Educational documents (i.e. Bachelor’s degree certificate and transcripts of records) uploaded to the application portal and delivered by mail to Aalto University need to be officially attested copies of the original documents. This means that the copies must be stamped and signed by the issuing institution or a notary public. The copies must be made of the original, official documents.
If the certificate has several pages, each page must be certified from the right/front side of the page. Each page must be certified separately and indicate clearly the date and the original signature, printed name and stamp of the certifying officer. The mere mention of the official copy (e.g. stamp “True copy”) is not enough.

Follow these steps:

1. Take a copy of your original degree certificate and transcript of records.
2. Take the copies and the original documents to the issuing institution or a notary public, so that they can attest that the copies are made of the original documents. They will need to stamp and sign the copies in order to confirm this. (Taking copies of the original documents may also be part of their service, you can check this beforehand).
3. Upload the stamped and signed copies of the original documents to the SECCLO online application portal and mail them to the SECCLO Admissions Office. We accept also scanned colour images of the original documents in the application portal, but the documents mailed to us need to be officially attested copies bearing original attestation stamps and signatures, not copies of them.

For degrees completed in Australia, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Canada, China, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Kenya, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Africa, Sudan, United Kingdom or USA, please see below.

All required application documents must be available in English. If the original study certificates are not issued in English, the applicant must provide official, precise, word-for-word translations of them. A translation is regarded official if it is made by an authorised translator or by the university that has granted the degree. Translations must be either originals or certified copies of the original translations. All translations must be accompanied with a certified copy of the original document.

In some countries students are awarded a provisional certificate upon graduation while waiting for the issuance of the final degree certificate. Provisional degree certificates cannot be more than five years old. If the provisional degree certificate has been issued more than five years prior to the beginning of the application period, the applicant must deliver an attested copy of the final degree certificate.

You will have different options for submitting the recommendation letters:

1. If you already have the letter(s) you want to use for the SECCLO application, you can upload them to the application portal yourself.
2. Alternatively, you can send the referee a request from the application portal. In this case, the referee fills in an online form and submits it. You can see that a recommendation has been submitted, but not its contents. The referee will need to fill in and submit the online form by 18 January 2019, i.e. within two weeks from the application deadline.
3. If you send the referee request from the application portal, the referee can also upload an already written recommendation letter to the application portal. You can see that a recommendation has been submitted, but not its contents. The referee will need to upload and submit the recommendation letter by 18 January 2019, i.e. within two weeks from the application deadline.

It is also possible to combine the different options, that is, you can upload one recommendation letter yourself and ask for the referee to submit another.

In one of the tabs of the online application form, you will be asked to submit course descriptions in order to provide further information on the courses taken in relevant subjects. You can add course descriptions in up to five courses in each of the required background subjects and up to two courses in each of the additional knowledge subjects (see Admission requirements -> Student selection criteria).

If the course descriptions are not available in English, you can translate them yourself. If the course descriptions or the learning outcomes of the course are very long, you can summarize them. A list of most important topics covered will suffice. Course descriptions are not obligatory, but add value for your application.

A proof of place of residence is a document certifying that you live currently in the country and city you claim to live in. It is required to verify your Erasmus Mundus scholarship category and the amount of mobility support. The proof of place of residence document can be, for example,

• a residence certificate issued in accordance with your municipality normal registration rules, or
• a certificate from your current place of work, study or training issued by your employer or the institution in question.

Regardless of the type of document, the document must

• be issued after 4 January 2018 (i.e. within 12 months from the SECCLO application deadline).
• clearly (in print, in Latin alphabet) state your current country and city of residence, ideally also your full address.

The PRADO website shows examples of official residence certificates from different countries, but they can only be accepted if they fulfill the above criteria. Otherwise, a different proof of residence is required, for example, a certificate from your university or work place. Please see our FAQ for further information on how you should proceed in looking for an acceptable document.

