Translation insights
Translating DMCs and Transcripts for UK and Canadian Universities
How to prepare Pakistani DMCs, transcripts, and degrees for UK and Canadian university applications, why marks must never be converted, and where credential evaluation differs from translation.
By Global Translation Services · Published: August 30, 2026 · Reading Time: 6 min
A Pakistani DMC lists marks out of 1100. A UK admissions officer has no intuition for that number, and a Canadian evaluator will convert it themselves using a method you do not control.
Your job is not to make the numbers look better. It is to make them legible and verifiable. Applicants who misunderstand that are the ones whose files get flagged.
First: do you actually need a translation?
Most Pakistani universities issue degrees, transcripts, and DMCs in English. If yours are in English, you generally do not need a translation at all, you need attested or certified copies.
Where translation genuinely comes in:
- Matric and intermediate certificates from boards that issue in Urdu
- Older documents predating the shift to English issuance
- Madrasa and religious education certificates
- Seals, board endorsements, or marginal notes in Urdu on an otherwise English document
- Character and migration certificates from some institutions
If you send us an English degree and ask for a translation, we will tell you that you do not need one. That conversation costs us an order and saves you money, and it is the correct answer.
The rule that matters most: do not convert marks
This is where well-meaning translators cause real damage.
A DMC showing 780/1100 gets translated as 780/1100. Not as a 3.2 GPA. Not as 70.9%. Not as a “First Division equivalent to a UK 2:1”.
Three reasons this is not negotiable:
It is not translation. Converting a Pakistani mark into a Canadian GPA is credential evaluation, an assessment performed by designated bodies using published methodologies. A translator doing it informally is making a judgement they are not qualified or authorised to make.
The methodologies disagree. WES, IQAS, ICES, and a university’s own admissions office can produce different equivalencies from the same transcript. A number invented by your translator will not match whichever one the institution actually uses, and the mismatch is visible.
It alters the record. The admissions officer is comparing your translation against the original. A figure in the translation that is not on the original is, at best, an error, and at worst reads as an attempt to improve the marks.
What a good translation does instead is carry over the marking scheme printed on the document — the total, the division or grade, the pass mark where stated — so the reader has everything needed to interpret the number correctly.
What a proper academic translation preserves
- Subject names kept recognisable rather than paraphrased into local equivalents
- Board and university names in full, not acronyms, since “BISE Rawalpindi” means nothing abroad unless expanded
- Roll numbers and registration numbers reproduced exactly, because they are the verification handle
- Table structure kept as a table, not flattened into prose
- Totals, grades, and divisions exactly as printed
- Seals and endorsements described where they sit
- Blank fields shown as blank rather than dropped
- Your name transliterated to match your passport, not spelled by ear
That last one causes more trouble than it should. If your degree, your passport, and your application form carry three spellings of your name, the file raises a question you do not want raised.
Translation, evaluation, attestation: three different things
Applicants routinely conflate these, and each is a different provider.
Translation renders the document in another language, unchanged. That is us.
Credential evaluation assesses what your qualification is worth in the destination system, producing an equivalency report. WES, IQAS, ICES, and similar bodies do this. Canadian applications frequently require it, and Canadian permanent residence commonly requires an Educational Credential Assessment from a designated organisation. Many UK universities assess in-house or through UK ENIC instead.
Attestation is a government body confirming the document’s authenticity, HEC for university qualifications and IBCC for matric and intermediate, then MOFA where a visa stage requires it. See our MOFA attestation checklist for that chain.
Check which of the three your programme actually asks for. Buying all three when you needed one is a common and avoidable expense.
UK and Canada differ, and admission differs from visa
UK. Many universities assess Pakistani qualifications themselves and accept certified copies at the admission stage. Attestation requirements more often attach to the visa stage than to admission. Read the offer conditions and the visa checklist as two separate documents, because they ask for different things.
Canada. Credential evaluation is more commonly required up front, and evaluators such as WES generally want documents sent directly by your institution rather than forwarded by you or by a translator. That routing requirement catches people out, so read the evaluator’s submission instructions before arranging anything.
