Which documents to keep after graduation
If you have just finished, the papers you file today are the ones someone will ask for years from now. A firm, WES or another college may each want something else.
The table lists the six that matter, and the question each one answers.
Your provisional certificate belongs in the file too, until the degree arrives. WES and university verification offices accept it in the meantime.
There is no date after which these papers stop mattering. A job check, a visa or a new course can come years after you finish. Keep the originals for good, and check your scans still open every year or so.
Check, too, that the email account holding your scans is one you will keep.
| Document | Why you will need it |
|---|---|
| Degree certificate | Proof of your award. Its back states the mode of study and the dates |
| Every marksheet | Evaluators such as WES ask for every year's marksheets |
| Transcript | Evaluation abroad. It is ordered separately from marksheets |
| Admission letter | It names the session you were admitted in |
| Recognition record | Shows your course was recognised for that session |
| Fee receipts | Proof of what you paid, if a charge is ever questioned |
Sources: UGC rules, Regulation 16, WES
Why originals still matter
It is tempting to think a scan or an app copy is enough. In India, a degree your college puts into DigiLocker does count as the original. Outside that, the paper still does work no copy can do.
So keep the originals flat, dry and together, in one folder at home, away from where you keep the copies.
- Evaluation abroadWES wants papers sealed and sent by the college, not copies you send.
- AttestationThe Ministry of External Affairs stamps the paper, based on the signature on it.
- Your own scansUseful for forms, but they do not count as the original anywhere.
Save your recognition record now
This is the one record none of your own papers can replace. A course is cleared for five years, for a set year and session. The list moves on, so save your row while it is easy to find.
Keep it for good. Recognition lasts five years and is recorded for each session, so the row you need may not be on the live list when someone asks.
Your admission letter is the paper that ties you to a session. That matters because recognition is recorded per session, not per college.
UGC also sets a last date of admission for each session. For the February 2024 session, it was 31 March 2024. Your letter shows that you joined inside the window. Keep it with your saved row from the list, because the two prove the same point together.
- Open the UGC-DEB listGo to the list of recognised courses.
- Pick your year, session and modeMatch the session on your admission letter.
- Find your college and courseAn MBA should read PG.
- Save a dated copyA PDF or print with the date, kept with your admission letter.
Scan both sides of every document
Scans are for you, not for the bodies that assess you. WES, for one, wants papers sealed and sent by the college, so your own file is never the one it checks. Scans still save time, because forms ask for exact dates and ID numbers.
Scan the back as well as the front. That is where the rules put the most useful details.
Name each file so a stranger could follow it: what it is, your name and the date.
- The frontYour name, the course and the award. How it looks varies by college.
- The backHow you studied, when you joined and finished, and where you sat exams.
Keep two sets
Keep one set on paper and one online. The online copy that counts most is not one you scan. If your college has sent your degree to NAD, you can pull it into DigiLocker for free. A degree it puts there counts as the original in India. Your own uploads do not.
Also keep a short note of your roll number, the ID number on your degree and the session on your admission letter. Most emails that check your degree start by asking for these.
Note your DEB-ID too. You needed it to enrol, and from the 2024-25 session it is linked to your Academic Bank of Credits ID. Both follow you from college to college.
- On paperOriginals, sealed transcript sets and fee receipts, kept together at home.
- OnlineThe degree your college put in DigiLocker, plus scans in a backed-up account.
A one-page note of your IDs
Put these numbers on one page and keep it with your copies. Almost every email about your record will ask for one of them.
| ID | Where you find it |
|---|---|
| Roll or enrolment number | On your marksheets |
| Unique ID on the degree | On the degree itself, under Regulation 16(1) |
| DEB-ID | Your enrolment record; needed before you joined |
| Academic Bank of Credits ID | Linked to your DEB-ID from the 2024-25 session |
| Session you joined | On your admission letter |
Source: UGC-DEB, DEB-ID
Order spares before you leave
Some papers are easy to order while you are a student and slow to get later. Each is ordered and paid for on its own, so order what you will need in one go.
Ask your exam office for its fee list in your last term, since prices differ by college.
- TranscriptsOne sealed set for each body that asks. ₹1,000 plus ₹500 a page at Pondicherry University.
- Combined marksheetAll your marks on one sheet. ₹500 at Pondicherry University.
- An open copyFor your own use, so you never break a seal to read your marks.
Papers for study or work abroad
Going abroad asks for the most paper. Plan for it before you graduate, because some papers take months to arrive.
Order your bachelor's set at the same time. It comes from a different exam office, which may run its own timetable.
| Need | What to have |
|---|---|
| Evaluation, such as WES | Degree or provisional, and every year's marks, sealed and sent by the college |
| A master's evaluated | Your bachelor's papers as well |
| Transcripts sent by email | Some colleges email them to WES. ₹500 per email at the University of Delhi |
| Use in another country | An apostille or attestation on the paper original |
Source: WES, Indian degrees
Keep your fee receipts
Fee receipts are easy to throw away once the course is over. Keep them anyway. UGC requires each college to publish every part of its fee and its refund rules before admission. A demand for more than the declared fee, or a refund held back, is a grievance you can raise.
Each college must run an online system for grievances, and an ombudsperson tries to settle an appeal within 30 days. Your receipts are the proof you will need for any of it.
Documents you may need later
Two more papers come up later, for set uses. Neither is a paper you need for a job.
Using your degree abroad has its own route too. Countries in the Hague Apostille Convention take an apostille. Others need the paper stamped and then cleared by their embassy, through firms the Ministry of External Affairs appoints.
The Ministry goes by the signature on the paper and does not check what it says. So the paper must be the original the college signed.
| Document | When you need it |
|---|---|
| Migration certificate | Joining a different university. ₹500 at the University of Delhi within ten years, ₹1,000 after |
| Transference certificate | Moving between colleges of the same university |
| Apostille or attestation | Using your degree abroad |
Sources: Delhi University, MEA
If you lose a document
Losing a paper is a nuisance, not a disaster, if you kept good copies. Each college has its own process and fees for a replacement, so start with the office that issued it.
This is where your scans and your note of IDs pay off. An office can find your record far faster with the exact numbers.
- Write to the issuing officeUsually the exam office, with your roll number and the ID on the paper.
- Ask what it needs and what it costsGet both in writing before you pay.
- Use your copies meanwhileScans for forms, and the DigiLocker degree for checks in India.
- Keep every letterUntil the replacement is in your hands.
