Chinese Degree Certificate Translation UK: ITI-Certified

A Chinese degree certificate translation UK universities will accept usually covers two documents, not one: the 学位证书 (degree certificate), which records that the degree was awarded, and the 毕业证书 (graduation certificate), which records that you completed the programme. Universities admitting Chinese graduates to master’s and PhD courses often ask for both, translated by your university or a qualified translator; UCL says outright that you must not do it yourself. I produce and certify that translation as a Qualified Member of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (MITI). Further down are the cases where you need no translation at all.

What UK universities ask Chinese graduates for

The two certificates reflect two separate decisions. China’s Higher Education Law (Article 20) has your university issue a 学历证书 for completing the programme, while the Degree Law, in force since 1 January 2025, leaves it to the university’s degree evaluation committee to decide whether to award a bachelor’s degree (Article 24). A note on the English site of CHSI (学信网), the Ministry of Education’s verification service, puts it this way: qualifications and degrees are “two separate types of credentials represented by separate documents”. You can graduate without the degree, so one certificate alone doesn’t tell admissions the whole story.

Here is how five UK universities word their requests, as published on 28 September 2026:

• UCL: where a degree certificate is required, “If you have studied in China you are also required to provide a graduation certificate”. Translations must be “prepared by your institution or a registered translator. You must not translate the documents yourself.”
• Queen’s University Belfast: “Final Bachelor Degree and Graduation Certificates for programmes already complete should also be provided”, together with “official English translations of their qualifications documents”.
• University of Warwick: upload your degree certificate and “a scan of your graduation certificate if your university provides one”, plus “an official translation”, defined as “a legally valid translation made by a qualified translator who certifies that the translation corresponds to the information in the source document(s)”.
• University of Edinburgh: a degree certificate not in English needs “an officially certified translation” from the awarding institution, a sworn translator, or “a Fellow (FITI) or Member (MITI) of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI), who may self-certify the translation”.
• LSE: translated documents “should bear the stamp and seal of an official translator and must be supplied with the original document, or on the headed paper of your institution.”

Warwick also wants the documents to “confirm the title of your degree, final mark and the award date”. On a Chinese set, the degree title and award date sit on the 学位证, the study period on the 毕业证 and the final mark on your transcript, so translating only one certificate leaves gaps. Transcripts have their own quirks; I cover them under academic transcript translation.

Does a certified translation meet that requirement?

For every wording above, yes. The UK has no sworn-translator status (the ITI: “there is no such thing as a sworn translator”), so a certified translation is one that carries the translator’s own declaration. Gov.uk describes it as the translator confirming in writing that it is a “true and accurate translation of the original document”, with the date and “their full name and contact details”. Edinburgh names MITI members outright; Warwick’s “qualified translator who certifies” and UCL’s “registered translator” describe the same thing. My membership can be checked through the ITI link in the box above.

For a degree and graduation certificate pair, my translation covers:

• Each certificate on its own page, laid out like the original for line-by-line comparison.
• Your name spelled as in your passport, plus your date of birth, which Chinese rules require the degree certificate to record exactly as on your ID card.
• Major, level, length and study mode, for example a four-year full-time undergraduate programme. The Ministry of Education requires graduation certificates to state the study mode, and I keep it.
• The degree exactly as awarded. The certificate names a discipline category: 工学学士 is a Bachelor of Engineering, 管理学学士 a Bachelor of Management. I don’t turn either into a BSc because that looks more familiar.
• Certificate numbers copied digit by digit. Degree certificates issued since 2008 carry a 16-digit number whose sixth digit shows the level (4 for a bachelor’s, 3 for a master’s).
• Seals, photo and signatures described where they appear: the embossed seal across your photo, the university’s red seal, and the president’s signature, which may be a signature stamp. The ATC, CIOL and ITI joint guidance says to “write the text in the stamp in the target language”, and that is how I mark them.
• Dates written out, such as “25 June 2024”, because many degree certificates give the award date in Chinese characters (二〇二四年六月二十五日).
• A signed certification page with the statement of accuracy, date, my full name, contact details and ITI membership, delivered as a PDF.

Where a certified translation is not the answer:

• Your own university may come first. LSE lets graduates of Chinese universities verify through CHESICC (学信网), but notes the degree certificate cannot be sent that way and asks for “a copy of the degree certificate (translated into English) provided to you by your own university”. Ask your 教务处 first; if they can’t, ask LSE in writing whether a certified translation will do.
• A verification report may stand in for it. CHSI issues online verification reports for qualification and degree certificates and says they are “available in English”. Queen’s accepts them; the other pages above don’t mention them, so check first. A report verifies your certificate; it doesn’t translate it.
• UK ENIC doesn’t need one. For Chinese, UK ENIC says “there is no charge for the Translation Waiver Service” on its Statement of Comparability. Don’t pay for a translation just for ENIC.
• The Student visa may not ask for it. Home Office caseworker guidance says a student on a degree-level course at a higher education provider “does not need to provide evidence of qualifications used to obtain the offer”, and Chinese nationals applying from China or the UK are on the reduced-evidence list in Appendix Student. If a caseworker does ask, the same guidance requires “a fully certified translation from a professional translator or translation company”.
• Notarisation is a different product. None of the five university pages asks for a notarised translation. If a recipient does, read certified vs notarised translation; for a document that needs an apostille, see apostille services.

What to do next

1. Read your offer and the university’s documents page. Note whether it asks for the graduation certificate as well as the degree certificate, and who may translate: “registered translator”, “official translation”, “MITI”.
2. Check what your university already gives you. UCL, Queen’s and Edinburgh all accept translations from the awarding institution. If your 教务处 issues a stamped English version your UK university accepts, use it.
3. Scan both certificates in colour, whole page, with the photo and every seal visible, and send me your name exactly as it appears in your passport.
4. Receive the certified PDF: £30 per page (250 words). Each certificate is normally one page, so a pair is £60, usually delivered in 2 working days.
5. Upload each translation with a scan of its original, as LSE requires, and keep the originals: Warwick asks you to bring them to be checked.
6. If the university insists on something else, such as a translation from your own university or a notarised copy, tell me before ordering so you don’t pay twice.

For the rest of the application, see UK university application requirements for Chinese students.

FAQ

I have a 毕业证 but no 学位证. Can I still apply?

Possibly. Graduating and being awarded the degree are separate decisions in China, so this happens. Whether a 毕业证 alone meets a UK entry requirement is the university’s call. Say so plainly, send the translated 毕业证 and transcript, and never describe the certificate as a degree.

My certificate already has English on it. Do I still need a translation?

If every line the university needs is already printed in English, ask admissions whether it will take the certificate as it is. Anything printed only in Chinese, such as a seal or the degree category, still needs translating.

I lost my certificate and have a 学位证明书 instead. Will that work?

Chinese rules give a replacement (学位证明书 or 学历证明书) the same effect as the original certificate. I translate it the same way, including the original certificate number it cites.