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  1. Home
  2. Student Pages
  3. For student, Teacher Education
  4. Graduation from Professional Teacher Education

Graduation from Professional Teacher Education programmes

Congratulations! Your studies at HAMK School of Professional Teacher Education are nearly over, and it’s time to take the final steps before graduation.

Graduation from the School of Professional Teacher Education

Graduation and certificate applications are submitted through the VALO graduation service in Pakki (student’s desktop). You can start the graduation process once all studies are completed, and assessments have been submitted by your teacher.

Please start the graduation process well in advance as each phase requires processing time. The application must be submitted at least three weeks before the intended graduation date.

When can I graduate?

The planned common graduation date for professional teacher education programmes is June 4, 2027, but you can also graduate at other times. The School of Professional Teacher Education has two scheduled graduation dates a month (excluding May, which has only one graduation date, and July, which has no graduation dates). You can find the graduation dates and the final submission dates for certificates below.

If your transcript is missing assessments or the graduation application is submitted too late, graduation will automatically be postponed to the next possible graduation date.

Graduation dateLast date to submit the certification application
30.10.202612.10.2026
13.11.202626.10.2026
27.11.20269.11.2026
11.12.202623.11.2026
31.12.202614.12.2026
15.1.202721.12.2026 
29.1.202711.1.2027
12.2.202718.1.2027
26.2.20278.2.2027
12.3.202722.2.2027
25.3.20278.3.2027
16.4.202730.3.2027
30.4.202712.4.2027
14.5.202726.4.2027
4.6.202717.5.2027
30.6.202714.6.2027

Graduate checklist

Log in to Pakki and make sure that you have completed all the necessary studies and that they are recorded in Pakki.

Make sure your contact details are up to date in Pakki. The link to download your electronic certificate will be sent to the email address you have given as your other email addres.

You can use your HAMK user ID for 28 days after the graduation date. Go through the electronic materials and download the things that are important to you on your own computer.

You can join our Alumni network directly when filling out your graduation application. However, if for some reason you haven’t joined yet, now is a good time! Check out our Alumni Activities and join us!

Join HAMK’s Alumni Network!

Graduation Ceremony

We celebrate all graduates from the School of Professional Teacher Education once a year at the graduation ceremony.

The next graduation ceremony will be held on Friday, June 4, 2027.

You will receive an invitation to the graduation ceremony by email in the spring. You can register for the graduation ceremony even if you have not yet submitted your certificate application or it has not been processed by the time of the ceremony.

Applying for a certificate

  1. You can start the graduation process once you have confirmed with your tutor teacher that all studies have been completed and the assessments have been entered into the study register.
  2. Log in to student’s desktop Pakki and select VALO graduation service.
  3. Complete the graduation feedback survey in one go. The system will direct you back to the VALO graduation service after the survey has been completed.
  4. Fill out the application. After this, an automatic message about your application will be sent to the Student Affairs Office. Professional teacher education does not include a graduation discussion within the VALO process, as the discussion has already been held earlier with the teacher.
  5. The application cannot be finalized at this stage; it will wait for the verification of the transcript of records.
  6. When the application is returned to you after review, you will receive a message at the email address you provided with your application. You can then finalize the application by forwarding the application for approval. Remember to send the application for approval so that the certificate creation process can proceed. Once you have submitted the application for approval, you will receive a confirmation of your completion via email.

Instructions for the VALO graduation service and graduation feedback survey

  • The VALO graduation service works the best with the following browsers: Chrome, Safari, Mozilla Firefox, or Edge.
  • VALO operates in the language you use for Pakki. You can change the language of Pakki if you wish.
  • If you have multiple study rights, check in Pakki that you are moving to the VALO service with the correct study right. By clicking your name in the top bar of Pakki, you can see all your study rights.
  • If logging into the VALO service fails, you can try logging out of Paki, closing the browser, or switching browsers and logging in again.

  • The graduation feedback survey is filled out on the Webropol website, which works the best with Mozilla Firefox or Chrome browsers.
  • The VALO service automatically directs to you the graduation feedback survey on the Webropol website. It will also automatically redirect you back to VALO service once the survey is completed.
  • If you have not completed the graduation feedback survey or have closed the browser before being redirected to the VALO service, please contact the student services.

In case of problems that you cannot resolve with the above advice, you can contact the Student Affairs Office at aokk-opintotoimisto@hamk.fi

Electronic certificate

HAMK only issues electronic certificates. You can download the certificate from the link that will be sent by email on the graduation day. The link is valid for 28 days from the date of sending. The email sender is noreply.documents (at) hamk.fi (also check your spam folder). Save your certificate carefully in several places for yourself, including a backup copy.

