The European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) is a standard means for comparing academic credits, i.e., the "volume of learning based on the defined learning outcomes and their associated workload" for higher education across the European Union and other collaborating European countries. [1] For successfully completed studies, ECTS credits are awarded. One academic year corresponds to 60 ECTS credits that are normally equivalent to 1500–1800 hours of total workload, irrespective of standard or qualification type.[ citation needed ] ECTS credits are used to facilitate transfer and progression throughout the Union. ECTS also includes a standard grading scale, intended to be shown in addition to local (i.e. national) standard grades. [2]
Country | Credit points per year | Hours per credit point | Credit point name | Status |
---|---|---|---|---|
European Union (EU) | 60 | 25-30 [4] | ECTS credits | |
Austria | 60 | 25 | ECTS (also ECTS-Punkte, ECTS credits) | EU member state |
Belgium | 60 | 25-30 | ECTS (also studiepunten, crédits, ECTS) | EU member state |
Bulgaria | 60 | 25-30 | кредити | EU member state |
Croatia | 60 | 25-30 | ECTS bodovi | EU member state |
Cyprus | 60 | 30 | ECTS | EU member state |
Czech Republic | 60 | 26 | kredity | EU member state |
Denmark | 60 | 28 | ECTS-point | EU member state |
Estonia | 60 | 26 | ainepunkt (EAP). Currently because many students are still used to the older system the longer name 'euroopa ainepunkt' is more often used for clarity's sake | EU member state |
Finland | 60 | 27 | opintopiste (op) / studiepoäng (Swedish) (lit. study point) | EU member state |
France | 60 | 25-30 [5] | crédits ECTS | EU member state |
Germany | 60 | 25-30 | ECTS, Leistungspunkte (LP), Kreditpunkte (KP), Credit Points (CP) or Credits | EU member state |
Greece | 60 | 30 | ECTS, Credit Points (CP), Μονάδες Φόρτου Εργασίας (Διδακτικές Μονάδες - Δ.Μ) or Credits | EU member state |
Hungary | 60 | 30 | kredit (pont) | EU member state |
Ireland | 60 | ECTS | EU member state | |
Italy | 60 | 25-30 | crediti formativi universitari (CFU) | EU member state |
Latvia | 60 | 30 | ECTS kredītpunkts (1 "Latvian" credit point (kredītpunkts) equals 1.5 ECTS) [6] [7] | EU member state |
Lithuania | 60 | 28 | kreditai; ECTS kreditai | EU member state |
Luxembourg | 60 | ECTS | EU member state | |
Malta | 60 | 25 | ECTS-credits | EU member state |
Netherlands | 60 | 28 | studiepunten (ECTS or EC) | EU member state |
Poland | 60 | 25-30 | punkty ECTS | EU member state |
Portugal | 60 | 28 | créditos ECTS | EU member state |
Romania | 60 | 30 | credite (SECTS) | EU member state |
Slovakia | 60 | 25 | kredity | EU member state |
Slovenia | 60 | 25-30 | kreditne točke | EU member state |
Spain | 60 | 25-30 | créditos (ECTS) | EU member state |
Sweden | 60 | 26.667 | högskolepoäng (Used from July 2007) | EU member state |
Iceland | 60 | 25-30 | einingar (units) | EFTA member state |
Liechtenstein | 60 | EFTA member state | ||
Norway | 60 | 25-30 [8] | studiepoeng | EFTA member state |
Switzerland | 60 | 25-30 [9] | ECTS-credits, Kreditpunkte (KP) | EFTA member state |
Albania | 60 | 30 | Pikët ECTS | Non-EU, Non-EFTA member state |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | 60 | 25 | ECTS bodovi | Non-EU, Non-EFTA member state |
England, Wales and Northern Ireland | 120 (60 ECTS) | 10 (20 hours per ECTS) | Credits. One ECTS credit is equivalent to two UK credits. [10] [11] | Non-EU, Non-EFTA member state |
Georgia | 60 | 30 | კრედიტები (kreditebi) | Non-EU, Non-EFTA member state |
Montenegro | 60 | ECTS-krediti | Non-EU, Non-EFTA member state | |
North Macedonia | 60 | кредити (ECTS) | Non-EU, Non-EFTA member state | |
Russia | 60 | 30 | кредиты | Non-EU, Non-EFTA member state |
Scotland | 120 (60 ECTS) | 10 (20 hours per ECTS) [12] | SCQF credit points (2 SCQF points equal 1 ECTS point [12] ) | Non-EU, Non-EFTA member state |
Serbia | 60 | 30 | ЕСПБ бодови / ESPB bodovi | Non-EU, Non-EFTA member state |
Turkey | 60 | 25-30 | AKTS - kredi [13] | Non-EU, Non-EFTA member state |
Ukraine | 60 | 30 | кредити | Non-EU, Non-EFTA member state |
An academic degree is a qualification awarded to a student upon successful completion of a course of study in higher education, usually at a college or university. These institutions often offer degrees at various levels, usually divided into undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. The most common undergraduate degree is the bachelor's degree, although some educational systems offer lower-level undergraduate degrees such as associate and foundation degrees. Common postgraduate degrees include engineer's degrees, master's degrees and doctorates.
A master's degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. A master's degree normally requires previous study at the bachelor's level, either as a separate degree or as part of an integrated course. Within the area studied, master's graduates are expected to possess advanced knowledge of a specialized body of theoretical and applied topics; high order skills in analysis, critical evaluation, or professional application; and the ability to solve complex problems and think rigorously and independently.