In both cases, the specific programme’s requirements beat any general guide, this one included.
Send the whole set at once
An academic file is a set: degree or provisional certificate, every year’s DMC or transcript, matric and intermediate certificates, often a character or migration certificate.
Translated together, board names, subject titles, and your name stay consistent across every page. Translated one at a time over several weeks, they drift, and inconsistency across a file is exactly what a reviewer scanning it notices first.
It is also cheaper, since a set is quoted together rather than page by page.
Timing
Standard turnaround suits most academic files, with 24-hour delivery at 1.5x to 2x if a deadline is close.
The real constraint is upstream. If your programme needs a credential evaluation, that is measured in weeks and may require your institution to send documents directly. If the visa stage needs attestation, that is weeks more. Send the file when the offer arrives, not the week the deadline closes.
What we do
We translate degrees, DMCs, transcripts, diplomas, matric and intermediate certificates, and school leaving and character certificates, between Urdu, English, and Arabic, with a certificate of accuracy where the university asks for one.
We do not perform credential evaluation, do not attest documents, and do not submit to WES, HEC, or any university on your behalf. Where a step is outside what we can do, we will say so and tell you who does it.
See educational document translation for the service detail, and certified translation if your offer letter asks for a signed statement of accuracy.
Send your documents and the exact wording of the requirement on WhatsApp, and we will tell you what needs translating, what does not, and what belongs to someone else entirely.
Frequently Asked Questions
My degree is already in English. Do I need a translation?
Usually not, and we will tell you so rather than take the order. Most Pakistani universities issue degrees and transcripts in English. What you normally need instead is attested copies. If only a seal, a board endorsement, or a marginal note is in Urdu, that portion may need a short translation while the rest does not.
Should the translation convert my marks to a GPA or percentage?
No. A DMC showing 780 out of 1100 must be rendered exactly as that. Converting to a 4.0 GPA is credential evaluation, a separate service performed by bodies such as WES or IQAS, and a translator who converts quietly has altered your academic record. Universities check translations against originals and a converted figure is a serious problem.
What is the difference between translation and credential evaluation?
Translation renders the document in another language, unchanged. Credential evaluation assesses what your Pakistani qualification is worth in the destination education system, producing an equivalency report. They are different services from different providers, and most Canadian applications need both while many UK universities assess in-house.
Do Canadian universities require a WES report?
Many do, and Canadian immigration commonly requires an Educational Credential Assessment from a designated organisation for permanent residence. WES is one of several. Requirements differ by university and by immigration stream, so check the specific programme rather than assuming. WES typically wants documents sent directly by your institution.
Do UK universities need attested documents?
For admission, many accept certified copies and assess qualifications themselves through UK ENIC or their own criteria. Attestation requirements more often attach to the visa stage than the admission stage. Read the offer conditions carefully, because the two stages ask for different things and applicants routinely conflate them.
Which documents should I send for translation together?
The whole academic set: degree or provisional certificate, every year's DMC or transcript, matric and intermediate certificates, and any character or migration certificate. Sent together, board names, subject titles, and your own name stay consistent across every page, which is exactly what an admissions officer scanning the file notices.
What does translating a full academic file cost?
Educational certificate and degree or DMC translation starts from Rs. 1,500, and transcript translation from Rs. 2,000 because transcripts carry far more data per page. A multi-year academic file is quoted as a set rather than at a flat per-page rate.
How long does it take?
Standard turnaround suits most academic files, with 24-hour delivery at 1.5x to 2x the normal rate if a deadline is close. The pressure point is usually admission deadlines, so send the file when the offer arrives rather than the week it closes.
Does the translation need to be certified?
Most UK and Canadian universities asking for a translation want a certified one, meaning it carries a signed statement of accuracy. Check the wording in the offer or application portal, since a plain translation and a certified translation are priced differently and an uncertified file may be returned.
Can you handle HEC attestation or the WES submission?
No to both. HEC attestation is a government process, and WES generally requires documents sent directly by the issuing institution rather than by an applicant or a translator. We translate the documents. We will tell you honestly which parts of your file we cannot help with.