows later and the application timetable is preserved.

In a system with two official languages, choosing the target language correctly at the outset does away with the commonest expense of all. You can look at our pricing page, and upload your documents to request a quotation.

The account below summarises typical practice; each consulate applies its own current guidance. It would be as well to check the requirements in force from an official source.