ECTS Guide
The ECTS Guide is a key tool for Higher Education in Europe. With this ECTS guide, we aim not only to promote transparency in the information provided to students from various EU countries, but more importantly, to support the recognition of different courses and degrees across Europe, as well as to foster mobility and the exchange of knowledge and experiences among European students.
European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS)
What is it?
The European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) is a tool that helps to design, describe, and implement study programs and to award higher education qualifications. The use of ECTS, together with outcome-based qualification frameworks, improves the transparency of study programs and qualifications and facilitates their recognition.
Why is it necessary?
By ensuring the comparability of higher education across Europe, ECTS makes teaching and learning in higher education more transparent and facilitates the recognition of studies. It is a tool that supports the design of study programs, contributes to quality assurance, and enables the transfer of learning experiences between institutions, enhances student mobility, and offers flexible pathways to obtaining a degree.
The ECTS system is closely linked to the modernization of higher education in Europe and is a central tool within the Bologna Process, which aims to make national systems more compatible.
How does it work?
Participating institutions publish their course catalogues online; these include detailed descriptions of study programs, course units, academic regulations, and student services. The course unit descriptions include "learning outcomes" (i.e., what students are expected to know and be able to do) and workload (the amount of time students typically need to achieve those outcomes). Learning outcomes are expressed in credits. A student’s workload typically ranges from 1500 to 1800 hours per academic year, and one credit generally corresponds to 25–30 hours of work.