For a French study application (the Campus France checklist asks for "copy of the last diploma/degree — WAEC and/or University certificates and transcripts"), the Nigerian academic documents involved are:
WAEC / WASSCE (secondary school)
- WASSCE = West African Senior School Certificate Examination, issued by WAEC (West African Examinations Council). The result is the standard proof of secondary education for admissions.
- Two things get confused:
- the statement of result / certificate (the physical/printed document), and
- the online result on waecdirect.org, checked with a result-checker PIN (bought as a scratch card or e-PIN). Each PIN allows a limited number of checks — don't exhaust it; institutions may want to verify online themselves.
- Institutions abroad often verify WAEC results directly through WAEC's verification service rather than trusting a printout, so keep the exam year, type (May/June or Nov/Dec), centre and candidate number to hand.
University documents
- Certificate/diploma (degree) and academic transcript (courses + grades), issued by the awarding university. Transcripts are usually sent by the institution; request them early — Nigerian universities can be slow.
- A NYSC discharge/exemption certificate may also be requested for graduates, depending on the destination requirement.
Using them in France
Academic documents for a French file generally need to be authenticated for use abroad (see authenticate-documents) and to meet France's requirement for foreign documents — legalisation/apostille + a sworn French translation unless the institution accepts English (see France's foreign-document rules). Campus France (via the Études en France portal) is usually the first step for Nigerian students and states exactly which documents and formats it wants — follow its checklist.
Pièges connus
- Relying on a WAEC printout when the institution wants an online/WAEC-verified result — set up the checker PIN and keep exam identifiers.
- Requesting transcripts too late (a common cause of missed intake deadlines).
- Name mismatches across WAEC, university documents, passport and birth certificate.
Sources
- WAEC — waec.org.ng / result checker waecdirect.org (checked 2026-07)
- Campus France Nigeria — nigeria.campusfrance.org (required academic documents) (checked 2026-07)