A diploma is almost always translated together with its transcript: the diploma names the qualification, while the subjects, grades and study volume are in the transcript. Without it, the Estonian ENIC/NARIC Centre cannot assess the qualification and a university cannot process your application. Start by establishing where the documents are going. Employers usually accept a standard translation; recognition of education and university admission call for a certified one, and often an apostille on the original as well.
| Institution | What it requires |
|---|---|
| Estonian ENIC/NARIC Centre (assessment of education) | A translation into Estonian, English or Russian; the centre may request the original or an apostilled copy. |
| University admissions | The university's own rule, usually a sworn translation. |
| Employer | A standard translation is normally enough. |
| PPA (residence permit for study or work) | A certified translation into Estonian, Russian or English. |
| Professional bodies and licensing authorities | A sworn translation, often together with the assessment decision. |
The most common problem is not in the translation itself but in the name. If your name is spelled one way on the diploma, another way in your passport and a third way in the Estonian population register, an institution may fail to connect the documents and send them back for clarification.
That is why we ask for the spelling in advance and take the passport or ID card as the reference, since that is what the institution will compare against. Where the diploma shows a different form, a sworn translator renders the form that appears on the document and adds a note. Nothing is hidden; the difference is explained. If you have several documents, we fix one spelling and use it throughout.
The same applies to the name of the institution. Universities are renamed, merged and closed, and a college that had one name in the Soviet Union may now sit in a different country under a different name. The translation gives the name as printed on the document and, where useful, the current name as well. An assessor needs both: one to verify the document, the other to find the institution.
Five-point, hundred-point, ECTS, letter grades — a translator does not convert them into the Estonian scale. That is not a language question but a question of qualification assessment, and it belongs to the Estonian ENIC/NARIC Centre.
The translation conveys what the document says: the name of the grade and the scale, the credits and the study volume exactly as the institution recorded them. If the transcript includes an explanatory scale, that is translated too, so the assessor keeps all the information the decision rests on.
The transcript is almost always translated together with the diploma, because the subjects and grades are there. The diploma alone is rarely enough.
It depends on where it was issued and where it is going. Documents from Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine need none. For an Estonian diploma going abroad, any notary can issue an apostille: €27.71 including VAT, five working days (notar.ee). We can arrange the apostille for you.
A translation certified by a sworn translator is accepted by most institutions, but the requirement is set by the university. Check the admission rules: sometimes a translation issued by your own institution is enough.
The document can still be translated — what is on the page is what gets translated. For assessment, the centre may ask for additional confirmation from the institution's legal successor or the national archive.
Technically yes, but for recognition of education it is usually a dead end, as the assessor needs the full list of subjects and hours. A partial translation makes sense mainly for an employer interested in one specific subject.
Send us the scans and we will reply with the price, the deadline and the requirements of the institution you are filing with. The form takes a minute: contacts, languages and files.
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