Why does a Chinese PhD come with two separate certificates (毕业证书 and 学位证书) instead of one diploma?
TL;DRA Chinese PhD recipient submitted two paired one-page certificates — 毕业证书 (Graduation Certificate, confirming program completion) and 学位证书 (Degree Certificate, conferring the doctoral title) — for WES credential evaluation. Translating either as a generic 'diploma' would have hidden the distinction between the two certificates, which the Chinese higher-education system documents separately. We translated the Graduation Certificate with its distinct English title and added a Translator's Note explaining the two-certificate convention, and the certified translation was delivered for the evaluation packet.
Case Specifications
- Document
- Doctoral Graduation Certificate
- Foreign Name
- 博士研究生毕业证书
- Country
- China
- Languages
- Chinese (Simplified) → English
- Submitted To
- WES (World Education Services) credential evaluation
What We Received
A client submitted a one-page 博士研究生毕业证书 (Doctoral Graduation Certificate) issued jointly by Peking Union Medical College (北京协和医学院) and Tsinghua University (清华大学) for a doctoral program in Medical Imaging and Nuclear Medicine, completed in June 2021 after a three-year course of study. The same client also delivered a paired Degree Certificate (学位证书) on the same date — a separate one-page document with its own title and its own pair of certificate numbers. The translations were needed for a WES credential evaluation packet, and we delivered a certified <a href="/languages/chinese">Chinese translation</a> of the Graduation Certificate with a signed Translator's Certification.
Why This Required Special Handling
In US and most European systems, a doctoral graduate receives one diploma. In the Chinese higher-education system, a doctoral graduate receives two paired credential documents on the same date: a Graduation Certificate (毕业证书), confirming that the student completed the prescribed program and successfully defended the dissertation; and a Degree Certificate (学位证书), conferring the doctoral title itself. Either certificate alone is incomplete — <a href="https://www.wes.org/required-documents/china/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">WES requires both</a> for a doctoral evaluation from mainland China.
A translator who renders 毕业证书 simply as 'Diploma' or 'PhD Diploma' produces output that is indistinguishable from a translation of the Degree Certificate. The evaluator then receives two English files that look the same and may reasonably assume one is a duplicate, or may assume the pair represents two different programs of study. Both readings are wrong, and either one is likely to result in a request for clarification or a delayed evaluation.
The same issue applies in reverse to the Degree Certificate: a 'Doctoral Diploma' translation of 学位证书 with no marker distinguishing it from the Graduation Certificate strips the document of its identity. A faithful certified translation has to preserve both certificate titles distinctly, mirror the original layout, and let the evaluator see the two-document convention on the page.
How We Handled It
We titled the translation 'DOCTORAL GRADUATE DIPLOMA' — a direct rendering of 博士研究生毕业证书 that preserves the distinction from the Degree Certificate (学位证书), which we titled 'DOCTORAL DEGREE DIPLOMA' in its own paired translation. The field label 研究生 ('Graduate Student') was retained verbatim alongside the holder's name. The specialty 影像医学与核医学 was rendered as 'Medical Imaging and Nuclear Medicine' — the standard English designation for this Chinese medical specialty in WES and ECFMG references — and the program-length statement '学制 3 年' was rendered as 'in a 3-year program'.
The two co-issued certificate numbers (one from Tsinghua's institution code 10003 and one from PUMC's institution code 10023, both 18 digits) were transcribed digit-for-digit. Both round red seals — Peking Union Medical College on the left and Tsinghua University with a center star on the right — and the star-shaped 'Graduation' (毕) seal along the right border were described as bracketed visual elements. The two presidential signatures, both handwritten in blue ink and not clearly legible, were marked '[Illegible signature in blue ink]' rather than attributed to any specific officeholder.
Dates in the original ('1988年5月20日生', '2018年9月至2021年6月', '2021年6月23日') were converted from the Chinese 年/月/日 format to the unambiguous US convention with the month spelled out (May 20, 1988; September 2018 to June 2021; June 23, 2021).
"Dates in the original appear in the Chinese format YYYY年M月D日 and have been rendered as Month DD, YYYY in this translation. Two presidential signatures (handwritten, blue ink) appear above the seals and are not clearly legible; they have been marked as illegible signatures. The original bears two round red institutional seals (Peking Union Medical College; Tsinghua University) and a star-shaped red 'Graduation' (毕) seal on the right border — all described in brackets. Two certificate numbers (100031202101008067 and 100231202101008067) appear on the original, corresponding to the two joint awarding institutions."
The Outcome
The certified translation of the Graduation Certificate was delivered as a DOCX with a signed Translator's Certification page, paired with the certified translation of the Degree Certificate (a separate order, covered in our <a href="/cases/chinese-phd-jointly-issued-two-universities-two-seals">joint-issuance case study</a>). The two distinctly titled translations gave the WES reviewer two clearly differentiated documents — Graduation and Degree — rather than two files that looked like duplicates.
What This Means for You
A certified translation of a Chinese doctoral credential must preserve the distinction between 毕业证书 (Graduation Certificate) and 学位证书 (Degree Certificate) — these are two separate credential documents in the Chinese higher-education system, not duplicates or alternate versions of the same diploma. If you are filing both certificates for a WES, ECE, or USCIS submission, the safest translation labels each one with its own distinct English title (for example 'Doctoral Graduate Diploma' for the Graduation Certificate and 'Doctoral Degree Diploma' for the Degree Certificate) and adds a Translator's Note when needed. Run the pair through a <a href="/guides/document-translation-checklist">document translation checklist</a> before submission to confirm both titles, both certificate numbers, and the joint-institution seals are reproduced faithfully.
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We translate Chinese academic credentials — Graduation Certificates, Degree Certificates, transcripts, and credential-evaluation packets — for WES, ECE, ECFMG, USCIS, and US universities, preserving original credential names and Chinese institutional identities where needed.
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Sources & References
- Required Documents — China (Mainland)·World Education Services·Verified 2026-05-19
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