If your degree was awarded in any of the above countries, an official transcript of records must be sent directly from your university to the SECCLO Admissions Office in a sealed envelope. The envelope cannot contain any other application documents than the transcript. Transcripts handled or delivered by the applicant will not be accepted.

If your degree is awarded in Bangladesh, the copies of the degree certificate and transcript of records have to be certified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh. Each page of the transcript of records and the degree certificate has to be stamped and signed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh. Copies of copies will not be accepted. All copies must have the original stamp given by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh.

Further information can be found on the Ministry’s website (mofa.gov.bd).

Due to the changes in CDGDC policies and services, we will not have any country-specific requirements for China in SECCLO 2019 admission. The normal rules of official attestation of copies apply (see above). Transcripts of records verified by CDGDC (if already available) or CHESICC are accepted, but not compulsory. The verification report should be sent to secclo@aalto.fi.

Translations: If your degree is awarded in China, please submit officially certified copies of your official transcript of records, degree certificate and graduation diploma in original language. If the language of the original documents is not English, official translations made by an authorised translator need to be enclosed. Please note that the documents in original language must accompany the translations.

If your degree is awarded in India, in addition to the attested copies of your degree certificate and transcript of records, attested copies of individual mark sheets from each semester are required. Official transcripts must be delivered to SECCLO Admissions Office in the institution’s sealed envelope.

If the institution does not re-issue official transcripts or mark sheets, photocopies of the original documents must be attested by the Controller of Examinations or Registrar and delivered to SECCLO Admissions Office in the institution’s sealed envelope. You can submit the sealed envelope yourself.

If your degree is awarded in Iran, official translations of educational documents must be certified by the Ministry of Justice. Copies of the educational documents must be legalized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran and the Embassy of Finland in Tehran. Copies of copies will not be accepted. All the copies must have the original stamp given by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran and the Embassy of Finland in Tehran.

Original transcripts issued in English by the university are accepted if the transcript arrives in the university’s sealed envelope. You can submit the sealed envelope yourself.

If you degree is awarded in Nepal, an official transcript of records must be sent in a sealed envelope directly from your university to the SECCLO Admissions Office.

If your university is not able to send the transcript, please request for the document to be attested by the Controller of Examinations or the Registrar and to be placed in an official sealed envelope. You can submit the sealed envelope yourself. Transcripts or mark sheets attested by persons outside the Controller of Examination or Registrar’s Offices will not be accepted.

If your degree is awarded in Pakistan, your degree certificate and transcript of records have to be attested by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) in Pakistan. Each page of the degree certificate and the transcript of records must have the original attestation stamp and signature of an HEC official. Copies of copies will not be accepted. The authenticity of the qualifications will be verified with the HEC. Please note that a faster verification process will be applied for academic documents certified by the HEC after February 2009. We therefore urge everyone with older attestations to arrange for new ones.

For more information, please see the HEC website (hec.gov.pk).

If your degree was awarded in the United Kingdom, an official transcript of records must be sent directly from your university to the SECCLO Admissions Office in a sealed envelope. The envelope cannot contain any other application documents than the transcript. Transcripts handled or delivered by the applicant will not be accepted.

If your degree was awarded in the United Kingdom and your university does not issue paper transcripts, an official HEAR (Higher Education Achievement Report) sent via Gradintelligence is also accepted. The HEAR has to be sent directly through Gradintelligence to the SECCLO Admissions Office (secclo@aalto.fi).

If your degree was awarded in USA, an official transcript of records must be sent directly from your university to the Aalto University Admission Services in a sealed envelope. The envelope cannot contain any other application documents than the transcript. Transcripts handled or delivered by the applicant will not be accepted.

If your degree was awarded in the USA, transcripts sent via Parchment Exchange, National Student Clearinghouse and eSCRIP-SAFE or in secure PDF format are also accepted. In the latter case, the PDF transcript has to contain the blue certification ribbon and it has to be sent directly from the issuing university’s Office of the Registrar to the SECCLO Admissions Office (secclo@aalto.fi).