What are ECTS?
ECTS is first and foremost a system designed to create transparency, establish the conditions necessary for closer links between institutions and broaden the range of choices available to students. Its application by institutions facilitates the recognition of students’ academic results through the use of measures that are understood by all in the same way: ‘credits’ and grades.
The ECTS system is based on three basic elements
- information on study programmes (gathered in an “information file”) and on student results (“transcript of records”);
- the Erasmus bilateral agreement: the mutual agreement between the partner institutions and the student
- a “study contract” in which ECTS credits are clearly indicated.
ECTS itself does not determine the content, structure or equivalence of study programmes. These are solely quality issues to be resolved by the higher education institutions themselves when establishing the basis for appropriate cooperation through bilateral or multilateral agreements.
So let’s take a closer look at the documents needed to implement such a process within a university.
The information pack
It provides useful information for students and staff on institutions, faculties/departments, the organisation and structure of studies, and course units.
Transcript of records
It sets out the student’s academic results in a clear, comprehensive and comprehensible manner for each of the parties. It must be easily transferable from one institution to another.
The study contract
It describes the study programme to be followed by the student, as well as the ECTS credits that will be awarded once the requirements have been met (examination, assessment, etc.). Under this contract, the student undertakes to follow the study programme abroad as an integral part of his or her higher education studies; the home institution undertakes to guarantee full academic recognition of the credits obtained abroad; the host institution undertakes to provide the agreed course units, subject to timetable adjustments.
ECTS credits
These may take the form of lectures, practical work, seminars, placements, research or fieldwork, personal work – in the library or at home – as well as examinations or other forms of assessment. ECTS is therefore based on the student’s overall workload and is not limited exclusively to hours of attendance.
Under ECTS, 60 credits represent the volume of work for one year of study. As a general rule, 30 credits are equivalent to one semester and 20 credits to one term.