ECTS Guide

The modernisation of higher education in Europe that facilitates the recognition of studies.

What is it all about?

European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS)

The European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) is a tool that helps design, describe and implement study programmes and award qualifications in higher education. The use of ECTS, together with results-based qualification frameworks, improves the transparency of study programmes and qualifications and facilitates their recognition.

Why is it necessary?

By ensuring the comparability of higher education in Europe, ECTS makes teaching and learning in higher education more transparent and facilitates therecognition of studies. It is a tool to support the design of study programmes that contributes to quality assurance and makes it possible to transfer learning experiences between institutions, improve student mobility and make the pathways to a degree more flexible.

The ECTS system is closely linked to the modernisation of higher education in Europe and is a central tool in the Bologna Process, which aims to make national systems more compatible.

How does it work?

Participating institutions publish their course catalogues on the Internet; these include detailed descriptions of study programmes, course units, university regulations and student services.

The course descriptions include the ‘learning outcomes’ (i.e. the knowledge students should obtain and the skills they should acquire) and the workload (the time students need to achieve these outcomes). Learning outcomes are expressed in credits. A student's workload varies between 1500 and 1800 hours per academic year and one credit usually corresponds to 25-30 hours of work.

Source: European Education Area