ECTS - European Credit Transfer System
ECTS – the European Community Credit Transfer System – is part of the ERASMUS programme (European Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students).
One of the main aims of ERASMUS is the promotion of academic recognition throughout the European Community and countries belonging to the European Economic Area (EEA) in order to allow students to follow part of their study programme abroad.
Decentralised system
ECTS is a decentralised system based upon the principle of mutual trust and confidence between the participating higher education institutions. The few rules of ECTS, concerning Information (on courses available), Agreement (between the home and host institutions) and the Use of Credit Points (to indicate student workload) are set out to reinforce this mutual trust and confidence (see enclosed forms for these purposes). Each Faculty / Study Programme will describe the courses it offers not only in terms of content but also by assigning ECTS credits to each course.
Based on student workload
ECTS is a course credit system based on student workload. Student workload involves lectures, practical training and independent study. It includes all work needed to prepare for an examination.
The basic allocation of academic credits will be 60 ECTS credits per year of study or 30 ECTS credits per semester or 20 ECTS credits per trimester / term (this is identical with the newly introduced Norwegian system of studiepoeng). It is important that no special courses will be designed for ECTS purposes, but that all courses are mainstream courses of the participating institutions, followed by home students under normal regulations.
According to the importance of the courses offered, it is up to the participating institutions to subdivide the credits for the different courses. Work placements and optional courses which form an integral part of the course of study also receive academic credit.
Credits are awarded only when the course has been completed and the student has passed all required examinations.
Full credit
The students participating in ECTS will receive full credit for all academic work successfully carried out at any of the partner institutions, and they will be able to transfer these academic credits from one participating institution to another as long as there is prior agreement between the institutions involved.
Most students participating in ECTS will go to one single host institution in one single participating country, study there for a limited period and then return to their home institution. Some may decide to stay at the host institution and finish their degree there. Some may also decide to proceed to a third institution to continue their studies. In each of these three cases, students will be required to comply with the legal and institutional requirements of the country and institution where they take their degree.
When the student returns and has successfully completed the study programme previously agreed on by the home and host institutions, credit transfer will then take place, and the student will continue his / her studies at the home institution without any loss of time or credit. If, on the other hand, students decide to stay at the host institution and take their degree there, they may have to adapt their studies to the legal, institutional and departmental rules in the host country, institution and department / faculty.
Eligibility criteria for an ERASMUS grant
The Commission of the European Community is providing student mobility grants, which are allocated by the home institution. Students may only be awarded a grant if they fulfil the general conditions of eligibility for an ERASMUS grant. These are:
- either the sending or the receiving country must be an EU Member State;
- the students have completed at least their first year of university studies;
- the students are registered on a formal programme of study at higher education level;
- the exchanges of the students proposed for mobility are based on bilateral agreements;
- the period of study undertaken at the partner institution is between 3 and 12 months;
- the study period abroad is an integral part of the programme of study at the home university;
- full academic recognition is given for the study period abroad, i.e. the home university is committed to ensuring that the period of study undertaken abroad (including examinations or other forms of assessment) is recognised as replacing a comparable period of study (likewise including examination or other forms of assessment) at the home university even though the content may differ;
- no university fees (for tuition, registration, examinations, access to laboratory and library facilities etc.) are to be paid at the host institution. However, small fees may be charged for costs such as insurance, student unions and the use of miscellaneous material such as photocopiers, laboratory products etc., on an equal basis with local students. The sending institution may continue to charge university fees to its outgoing students;
- the payment in full of national grants and loans to outgoing students is maintained;
- the student must have acquired a sufficient knowledge of the language in which the courses to be attended will be taught.
As for nationality, the students must be either
- nationals of one of the member states of the European Union: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Finland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom
- the EFTA/EEA countries: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway
- the associated candidate countries: Bulgaria and Romania
- Turkey
- nationals of other countries, provided that they are either permanent residents or are registered as stateless persons or hold refugee status in the participating country from which they wish to go abroad within the programme
A study abroad period under ERASMUS may include a work placement, provided that the work placement is followed or preceded by a minimum period of study abroad of three months and that it is recognised as an integral part of the student's programme by his/her home university. This implies that the host and home university play an active role in organising and supervising the placement.