Making Certified Copies In Germany
When you are registering or matriculating into a German university, one of the many paperwork requirements that you will have to fulfill is to provide certified copies of certain documents for the university's records. For those attending German university at a graduate level, this would include your bachelor's diploma and high school transcript, for those at the undergraduate level, this is your high school transcript alone. However, it's not sufficient in most cases to bring your documents to the student or registration office and have them make a copy for you, so what are you to do?
Return to the Bürgeramt/Bürgerbüro (citizen's office) where you registered with the city! These offices will happily make certified copies of whatever documents that you need to have done. Bring the originals with you, and they will make a stamped and signed copy for you, which will satisfy any requirements for a certified/official copy that you have to provide to the university. When you do so, you will have to inform them of what the copy is intended for though, so go to get the copies only when you are sure that you will need them, and that the student office won't be able to make the copies themselves.
It's worth bearing in mind as well that you will have to pay a fee for each copy (depending on the quantity, the fee can be about 5 Euros a piece), just in case you needed any extra incentive not to brave the line at the office to get copies made unnecessarily.
If you are only required to provide a copy of your high school transcript (usually not your diploma, as this doesn't include your grades as a German high school diploma would), if you can get an official, stamped and sealed copy from your high school before you leave for Germany, this is obviously acceptable. Doing so will save you some extra time and hassle during your registrations in most instances, and is particularly worthwhile if you are only taking a semester abroad, as you will already be having to take care of a whirlwind of registrations and paperwork in the first place.