A bachelor's degree or baccalaureate is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years. The two most common bachelor's degrees are the Bachelor of Arts (BA) and the Bachelor of Science. In some institutions and educational systems, certain bachelor's degrees can only be taken as graduate or postgraduate educations after a first degree has been completed, although more commonly the successful completion of a bachelor's degree is a prerequisite for further courses such as a master's or a doctorate.
The Bologna Process is a series of ministerial meetings and agreements between European countries to ensure comparability in the standards and quality of higher-education qualifications. The process has created the European Higher Education Area under the Lisbon Recognition Convention. It is named after the University of Bologna, where the Bologna declaration was signed by education ministers from 29 European countries in 1999. The process was opened to other countries in the European Cultural Convention of the Council of Europe, and government meetings have been held in Prague (2001), Berlin (2003), Bergen (2005), London (2007), Leuven (2009), Budapest-Vienna (2010), Bucharest (2012), Yerevan (2015), Paris (2018), and Rome (2020).
A licentiate is an academic degree present in many countries, representing different educational levels. It may be similar to a master's degree when issued by pontifical universities and other universities in Europe, Latin America, and Syria.
The Bologna declaration is the main guiding document of the Bologna process. It was adopted by ministers of education of 29 European countries at their meeting in Bologna in 1999.
The European Higher Education Area (EHEA) was launched in March 2010, during the Budapest-Vienna Ministerial Conference, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Bologna Process.
A course credit is a measure of the size of an educational course, often used to determine whether the requirements for an award have been met, to facilitate transfer between institutions, or to enhance intercomparability of qualifications. Credit may be input-based – defined by the quantity of instruction given – or outcome-based – defined by the learning outcomes and a notional time to achieve those outcomes.
Honours degree has various meanings in the context of different degrees and education systems. Most commonly it refers to a variant of the undergraduate bachelor's degree containing a larger volume of material or a higher standard of study, or both, rather than an "ordinary", "general" or "pass" bachelor's degree. Honours degrees are sometimes indicated by "Hons" after the degree abbreviation, with various punctuation according to local custom, e.g. "BA (Hons)", "B.A., Hons", etc. In Canada, honours degrees may be indicated with an "H" preceding the degree abbreviation, e.g. "HBA" for Honours Bachelor of Arts or Honours Business Administration.
A Diplom is an academic degree in the German-speaking countries Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and a similarly named degree in some other European countries including Albania, Bulgaria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine and only for engineers in France, Greece, Hungary, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, and Brazil.
Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme (CATS) is used by many universities in the United Kingdom to monitor, record and reward passage through a modular degree course and to facilitate movement between courses and institutions. One UK credit is equivalent to the learning outcomes of 10 notional hours of study, thus a university course of 150 notional study hours is worth 15 credits, and a university course of 300 notional study hours is worth 30 credits. A full academic year is worth 120 credits and a full calendar year (normally only at postgraduate level) 180 credits. CATS schemes in use in Higher Education in the UK include CATS (England & Northern Ireland), SCOTCAT (Scotland), the Credit and Qualifications Framework for Wales credit framework (Wales), the Learning and Skills Development Agency credit framework and Open College Network credits.
The ECTS grading scale is a grading system defined in the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) framework by the European Commission. Since many grading systems co-exist in Europe and, considering that interpretation of grades varies considerably from one country to another, if not from one institution to another, the ECTS grading scale has been developed to provide a common measure and facilitate the transfer of students and their grades between European higher education institutions, by allowing national and local grading systems to be interchangeable. Grades are reported on a carefully calibrated and uniform A-to-F scale combined with keywords and short qualitative definitions. Each institution makes its own decision on how to apply the ECTS grading scale to its system.
Master's degrees in Europe are the second cycle of the Bologna process, following on from undergraduate bachelor's degrees and preceding third cycle doctorates. Master's degrees typically take two years to complete, although the number of years varies between countries, and correspond to 60 – 120 ECTS credits. Within the European Higher Education Area, representing almost all countries in Europe, master's degrees are referenced to the Framework of Qualifications for the European Higher Education Area and national qualifications frameworks.
The European University Cyprus (EUC) is a private non- profit university in Nicosia, Cyprus which evolved out of Cyprus College, the oldest institution of higher education in Cyprus. EUC has a selective admission policy based on students' past academic record and performance. The institution has a current enrollment of over 11,000 students and provides internationally recognized undergraduate, graduate, and doctorate degrees. The programs of study are graded based on the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS).
The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) is the national credit transfer system for all levels of qualifications in Scotland. Awards are classified under the framework at levels, and study undertaken at that level is valued in credit points. The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework Partnership promotes lifelong learning in the country. Through the SCQF, learners can gain a better understanding of qualifications and plan their future learning.
The Technological Educational Institute (TEI) of Central Greece was a university founded in 2013, had a main campus 15.81 acres (0.0640 km2) in the City of Lamia, Phthiotis, Central Greece, and four branch campuses. An institution of higher education of the State University System of Greece, having full self governance and functions under the supervision of the Ministry of Education, laws 2916 on 11-6-2001 and 3549 on 20-3-2007. The Technological Institute of Central Greece has abolished on 29 January 2019 and ceased to be a university in its own name status by an Act of Hellenic Parliament, Law 4589/29-1-2019. Educational departments absorbed by the Agricultural University of Athens (AUA), National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), University of Thessaly (UTH).
Kilis 7 Aralık University is located in the city of Kilis, in southeastern Turkey. The name of the university comes from the date when the city of Kilis was liberated from occupation during the Turkish War of Independence – December 7, 1921.
The national qualification frameworks in the United Kingdom are qualifications frameworks that define and link the levels and credit values of different qualifications.
University training credit is a method used in Italian universities to measure the workload required of the student to obtain a degree. It's a course credit system of Italy.