Where required to provide certified documents to UTS, you must lodge certified copies of original documents, not the original documents themselves. The certified copies will be held as a record of the university and cannot be returned to you.

Certification is a process whereby an approved individual (referred to here as an ‘authorised officer’) confirms the authenticity of a copy of an original document for the purpose of providing it to UTS.

Getting original documents certified

An authorised officer must certify a copy of a document as a true copy of an original document. If you are an authorised officer, you are not permitted to certify your own documents.

An authorised officer who certifies your document must be contactable by phone during normal working hours.

Some authorising officers may charge for making certified copies of your original document.

Within Australia

Authorised officers include employees of:

  • the Universities Admissions Centre (UAC)
  • the student enquiries office or admissions office at any UAC participating university
  • the administration office at any TAFE college
  • tertiary admissions centres in other states or territories
  • the official records department of the institution that issued the original document(s).

Authorised officers also include someone who is currently employed as:

  • an accountant who is a registered tax agent or a member of any of the following groups:
    • Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia
    • Australian Society of Certified Practising Accountants
    • National Institute of Accountants
    • Association of Taxation and Management Accountants
  • a bank or credit union manager
  • a barrister, solicitor or patent attorney
  • a health professional registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (for example, a doctor, pharmacist, optometrist, nurse)
  • a police officer or defence force officer
  • a post office manager
  • a principal of an Australian secondary college, high school or primary school
  • a Commissioner for Declarations
  • a Justice of the Peace with a registration number (refer NSW Justices of the Peace).

Outside Australia

Outside Australia, authorised officers include:

  • an Australian overseas diplomatic mission
  • an Australian educational centre
  • a UTS authorised representative or agent
  • a Public Notary (available in some countries, for example, India and China)
  • the administration of the institution that originally issued the document(s)
  • an overseas office of an Australian university.

Acceptable certified copies

The authorised officer who certifies your documents must:

  • write the following text on the copy of your document(s), ‘This is a true copy of the original document sighted by me’
  • sign the copy
  • print the following on the copy:
    • their full name
    • profession or occupation or organisation
    • professional registration number (if applicable), and
    • the date the document was certified
  • print their business address and contact number (optional for a Justice of the Peace)
  • affix the official stamp or seal of the authorised officer’s organisation on the copy (if the organisation has such a stamp).

In addition, a Justice of the Peace (JP) must also print:

  • their registration number
  • the state or territory in which they are registered as a JP.

Translating your documents

Original or certified official translations must be provided for documents that are not in English, together with certified copies of supporting documents.

Officers authorised to translate official documents into English include:

Privacy notice

UTS will take steps to verify that certified documents are authentic, in particular if it believes that the certification may be in question.

UTS may contact the issuing institution to verify the authenticity of documents submitted. UTS may also use the contact details provided by the authorised officer or obtain them from public registers for this purpose (for example, a state’s Justice of the Peace Register).

Personal information will be used to investigate any suspected fraudulent activity or other forms of serious wrongdoing, which will be dealt with in line with the Student Rules and/or the Whistleblowing and Public Interest Disclosures Policy as appropriate in the circumstances. Suspected fraudulent activity may also be referred to the police.

Note: In this section on privacy at UTS, the term ‘personal information’ refers to both personal and health information, unless specified otherwise. Both terms are explained in Privacy definitions.