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)

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