At the end of your studies, you need to follow a certain process in order to obtain your degree certificate. 1. Checking your transcript of records 2. Thesis 3. Application for Degree Certificate 4. Confirming the graduation and graduation dates 5. Foreign Students’ Language Proficiency Requirements 6. Diploma Supplement
Check that you have received a grade from each course and that you have enough further specialisation and free-choice studies. Check also that you have the right amount of language studies as indicated in the OPS-book (Study Guide).
Graduating students have the possibility to do exams on courses not yet completed on special retake dates given for graduating students. For autumn 2007, the date is 4.12.2007 and for spring 2008, the date is 8.5.2008. Register well in advance using the normal retake procedure. Discuss the matter with the teacher concerned.
Detailed information on the thesis process can be found on the "Opari" -website. After the abstract of the thesis has been accepted, send the final name of your thesis to the Study Office by email.
Return the final version of your thesis to the Study Office after the supervising teacher has given you permission and accepted the finalised version. You should submit 2 loose-leaf copies: one of these will be bound for the Library and the other one is a copy for the archives. Fill in the form “Author’s permission for public use of their Thesis” and return this with the copies to the Study Office. Return the Thesis Passport at the same time, check that all the parts of the passport have been filled. If you wish to receive bound copies for you or for your employer, order and pay for this directly to the Student Union KAMO.
Register for the maturity test with a retake envelope after the supervising teacher has given you permission. Maturity tests are written on general exam dates. Choose a date which is a minimum of two weeks before the graduation confirmation date.
Complete the Application for Degree Certificate through Asio 14 days before graduation (Asio > Application for Degree Certificate). Answer the two questionnaires first. One is for national use required by the Ministry of Education and the other one is for our internal use. Once you have answered the questionnaires, you can access the actual degree certificate application The graduation date will be the date of the meeting of the Services Unit in which your graduation will be confirmed (except for those graduating around Christmas and at the end of May for whom the graduation date will be the semester’s ending date). Remember to update you contact details (particularly the section “contact details after graduation”). After finishing the questionnaires and the degree certificate application, click “send application”.
The School’s Staff Meeting shall approve a student’s graduation once all the required studies have been completed. All studies must be completed by the staff meeting date. Following this official confirmation, the certificates willl be drawn up and the President and Head of School willl sign them. This stage may take 5 days or so. Graduation festivities will be held in December and May. Persons graduating at a time other than the above will be honoured in the form of a more modest coffee-and-cake occasion.
It is laid down in subsection 11, chapter 4, of Kajaani University of Applied Sciences’s degree regulations that: The student shall indicate through his/her degree studies or by some other means that he/she has attained: 1) The language skills in Finnish and Swedish required of civil servants (Act 424/03) 2) Such proficiency in the written and oral use of one or two foreign languages deemed necessary in their profession and for their professional development. The provisions of subsection 1 does not apply to those students, who have received their general education in a language other than Finnish or Swedish or those who have received their general education abroad. The language skills required of such students will be decided by the UAS. The UAS may for a special reason partly of fully exempt a student from the language proficiency requirements prescribed in paragraph 1. Exemption from language studies for specific reasons will be considered on a case by case basis. To initiate the process of considering such exemption, foreign students must provide a free-form application in which they apply for an exemption from Swedish studies of the kind referred to in the relevant degree. The application must be addressed to Mr Arto Karjalainen, the President of Kajaani UAS and submitted to the Head of School of Business Ms. Heli Itkonen two weeks before graduation at the latest. The Head of School will forward the application to the President. Foreign students also must inform the Study Office of the language of their school education (before their studies at the UAS), this will be mentioned in the Degree Certificate.
The Diploma Supplement is an appendix to the higher education degree diploma/certificate for use in international contexts. The Diploma Supplement is a document developed jointly by the EU, the Council of Europe and UNESCO and Finnish law requires higher education institutions to present their students with a diploma supplement. The appendix is a document in English, which includes additional information about the studies you have completed and the level of your degree and how it qualifies you for further studies and working life. The Diploma Supplement facilitates graduate mobility and the academic and professional recognition of qualifications abroad. All graduates (both first and second cycle programmes) receive a Diploma Supplement automatically and free of charge from their higher education institution. A transcript of records in English is attached to the Diploma Supplement, where all completed courses and grades are listed. The Diploma Supplement is not a substitute or translation of the original qualification or transcript but it provides more information about the qualification. More information about diploma supplement is available on the Commission's website.
After completing the studies, the student may remain in Finland if he/she can be granted a new residence permit on other grounds. The permit may be granted, for example for 1) postgraduate studies (the same field of study) 2) employment 3) on the basis of family ties. A foreign student who has graduated from a Finnish university of applied sciences can be issued a temporary residence permit so that he/she can look for work. A new temporary residence permit can be issued once for a graduate for six months after the previous residence permit has ended.