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 credits in each module. You can compare your transcript of records with the study structure of your starting year. Check also that you have the right amount of language studies as indicated in the study structure.
Graduating students have the possibility to do exams on courses not yet completed on special retake dates given for graduating students. Check the dates from the Academic Year Guide or from the Study Office. 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 "Thesis" -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. Please note that you have to complete the whole thing at once! 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.
According to the UAS Decree (15.5.2003/352, 8§) students must acquire the required foreign language skills deemed necessary for the practice of a profession and for professional development: - written and spoken language skills in one or two foreign languages and - Spoken and written Swedish and Finnish (further detailed in the decree regulating the language skills required of public organization staff and personnel, 424/2003 6§). For Finnish students, the degree certificate will record a grade separately for Swedish (spoken and written). The maturity test provides an indication of the student’s skills in the Finnish language. For foreign students: The rule does not apply to students who have received his or her education in a language other than Finnish or Swedish or abroad. Thus, those students must apply to the Head of School in writing for exemption. To initiate the process of exemption from language study requirements, foreign students must provide an open application in which they apply for exemption from Swedish studies relevant to their degree. The application must be addressed to the President of Kajaani University of Applied Sciences, Mr Turo Kilpeläinen and submitted to the Study Office Foreign students must also inform the Study Office about the language of their school education (before the University of Applied Science studies), 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.