The certificate can also be downloaded from the student’s desktop (Pakki) from the Documents section. The certificate is available to download from Pakki for 28 days from the graduation date.

The certificate includes a cover page, a transcript of records and a Certificate Supplement, which is an English-language annex to the certificate for international use. For Finnish-language education, students will receive a certificate in Finnish. For English-language education, the student receives a certificate in both Finnish and English.

An e-certificate is an official certificate that does not require a separate authentication. It can be sent as an attachment to the authorities or to the employer. Paper copies of the certificate can be printed, but the official certificate is only available in electronic form. A printout of the certificate is not sent separately.

Certified copies

This instruction applies to requests for certified copies and requests to have an electronic certificate resent for professional teacher education graduates awarded by HAMK. Please read the detailed ordering instructions below.

Please note:

  • Since October 2021, HAMK has issued only electronic certificates. An electronic certificate is an official document that does not require separate certification. The certificate can be submitted as an attachment to authorities or an employer. Printouts of an electronic degree certificate are copies.
  • Copies of certificates issued before 1997 can be obtained from the National Archives of Finland.

  • If you have lost your electronic certificate
    Submit a request to have the electronic certificate resent by email to aokk-opintotoimisto@hamk.fi.

    You will receive an email containing a link (delivery time approximately two weeks) from which you can download your degree certificate. The link is valid for 28 days from the date of sending. The sender of the email is noreply.documents@hamk.fi (please also check your spam folder).

    Resending the electronic certificate is free of charge.

  • If you need certified printed copies of the electronic certificate
    Since October 2021 HAMK has issued only electronic certificates. The electronic certificate is an official document and does not require separate certification. The certificate can be submitted as an attachment to authorities or an employer. Printed copies of the electronic certificate are copies.

    If, however, you need a certified paper copy (a printed and certified copy) of the electronic certificate, you can order it from HAMK Shop.

  • If you have lost your original paper degree certificate (issued before October 2021)
    Order a certified copy of the certificate from the HAMK Shop.

Copies are printed on standard copy paper and do not include separate covers. Paper copies are delivered by registered mail. Electronic certified copies (PDF) are primarily delivered by encrypted email.

Fees for certificate copies from 1 Oct 2023:

  1. Certified paper copy of a degree certificate: €50 per copy (graduation before 1 October 2021)
  2. Certified paper copy printed from an electronic degree certificate: €50 per copy
  3. Resending an electronic degree certificate is free of charge.

If you choose postal delivery for the paper copy, please remember to also pay the postage in HAMK Shop.

Postage fees from 1 Apr 2026:

The price includes a service fee and a tracking code.

1. Registered letter within Finland €25
2. Registered letter to EU countries €35
3. Registered letter outside the EU €45

Terms of Delivery and Liability

Once the shipment has been handed over to the carrier (Posti or DHL), responsibility for the shipment is transferred to them. The carrier is responsible for delivering the shipment in accordance with its own terms and conditions. Any loss or damage must be reported directly to the respective carrier. HAMK recommends using electronic documents to avoid postal delivery risks

The certificate copy will be sent no later than two weeks after the order. However, processing times may be longer than usual in May, June, and December due to a high workload. Processing of copy requests submitted in July and August will begin no earlier than September. For more information, please contact verifications@hamk.fi

Please note! If you have a Finnish personal identity code, you can also view your completed studies and share your study records in the Opintopolku.fi / Oma opintopolku service.

Third party needing to verify your certificate

If a third party (example: another university, a possible employer or a degree verification agency) needs to receive information about your certificate, please note the following:

Verification of an electronic certificate

A third party can verify HAMK’s electronic certificates using AtomiValidator. The service does not require logging in; instead, the file is uploaded and the command “Validate file” is selected.

Go to AtomiValidator on HAMK’s website from here

HAMK’s electronic certificates can also be verified using the Digital and Population Data Services Agency’s service.

Go to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency’s service from here

Do you need more detailed information?

HAMK can verify the title of your qualification, your graduation date and whether or not you have graduated. This service is free of charge. This can be done via e-mail directly in communication with the third party; they can send an e-mail to verifications@hamk.fi.

If a third party needs any other or more information, then you as our former student need to be the one contacting us via verifications@hamk.fi. This is to ensure the data security, in accordance with GDPR, that your information is not shared with an unauthorized third party. Even if you have signed a consent form stating that a third party may access your information, HAMK may still contact you and require payment for the verification service.

We aim to process and distribute your documents within 90 days. Please note that processing times may be longer in May, June and December due to a high workload. Applications submitted in July and August will begin processing no earlier than September.