Does the University not value graduates enough to even congratulate them?

The University of Helsinki is making a transition to digital degree certificates on 18 March 2025. After this, students will not even get a symbolic memento of their graduation.

The email notification sound chimes: You can download your degree certificate using this link. A long study path at the University is coming to an end. After a few clicks, you can shut down your computer. No congratulations, no ceremony.

Is this the future our students face when they graduate from the University of Helsinki? Among Finnish universities, the University of Helsinki is one of the last to make the transition to digital degree certificates. Will the University still acknowledge the importance of graduation to students in the future?

The transition to digital degree certificates has been under preparation at the University since late 2022. We have been actively monitoring and participating in the reform since the very beginning. In spring 2023, we conducted a survey among our members, receiving almost 800 responses in just over a week. If it was not clear before, the responses certainly underlined the symbolic value of the degree certificates: ‘I think it is unfortunate that my graduation is not important enough for the University to spare one piece of paper.’

We have regularly met with the person in charge of the preparation as well as University Management, influenced matters in the Academic Affairs Council, delivered the feedback from students to the University and continuously brought up the value and symbolism of the certificate and the entire graduation process for students. We have, for instance, suggested to the University that graduating students could get a folder with a congratulatory message from the University.

The digitalisation of degree certificates has many benefits for students, such as getting an automatic English copy and diverse opportunities for using the certificate. We believe that the reform could be carried out in a way that would retain some elements of the reception of a paper certificate, which students consider important.It is important to us that a single-use link in one’s email will not be the only reminder of such an important milestone in the future.

In their current form, the graduation parties the University organises twice a year cannot fill the hole left by the paper degree certificate. The needs of continuous graduation must be taken into account when developing the graduation parties: how does the University thank students who graduate in January? If all investments in the graduation process focus on the graduation parties, a significant share of students will be excluded entirely.

‘Our students work their guts out at the University for years, toiling away on their studies all day long. Besides their studies, they also manage to take an active role in the development of the University community’, Chair of HYY’s Board Antti Kaijansinkko points out. ‘It is sad to realise how little our University values students’ work. When studies have been turned into a production line that is optimised to the limit and all humanity has been removed from graduation, students are reduced to mere resource units for the University. This is demeaning.’

Work at the University continues. We believe that it is possible to find a solution with the University that allows us to both enjoy the many benefits of digital degree certificates and celebrate students’ graduation with the respect and value it deserves.